A NIGHT WITH STOCK-GAMBLERS. (FROM THE "HOME JOURNAL.")

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XX, Issue 2203, 12 August 1864, Page 4

A NIGHT WITH STOCK-GAMBLERS. (FROM THE " HOME JOURNAL.")

lr is not specially to moraine we pen these lines, but to add a brief lecoul to the strange page of these wondious d.iys which the war has written on the eternal sci oil of Amencan history. 2 1 is not generally known that the hours of daylight do uofc affoul tho ipecul.itors of Wall-street time enough to deal in Eve, Harlem, Central, Beading, &c , &c ; that theie mo not sufficient facilities in "the stieet, ' the legulnr and "public boaids," for the "bulls," and " bears" to cairy on their traffic; so that we may be giving information to many when we say that, in the basement of the Fifth' Avenue Hotel, Now York, a loom has been fitted up where every night until a late hour, the men of gold, guided by the passion of the hi>ui, continue the transactions which, in the bright sunlight, make Wall and William stieets such a Babel. Let us briefly pictjie the scene. A large room with a bar at one end ; in the centre a raised platform foi tlic piesident and cleik to record the sales ,• the loom is [)aclced with the ciowd of well and ill dressed men, Americans, Spaniards, and Jews — all fighting then way from point to point, with hands uplifted, wildly gesticulating, with glaring eyes, and voices hoarse with shouting their stocks, buying and selling. " Sfll-1-1 1' 'undieil Erie at three eighte J" shouts a a slndl voice, belonging to a wry little man mounted on a chnii. " One fonrfc foi one thousand or any part ! Nor 1 - Westein ! Reading!" ' ' Gif one per shen t to call quicksilver at seventes in diitydiys 1 Sold! Take another 1 another! H»-a-a! One hundred Heading at thirty-eight — seller thirty without notice ! What house ' Mariposs ! Sell Harlem at one fourth ? Take it — I claim it 1 No ! no. You I—'1 — '" — and a fight takes place. The crowd iwa>s like the waves of an angry sea, hats are smashed, clothes are torn, the souud of the piesident's gavel is diowned, the din is awful. Still the multitude trade on , then shouts are feaiful, and the atmosphere is stifling with the fumes of tobacco; crowds throng the b.ai, bets are taking place On the rise or fall of stocks, sales and purchases are leported at the de^k, and legistered in the .dealers' books. We see boys — youths of sixteen, and even younger — mounted upon chairs, their faces distorted with the excitement of the moment, yelling their stocks out to the battling crowd beneath, them. What a picture ■ Membeis or the most wealthy and respectable firms are repiesented here at this Baturnalia, and transactions involving millions are made nightly — the day one ceaseless round of exciting trade, thenight ariot of speculation. Do these men ewer consider what a history they are making ? It is appalling to think of thoreaction after such a fevei ! Were it not for compensation, ever true and sweet j of the nobler manhood of the nation which the war is developing ; of the conscience awakened, and tenderest hnraan sympathies quickened, we should fear for the future ; but iv the foieground of this dark picture the strong mellow fights of our sanitary commissions, woman's infirmaries, and noble charities all over the land, show that God is ever ready with his neutral tints to blend the picture of life into harmony »nd beauty.

A Mr. Evrard lias iuvented a process by which any part of a photographic negative can bo intensified or lightened.