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THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
IO
The sweetest thing in life to me is walking down
Broadway.''
There are many other celebrated streets in
other celebrated cities, but only one Broadway.
When not impelled by necessity to hasten, there
is, to my thinking, few pastimes more agreeable
and pleasant than sauntering through that
thoroughfare on a bright day. A proper use
of such privilege as permissable gadding along
that artery of the city's life is equivalent to a
liberal education.
One fair morning I strolled from 35th street
down to the foot of Union Square. I was inter-
ested in much I saw and amused by what I
heard. Life is too short to attempt a description
of all the details. A large volume might not
include the thoughts suggested by my environ-
ment. The procession of carriages, cars and
vehicles of traffic made great bustle and noise ;
the human procession, or, if it may be so
termed, panorama, ever varying as a revolving
kaleidiscope, was wonderful to behold as re-
spects numbers, vivacity and general appear-
ance. There was, if any, slight evidence of
Hard Times marked upon the faces or habili-
ments of those ever coming and going coteries,
the never ending throngs which, by a large
majority, wore the apparent stamp and seal of
Vanity Fair.
Among other impressions I received was that
many pretty girls and women managed to dis-
figure themselves, some by the manner of hair-
dressing, others by failure to cover their heads
with reasonable or sufficient gear. A sort of
semi coronet, an imitation of a butterfly, over-
grown, to serve the purpose of hat or bonnet
appeared so frequently that I was impressed
with the absurdity and could not avoid recalling
a few lines from Shakespeare :
Haberdasher: Here is the cap your worship useful rather than the thing ornamental with
fire in her eye and sarcasm in her tones.
did bespeak.
Perhaps her husband is a yachtsman.
Petruchio: Why this was moulded on a
Whilst calling upon some friends in Brooklyn
porringer ; a velvet dish ; fie, fie, 'tis lewd and
filthy. Why, 'tis a cockle or a walnut shell; I heard a lady tell this story. I sub-let it not
a knack, a toy, a trick, a baby's cap. Away only because of its pleasant outcome, but it ap-
pears also suggestive of a moral :
with it, come let me have a bigger.
"About two weeks ago my husband, on his
Katherine: I'll have no bigger ; this doth fit
way home from his office, saw a dilapidated
the time.
poor man standing in front of a restaurant win-
And gentle women wear such caps as these.
dow—this was down town in New York. Harry
Standing in front of a window in which was a was touched with the appearance of the woe-
unique display of silverware, trophies, prizes, begone specimen of humanity and ragged gar-
properties belonging to well-known yacht own- ments, and as he was not approached for assist-
ers or clubs, cups, flagons, plates and emblems ance, he walked up to the apparently impover-
ished individual and asked him if he was hungry.
which may be described by pictures or engrav-
'' The reply was : ' I have not had a mouthful
ings, scarcely by words. As a matter of course,
to
eat for thirty-six hours.'
any intelligent person must understand that these
''
' Come in here and we will see what can be
so-called cups are seldom, if ever, constructed
with reference to utility. In the name of com- done,' said Mr. Harry to him who hungered,
mon sense why should any trophy be construct- and then to the Boniface : ' Let this man have all
ed for any but ornamental purposes, especially he can eat at my expense.'
'' After consulting the bill of fare he of the
when contested for by those who can support a
profound vacuum ordered that reasonably priced
yacht, sure symbol of wealth or fortune ?
but filling combination, ' Corned-beef-and-cab-
While admiring these works of art two ladies bage,' with potatoes ' on the side ' and a cup of
approached and entered Immediately upon ad- coffee.
verse criticism, the only article displayed meet-
" Then the good Samaritan handed the inn-
ing with approbation was an unpretentious silver
keeper his penny and departed.
salver, which one of them termed a " waiter,"
"Some days—ten days—thereafter Mr. H.
all other pieces being condemned as " Useless,"
was
halted in front of the same eating house by
"Ugly," "Good for nothing. I can not see
the same man, and when he was recounting the
why men squander money on such trash. "
foregoing to his wife, she at this point ex-
1
' And then what a fuss they do make in the claimed : ' Of course he wanted another dinner.''
newspapers about yacht races and these things."
" ' N o , ' replied Harry, 'he wanted to thank
" Yes, my dear, for my part I would sooner me for what I had done.'
have a chafing dish. Let us go in and see
" It seems that the restaurant-keeper, observ-
whether they keep them here."
ing the voracity of the guest, became interested
So they departed, she who preferred the thing in him, and after the meal was finished, learned,
The "Opera" Piano
A HIGH GRADE
The
INSTRUMENT.
"EUTERPE"
A MEDIUM GRADE
Fiann
INSTRUMENT.
Both Manufactured by
SON
w a y am-cL 4 I 7-bla.
NEW YORK.
Catalogue, Prices, Terms, etc., on both instruments sent upon application,
WRITE FOR UNOCCUPIED TERRITORY.