Year: 1864

Gentle, get to the pitch of their voices,
yelling themselves purple in the face, the
old gentleman in the pulpit added to the
demoniac roar By beating sturdily upon
his gong with the drum stick and upon
his counter with the gavel, crying Or
derl Order, gentlemenr as loud as any
of them.


II the coarse of NJ yafious studies OF
the human being under various excite
ments, I have penetrated to those unhal-
lowed chambers devoted SO the joyous
but expensive games Of faro and roulette.
Likewise have I witnessed the playing of
brag and poker upon the turbid bosom
of the Mississippi; but nowhere have I
seen card gamblers who would for mo- /
ment have tolerated the undignifed, the
insane, the graceless and avaricious con-
fusion that characterized this meeting of
the outside board of stock brokers. Hith-
erto my idea of down town business had
been associated with some notions Of
heavy respectability and quiet import
ance; but such notions are shattered and
scattered forever. can only remember
this scene as a type of bedlamite fnan
cial dabauchery, and fummery irretrieya-
bic. Instinctively l buttoned my pock-
ets-a somewhat needless preoaution,
perhaps, but a scrutablo avarice permea-
ted the atmosphere, and I had vague
fears of losing the coat off my back, my
hat, my Boots, my senses, anything and
everything that I might Pcssess.


There we're many boys present, Of ages /
from fourteen to twenty. Some Of these
bought and sold heavily, ezhausting their
shrill treble voices to a degree of hoarse-
ness quite painful. Most Of the young
sters, however, contented themselves with
taking notes Of the Ructuation in price Of
the different stocks. Such were probably
sent there by their employers, for the
purpose. I was told that they often ac-
quired great skill in judging the market
thus, and come cut strong as brokers on
their own account ere long. One such,
known as Little Charley, was pointed out
to me as knowing faE5aoge about stocks
than his employers, of the FIRM of G. B.
& CO.


The noise soon wearied ne. I DO not
see for the lie of me, how this sort Of
thing can be endured more than year
without fatal results. I would not pur-
sue it for longer period without some
surety of gaining larger fortune than
the majority ever gain 1 passed out,
then, only to find a still denser, noisier
crowd surrounding the door steps. Men
were dropping in for a moment, and re-
turning with Few Quotations from the
sale inside, which they yociferated stem
torianIy, Offering to buy or sell to the
throng belOw-unhappy wretches, who
had not the key to those mysterious per
tails


Trying to wedge my way through this
dense mass of humanity, I was accosted
by young man of good humored appear
ance, who asked me if it was going
hard or soft inside. Not quite compre-
hendipg the phrase, I said I rather tho't
it was. sincerely hope that he sold no
valuable stock on that statement.


Crossing over to Delmonico's, close at
hand, found many of these gigantic
gamblers refreshing the inner man with
strange and stimulating compounds An
acquaintance whom I met there told me
that could pick up thousands of dollars
worth of information, if wished to 'op-
crate, by simply listening about I am
not averse to thousands of dollars, so
acted upon his suggestion, and heard a
stout man say, Bubble and Squeak is
fetching thirty SIX, buyer ten.' To which
thin nan replied, Don't see it, no how.
I've made a cornerin Smashcar ard Sling
wheel. I'm going to sell short on Per-
simmon Valley, remarked another. At
this moment I became bewilderod and
unhappy. I had the information, but
saw nothing of the thousands of dollars,
so I came away, determined to adhere
for the present to ny legitimate profes-
sion.


a correspondent of a Boston paper as
serts that these scenes are mildly repea-
ted among the ladies who live at the
Fifth Avenue Hotel It is not impossi-
sible, but hardly like to think that TIE
other sex is quite so lost.


This. correspondent, however, serious
ly gives the following as his experience
among the ladies Of that hotel


They were all talking stocks. A par
eel of young brokers live in the house,
and every evening they are sent over to
the coal hole to execute the commits
sions Of the ladies'. I did not ask any OF
their husbands what they thought of this
arrangement. A lady took me in tow
and We sailed down the drawing room,