We are all aware that Chatham Street and the Bowery are the legitimate
abiding places of those benevolent Hebrews, whose zeal for the public
welfare, and pity for ragged humanity, lead them to continually offer
their valuable and undoubtedly durable articles of wearing apparel to
the needy public "below cost;" and the enviable philosophy with which
they bear the "alarming sacrifices" which must daily deplete their ample
fortunes, has often been the subject of wondering remark.
The question, what becomes of these philanthropic tradesmen after their
ultimate impoverishment, which of course must speedily supervene, is a
fruitful subject for the investigation of some inquisitive mind. The
charitable supposition is, that as soon as their pecuniary ruin is
effectually accomplished, they retire to the shades of private life,
happy in the consciousness of having done their little utmost to benefit
the human race; seeing in each well dressed man, a perambulating
monument of their beneficence, and in each ragged urchin, cause of
regret that their altered circumstances cannot afford him a better pair
of breeches.
But these Israelitish avenues before mentioned, are not only the
headquarters of these philanthropic gentlemen, but are the depot for
many other imitations of humanity, and curious specimens of human skill
unknown to the unobserving.
Here abound those impassive wooden Indians of some tribe extinct, save
in these civilized localities, who stand in the doors of seven by nine
tobacco-factories, offering in persevering silence perpetual bunches of
basswood cigars to the passer-by.
Here are plentifully sprinkled multitudes of three-cornered shops where
patient and eager women, so sharp and shrewd at a bargain, that he who
buys must have all his wits about him, offer for sale the most
incongruous assortment of second-hand property; from a last year's
newspaper to a complete library, from a pint-cup to a seventy ton yacht,
from a brass night-key to a steam-engine.
Here too, almost every other doorway is ornamented with daguerreotypes
of distinguished personages--negro-dancers duly equipped with banjo,
tamborine and clappers--militia officers rigged out in all the glory of
feathers and tinsel--supreme rulers of Know-Nothing Lodges, resplendent
in the full regalia of that astute and sapient order--and whole dozens
of pictures of the beauteous model artists who exercise their modest
calling in that vicinage; whose names are fanciful enough, but whose
physical embellishments are not always the ones commonly attributed to
the mythical characters they represent.
"Kitty Clover" with splay-feet and dirty silk tights as "Venus Rising
from the Sea," "Lilly Dale" cross-eyed and knock-kneed, as the "Greek
Slave"--"Kate Kearney," with eyes rolled up, mock-pearls in her hair, in
an attitude which must be exceedingly trying, as "Morning Prayer," or a
trio of clumsy squaw-like damsels with smirking faces and stumpy limbs,
as the "Three Graces."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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