io stones, granite, and
iron. No street in the world surpasses it in the grandeur and variety of
its architectural display. Some of the European cities contain short
streets of greater beauty, and some of our American cities contain
limited vistas as fine, but the great charm, the chief claim of Broadway
to its fame, is the _extent_ of its grand display. For three miles it
presents an unbroken vista, and the surface is sufficiently undulating to
enable one to command a view of the entire street from any point between
Tenth street and the Bowling Green. Seen from one of the hotel
balconies, the effect is very fine. The long line of the magnificent
thoroughfare stretches away into the far distance. The street is
thronged with a dense and rapidly moving mass of men, animals, and
vehicles of every description. The effect is unbroken, but the different
colors of the buildings give to it a variety that is startling and
pleasing. In the morning the throng is all pouring one way--down town;
and in the afternoon the tide flows in the opposite direction. Everybody
is in a hurry at such times. Towards afternoon the crowd is more
leisurely, for the promenaders and loungers are out. Then Broadway is in
its glory.

Oftentimes the throng of vehicles is so dense that the streets are
quickly "jammed." Carriages, wagons, carts, omnibuses, and trucks are
packed together in the most helpless confusion. At such times the police
are quickly on hand, and take possession of the street. The scene is
thrilling. A stranger feels sure that this struggling mass of horses and
vehicles can never be made to resume their course in good order, without
loss of life or limb to man or beast, or to both, and the shouts and
oaths of the drivers fairly bewilder him. In a few minutes, however, he
sees a squad of gigantic policemen dash into the throng of vehicles.
They are masters of the situation, and wo to the driver who dares disobey
their sharp and decisive commands. The shouts and curses cease, the
vehicles move on one at a time in the routes assigned them, and soon the
street is clear again, to be "blocked" afresh, perhaps, in a similar
manner in less than an hour. Upwards of 20,000 vehicles daily traverse
this great thoroughfare.

It is always a difficult matter for a pedestrian to cross the lower part
of Broadway in the busy season. Ladies, old persons, and children find
it impossible to do so without the aid of the police, whose du