Year: 1862

rouge and makes the eyes sparkle with bril-


liancy which counterfeits health. New York Is


now enjoying . feverish gayety which some


persons mistake for prosperity but which is
only new development Of the excitement OF
the war. When the fever is over the patient is


languid and spiritless, and often subject to cold


and painful chills When the war is over our


sudden chill will come, and we may esteem
| ourselves fortunate if we are not shaken to


pieces.


Wall street is giddy with excitement. Gold


has risen to twenty-five per cent premium; but
paper is plentiful, and engravers and printers
easily transform 1t into cash. In the rebel
States it is reported on good authority that a


womans head drawn on piece of brown paper


will pass for any amount the holder pleases.
certainly 1t is great wonder that any one is
poor now while paper notes are SO common.


The indefatigable Barnum himself would be
puzzled to find q poverty stricken broker in
Wall street nowadays. Every man you


meet is rich, and will be richer tomorrow
The bulls toss stocks higher than ever,


and the most inueterate bears have bor-


rowed two horns and tail, and outbully


the bulls. Such a rapid increase of business
and such sudden influx of wealth no one has


ever seen in this country before. The greenest


operator has only to buy to-day, sell out to-


morrow, and be rich. There is no choice
among stocks when all are going up so mar
vellously. The Stock Exchange is great lot


terry in which every one draws prize; but


those who hold their tickets too long will find


them blanks. Wall street is an El Dorado


where every man can pocket all the money he


pleases. The very apple women along the


sidewalks caunot avoid feeling wealthy, and


to the inexperienced eye resemble that famous


old lady of Threadneedle street, London,


who owns the Bank Of England.


Meanwhile our importers of silks and laces


and our leading jewellers are selling their finest


goods at the highest prices. The carriages of


shoppers surround Stewards in such numbers
as to make Broadway almost impossible. Ball
g. Black turn their jewelry into money fasters
than they can turn their money into jewelry
Diamonds of the first water are almost as COM


mon as the Croton. The Central Park boasts
more new equipages than trees. The theatres are
crowded nightly. Booth and Forrest, like rival
locomotives, vie which can draw the largest
number Of people. Lester Wallack has been
compelled to increase his personal attrac-
tions in order to keep up with the night
ly increase in the array of his fair
admirers. Hackett grows jollier, fatter and


more Falstafian at every performance. Laura
Keene thinks seriously of enlarging her little
theatre. In the absence Of legitimate opera


the burnt cork prime donae are in great favor,
the inevitable negro always is in this country


On the east side of town the programmes at


the theatres have reached an unprecedented


length, as the audiences are unprecedented in


size, and one can see several tragedies, numer-


Gus melodramas and innumerab)e farces at the


same theatre during single evening. Mana
gers go about with wrinkled brows, pondering


what they will do with so much money. Ope-


ratio impresarios accuse themselves of insanity
because they have distrusted the season and
left themselves nobody with whom to make
opera. Princely residences are building on
| Fifth avenue, and the most costly furniture is
ordered at the best manufactures. Men make
seventy-fve thousand dollars in a week, and
spend it as if they were determined to get rid
Va ~ KS +" hAoH'u' A'Sh PoVi ohSSsSy h"S ~
come extravagant, has purchased new second
hand hat, and visited the theatre to take les
son in amalgamation from "Othello."


1t were as useless to attempt to calm this
feverish excitement as to try to find sensible


radical leader or negro who rejoices at the
prospect of Chiriqui The warning horn Of the
| Angel Gabriel himself would be unheard in
the roar of business, the rattle of carriages the
rustic of silks and the clatter of needless
| tongues. Still we cannot refrain from advising
| those who are now making such magical for
| tunes to be content, and to secure them safely
| in some substantial form. That was a wise
| Wall street speculator who, having become
| Unexpectedly wealthy by rise in the market,
retired to the rural districts, and could not be
persuaded to reside in New York again, fearful
| that at some unlucky moment he might be


tempted to make another venture, and so lose


all he had gained. Most of the money made


now will be like that of the Arabian magician,


which turned to dried leaves in the hands of


the holders When the war is over, and the ex-
| citement dies with it, what will those fancy


stocks be worth which now sell at such pre-


MUM? When stocks fall, what will become Of


those who have bought them at high prices?


When taxes have to be paid, and the national


debts have to be settled, and the government
currency has to be redeemed, where will be


our newly rich people? But the war is not


over yet, and stocks are rising still, and the


Treasury currency is as good as gold, though


twenty-five per cent below the specie standard,


and so the excitement continues, and no one


stops to think. If wisdom and the HERALD cry


aloud in the streets in vain, people must blame


themselves and their deaf ears when the final
| inevitable crash comes upon US.


GOVERNMENT FRAUDs.-There are rumors of