Patrick's interminable line of
followers would contrast with the robes and tails of the Japanese,--the
lanterns of a political battalion, with the badges of a masonic
fraternity,--the obsolete uniform of the "Old Continentals," with the
red shirts of the firemen and the miniature banners of a Sunday-school
phalanx,--the gay citizen soldiers who turned out to honor Independence
or Evacuation Day, with the bronzed and maimed veterans bringing home
their bullet-torn flags from the bloody field of a triumphant patriotic
war,--the first negro regiment raised therefor cheerily escorted by the
Union League Club, with the sublime funeral train of the martyred
President. Including party demonstrations, popular ovations, memorable
receptions and obsequies,--Broadway processions, historically speaking,
uniquely illustrate the civic growth, the political freedom, the
cosmopolitan sympathies, and the social prosperity of New York.
The mutations and ameliorations of Broadway are singularly rapid. It is
but a few years since the eye of the passenger therein often caught
sight of pleasant domestic nooks,--bulbs in bloom, a canary, gold-fish,
or a graceful head bent over a book or crochet-work, at the cheerful
window,--where now iron fronts and plate-glass of enormous size proclaim
the prosperous warehouse.
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