The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-07-26
In New York
BY PAUL HARRISON

New York.-Go to the Fulton fish market if you want to cover the waterfront. For there couple of blocks along South street and the East river encompass all the sights and sounds and smells certainly the mells-which are the sea as we think of 1t.
 The working day begins with dawn. Fishing boats chug into the docks from Gloucester and Nantucket and Nova Scotia, and by 5 o'clock they're unloading. Thousands of fish, tons of fish; opalescent halibut, gray shrimps. striped bass, lethargic Holsters. Soon Drowned seamen are sprawl ed on the decks of the ships, which have nice names such as The Four Sisters and the Mary Anne. Be- fore o'clock the long stalls are piled high with fish, all arranged on counters, cool and glistening. A bell rings at o'clock, and the market is open to the buyers. Cat Banquet
 They rush in, very businesslike, pinching the fish just as house. WlNSo PAhSh 4OWAs ! hS 6CAlCIS WCdE | big rubber boots and rubber coats, | and stand around with notebooks calling out orders in code. "Y. o. T." one will yell. Or 1.-TWO hun- dred blue, twenty-eighteen." Some of the men sort Holsters accord ing to size; others shovel shrimp and scallops. Men with big knives wield them deftly; one does noth- ing but slice off great chunks of swordfish, guessing almost to the ounce each time.
 An army of cats has come in from the waterfront and the tene- ment area of the east side. They hide under the stalls and wait for scraps, and most of them are sleek and sassy and bold. An old wo- man goes past the market begging for fish heads. She says they are | for her cats at home, but everyone guesses why she wants them, and Une of the cutters surreptitiously hands her a small bruised sea bass. Everywhere there are tubs of salt and tubs of cracked ice. Cleaners are constantly flushing the floors with water.
 AIS Alma Mater Largest in World
 Officially known as the whole. sale Fulton Market Fishmongers' Association, it's the largest in tho world. Elsewhere in the neighbor- hood are smaller markets. but they're not numbered among the eighteen companies which own $5O,000 memberships in the origin al organization. One of the most prosperous of the merchants marks an x for his name; he can't read or write.
 It was Alfred E. Smith who made the place known to the na- ton, for back in the 'nineties he was a receiving clerk for the firm of John /Feeney, which still occu- pies one of the stalls. Until a few years ago he used to drop around occasionally and shake hands, but they don't see much of him now. There are still several old-timers who'll say, "Yes, 1 knew Al". But that's about all they will say. Fish selling doesn't seem to be very articulate career.
 Harbor Rodeo
 There are dozens of sea going Cowboys" who patrol the river and the harbor hereabout. At least they're called "cowboys', be- cause they lasso-and sometimes bulldog - pieces of bobbinS' treacherous driftwood which en- danger shipping. A spcedboat can have its bottom clipped off by a dcrelict section of barge. or liner can have its propellers dis abled by some floating piece of piling.
 Four boats arc in constant serr- ice against the driftwood menace, but the most active is the Rocka- way, in command of the veteran Captain William Hooking. He has a strong personal feeling about submerged derelicts because once his own vessel was disabled by a log. The harbor cowboys-git along, little loggies, git along round up about 300,000 cubic feet of driftwood every year and tow it to shore. for DOT people to burn'
 One of the society's most devil may-care playboys was amused to II receive a swanky invitation to a "nudist party the other day. He was Eame,i too He went to the house and was led to a spare room by a butler, who told him to un- dress. All about the room were strewn suits and shoes and dainty feminine things, indicating that the other guests already had dis Irobed.
 So this fellow 'undressed too, and apprehensively allowed him self to be led back downstairs and to the drawing room. "Mr Oscar To. Zilch!" announced the butler with a fiourish--and pushed the hapless gent into a roomful of people who were fully. clothed.