of the club make a
habit of getting "gloriously drunk" at these meetings. A faithfully
written account of the transactions of this club would no doubt furnish a
fine article for the _Day's Doings_.

The Yacht Club consists of a number of wealthy gentlemen who are devoted
to salt-water sports. The club house is on Staten Island. The yachts of
the members constitute one of the finest fleets of the kind in existence,
and their annual regattas, which are held in the lower bay, are sights
worth seeing.

XXVII. THE FIVE POINTS.

I. LIFE IN THE SHADOW.

Just back of the City Hall, towards the East River, and within full sight
of Broadway, is the terrible and wretched district known as the Five
Points. You may stand in the open space at the intersection of Park and
Worth streets, the true Five Points, in the midst of a wide sea of sin
and suffering, and gaze right into Broadway with its marble palaces of
trade, its busy, well-dressed throng, and its roar and bustle so
indicative of wealth and prosperity. It is almost within pistol shot,
but what a wide gulf lies between the two thoroughfares, a gulf that the
wretched, shabby, dirty creatures who go slouching by you may never
cross. There everything is bright and cheerful. Here every surrounding
is dark and wretched. The streets are narrow and dirty, the dwellings
are foul and gloomy, and the very air seems heavy with misery and crime.
For many a block the scene is the same. This is the realm of Poverty.
Here want and suffering, and vice hold their courts. It is a strange
land to you who have known nothing but the upper and better quarters of
the great city. It is a very terrible place to those who are forced to
dwell in it. For many blocks to the north and south of where we stand in
Worth street, and from Elm street back to East River, the Five Points
presents a succession of similar scenes of wretchedness.

[Picture: A FIVE POINTS RUM SHOP.]

Yet, bad as it is, it was worse a few years ago. There was not more
suffering, it is true, but crime was more frequent here. A respectably
dressed man could not pass through this section twelve years ago without
risking his safety or his life. Murders, robberies, and crimes of all
kinds were numerous. Fugitives from justice found a sure refuge here,
and the officers of the law frequently did not dare to seek them in their
hiding places. Now, thanks to the march of trade up the island,