. The new New York : a commentary on the place and the people . f carriage agents andcabmen. A bargain is struck for a conveyance. Theprice is of an exalted sky-scraping nature, but it is notthe proper time to quarrel with cabmen. They know it,and charge according to their knowledge. Neither is itthe place to get the best cab accommodations. Thehorses are street-car derelicts, the harness gives evi-dence of disintegration, the carriage and the shabbyunshaven driver are usually the worse for wear. One resolves not to be bothered by such small frayed lining of a coach is not to influ
. The new New York : a commentary on the place and the people . f carriage agents andcabmen. A bargain is struck for a conveyance. Theprice is of an exalted sky-scraping nature, but it is notthe proper time to quarrel with cabmen. They know it,and charge according to their knowledge. Neither is itthe place to get the best cab accommodations. Thehorses are street-car derelicts, the harness gives evi-dence of disintegration, the carriage and the shabbyunshaven driver are usually the worse for wear. One resolves not to be bothered by such small frayed lining of a coach is not to influence your opin-ion about your native town. A look out of the carriagewindow (or over it, for there is no glass left in it) is pleas-anter and more philosophical. Alas! the view withoutis quite as bad as the look within. West Street is crowdedwith trucks, drays, carts, cabs, cars, trolleys that tangleinto knots and bunches and then somehow untangle; thepavement is broken by car tracks and an occasional holeinto which wheels drop with a thud and come out with a. Pl. S — New York Custom House THE APPROACH FROM THE SEA 37 jerk; the dingy, battered-looking buildings that line theeast side of the street, the cheap and gaudy signs, thebarrel skids across the sidewalks, the lampless lamp posts,the garbage cans, the stained awnings, are all somewhatdisturbing. And the roar and rattle and clang that seemto accompany the movements of that mob of humanity!Was there ever such a din known to men, since the wallsof Jericho fell down ? Once out of the West Street maelstrom the carriage,perhaps, slips into a long, narrow side street, made up ofmany four-story buildings, all quite alike, and all appar-ently inhabited by people who rub unclean hands ondoors, walls, and shutters, and do not bother aboutwashing either the windows or themselves. Dull-lookingwomen sit on the low stoops and survey the street in whichdirty children are playing, often in connection with stand-ing drays or ash barrels
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