And when Grace exhibits the many prizes he has won, they say that it is
this cup which he did _not_ win that he handles most tenderly and shows
with the greatest pride.
THE JUMP AT COREY’S SLIP.
The jump from Corey’s slip was never made but by two of the Brick Dust
Gang, and though, as it turned out, they were not sorry they had taken
it, they served as a warning to all the others of the gang against
trying to emulate their daring.
Corey’s slip, as everybody knows, is part of Corey’s brick-yard, on the
East side, near the Twenty-sixth street wharf, and the Brick Dust Gang
are so called because they have a hidden meeting-place among the high
piles of bricks which none of the other boys, nor the police, nor even
the employees of the brick-yard have been able to find. It is known to
exist, though, and the gang meet there to smoke and play the accordion
and gamble for cigarette pictures, and to pursue such other sinful and
demoralizing practices of East side youth as they elect.
The Brick Dust Gang must not be confounded with the Rag Gang of “The
Bay,” near Thirty-third street, for, while the Rag Gang are thieves
and toughs, the Brick Dust Gang are too young to be very wicked, and
their “folks” are too respectable to let them go very far astray. The
gang got along very well during the winter months, and the hole in the
bricks was filled every afternoon after the public schools had closed,
with from a dozen to twenty of them.
Buck Mooney was the leader, and no one disputed his claim, for he was
a born leader in some respects, just as was his father, who could
throw the votes of the Luke J. Mooney Star Social Club wherever they
would do himself and the party the most good. But his son Buck was
quick-tempered and stronger than he knew, and he had a way of knocking
the younger and less pugilistic members of his crowd around which was
injudicious; for by this he hurt his own popularity as well as their
heads.
He was no bully though, and there was no one who could lead him in any
show of physical prowess recognized and practised by the gang. So all
through the winter he was easily the leader, and no one stood against
him. His fall came in the spring. The coming of the spring meant more
to the Brick Dust Gang than to almost any other crowd along the river
front, for their knowledge of the brick-yard and its wharf enabled them
to bathe in the river quite hidden from the police at any hour of the
day, and this means a great deal to those who have felt the stifling
heat of the tenements along the East River.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account