Pisani, who accompanied Prince Napoleon in his yacht-voyage to
America, calls Broadway a bazaar made up of savagery and civilization, a
mile and a half long; and M. Fisch, a French _pasteur_, was surprised at
the sight of palaces six or seven stories high devoted to commerce and
_les figures fines et gracieuses, la demarche legere et libre des
femmes, les allures vives de toute la population_. The shopkeepers are
urbanely courteous, says one traveller. "Horses and harness are fine,
but equipages inferior," observes another; while a third remarks, after
witnessing the escapade of vehicles in Broadway: "American coachmen are
the most adroit in the world."
It has been said that a Paris _gamin_ would laugh at our _fetes_; and
yet, if such a loyal custodian as one of the old sacristans we meet
abroad, who has kept a life-vigil in a famous cathedral, or such a
vigilant chronicler as was Dr. Gemmelaro, who for years noted in a diary
the visitors to AEtna, and all the phenomena of the volcano,--_if_ such a
fond sentinel were to have watched, even for less than a century, and
recorded the civic, military, and industrial processions of Broadway,
what a panoramic view we should have of the fortunes, development, and
transitions of New York! The last of the cocked-hats would appear with
the final relics of Dutch and Quaker costume; the celebration of the
opening of the Erie Canal would seem consummated by the festivals that
signalized the introduction of Croton, and the success of the Atlantic
Telegraph; the funeral _cortege_ of Washington would precede that of
scores of patriots and heroes, from Hamilton and Lawrence to John Quincy
Adams and General Wadsworth; Scott would reappear victorious from
Mexico, Kossuth's plumed hat wave again to the crowd, grim Jackson's
white head loom once more to the eager multitude, and Lafayette's
courteous greetings win their cheers; St.
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