hudson street has a pleasant savour of food. it resounds with the dull rumble of cruising drays, which bear the names of well-known brands of groceries; it is faintly salted by an aroma of the docks. one sees great signs announcing cocoanut and whalebone or such unusual wares; there is a fine tang of coffee in the air round about the corner of beach street. here is that vast, massy brick edifice, the new york central freight station, built 1868, which gives an impression of being about to be torn down. from a dilapidated upper window hangs a faded banner of the irish republic. at noontime this region shows a mood of repose. truckmen loll in sunny corners, puffing pipes, with their curved freight hooks hung round their necks. in a dark smithy half a dozen sit comfortably round a huge wheel which rests on an anvil, using it as a lunch table. near canal street two men are loading ice into a yellow refrigerator car, and their practiced motions are pleasant to watch. one stands in the wagon and swings the big blocks upward with his tongs. the other, on the wagon roof, seizes the piece deftly and drops it through a trap on top of the[pg 182] car. the blocks of ice flash and shimmer as they pass through the sunshine. in jim o'dea's blacksmith shop, near broome street, fat white horses are waiting patiently to be shod, while a pink glow wavers outward from the forge.
at the corner of hudson and broome streets we fell in with our friend endymion, it being our purpose to point out to him the house, one of that block of old red dwellings between hudson and varick, which robert c. holliday has described in “broome street straws,” a book which we hope is known to all lovers of new york local colour. books which have a strong sense of place, and are born out of particular streets—and especially streets of an odd, rich, and well-worn flavour—are not any too frequent. mr. holliday's gissingesque appreciation of the humours of landladies and all the queer fish that shoal through the backwaters of new york lodging houses makes this broome street neighbourhood exceedingly pleasant for the pilgrim to examine. it was in mr. holliday's honour that we sallied into a hudson street haberdashery, just opposite the channel of broome street, and adorned ourself with a new soft collar, also having the pleasure of seeing endymion regretfully wave away some gorgeous mauve and pink neckwear that the agreeable dealer laid before him with words of encouragement. we also stood tranced by a marvellous lithograph advertising a roach powder in[pg 183] a neighbouring window, and wondered whether mr. holliday himself could have drawn the original in the days when he and walter jack duncan lived in garrets on broome street and were art students together. certainly this picture had the vigorous and spirited touch that one would expect from the draughting wrist of mr. holliday. it showed a very terrible scene, apparently a civil war among the roaches, for one army of these agile insects was treasonously squirting a house with the commended specific, and the horrified and stricken inmates were streaming forth and being carried away in roach ambulances, attended by roach nurses, to a neighbouring roach cemetery. all done on a large and telling scale, with every circumstance of dismay and reproach on the faces of the dying blattid?. not even our candour, which is immense, permits us to reprint the slogan the manufacturer has adopted for[pg 184] his poster: those who go prowling on hudson street may see it for themselves.
p183
in the old oyster and chop house just below canal street we enjoyed a very agreeable lunch. to this place the broome street garreteers (so mr. holliday has told us) used to come on days of high prosperity when some cheque arrived from a publisher. at that time the tavern kept an open fireplace, with a bright nest of coals in the chilly season; and there was a fine mahogany bar. but we are no laudator of acted time; the fireplace has been bricked up, it is true; but the sweet cider is admirable, and as for the cheesecake, we would back it against all the times square variety that ben de casseres rattles about. it is delightful and surprising to find on hudson street an ordinary so droll and dickensish in atmosphere, and next door is a window bearing the sign walter peter. we feel sure that mr. holliday, were he still living in those parts, would have cajoled the owner into changing that e to an a.
our stroll led us north as far as charlton street, which the geographers of greenwich village claim as the lower outpost of their domain. certainly it is a pleasing byway, running quietly through the afternoon, and one lays an envious eye upon the demure brick houses, with their old-fashioned doorways, pale blue shutters, and the studio windows on the southern side. at the corner of varick street is a large house showing the sign, “christopher columbus[pg 185] university of america.” macdougal street gives one a distant blink of the thin greenery of washington square.
an unexpected impulse led us eastward on grand street, to revisit max maisel's interesting bookshop.—we had never forgotten the thrill of finding this place by chance one night when prowling toward seward park. in bookshops of a liberal sort we always find it advisable to ask first of all for a copy of frank harris's “the man shakespeare.” it is hardly ever to be found (unfortunately), so the inquiry is comparatively safe for one in a frugal mood; and it is a tactful question, for the mention of this book shows the bookseller that you are an intelligent and understanding kind of person, and puts intercourse on good terms at once. however, we did find one book that we felt we simply had to have, as it is our favourite book for giving away to right-minded people—“the invisible playmate,” by william canton. we fear that there are still lovers of children who do not know this book; but if so, it is not our fault.
grand street is a child at heart, and one may watch it making merry not only along the pavement but in the shop windows. endymion's gallant spirit was strongly uplifted by this lively thoroughfare, and he strode like one whose heart was hitting on all six cylinders. max maisel's bookshop alone is enough to put one in a seemly humour. but[pg 186] then one sees the gorgeous pink and green allurements of the pastry cooks' windows, and who can resist those little lemon-flavoured, saffron-coloured cakes, which are so thirst-compelling and send one hastily to the nearest bar for another beaker of cider? and it seems natural to find here the oldest toyshop in new york, where endymion dashed to the upper floor in search of juvenile baubles, and we both greatly admired the tall, dark, and beauteous damsel who waited on us with such patience and charity. endymion by this time was convinced that he was living in the very heart and climax of a poem; he became more and more unreal as we walked along: we could see his physical outline (tenuous enough at best) shimmer and blur as he became increasingly alcaic.
along the warm crowded pavement there suddenly piped a liquid, gurgling, chirring whistle, rising and dropping with just the musical trill that floats from clumps of creekside willows at this time of year. we had passed several birdshops on our walk, and supposed that another was near. a song sparrow, was our instant conclusion, and we halted to see where the cage could be hung. and then we saw our warbler. he was little and plump and red-faced, with a greasy hat and a drooping beer-gilded moustache, and he wore on his coat a bright blue peddler's license badge. he shuffled along, stooping over a pouch of tin whistles and gurgling in one as he went.[pg 187] there's your poem, we said to endymion—“the song-sparrow on grand street.”
we propose to compile a little handbook for truants, which we shall call “how to spend three hours at lunch time.” this idea occurred to us on looking at our watch when we got back to our kennel.
