THE LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF SYDNEY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9491, 21 April 1894, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF SYDNEY.

[BY RALPH BRAVA.] PART THE LIGHTS.

What greater food for the reflective mind than that which the streets of a large city affords to the curious and observant. The scene is ever changing, and if the onlooker be anything of a physiognomist, he will find there whole chapters of undigested matter ready. to hand. The result of his analysis, moreover, will go far to convince him that the " Fickle Dame " has been less kind to the greater than to the smaller section of her ardent wooers. For, -were the truth known, there is little room to doubt but that the major proportion of the aforesaid are perhaps equally, if nob better, entitled to the fairer share of her bounty ; but, true to the adage " that kissing goes by favour," it follows that those left out in the cold must philosophically accept their lot, and patiently await the new cycle of events, which, " 'tis said," is to revolutionise the current order of things in this ill-assorted world of ours. In addition to the streets furnishing novelty and entertainment to the masses, the shops alone are an "educational system'" in themselves, especially to the rising generation, inasmuch that, like as in a huge exhibition, the varied displays assist to sharpen their young wit?, and thereby excite a wholesome curiosity; for what might appear insignificant to their elders is all big print to them. Very- true, we have not here as in that old-time metropolis, London, the ancient landmarks, historical buildings, and other .monuments of antiquity; neither have we the old inns, with their quaint signboards, rendered famous by the fact of their once being the resort of such men as Johnson, Garrick, Goldsmith, Fielding, Steele, and Addison, and in later years Charles Lamb, De Quincey,' Thackeray, Jerrold, Dickens, and a host of others. Yet, on the other hand, we have, though in a minor degree, all the chameleon-like phases and types of the descendants of Adam, which is sufficient, aye, more than sufficient, to satisfy the most sedulous of metaphysical phot®graphers. It was, doubtless, whilst strolling through the crowded streets that the above noted "depictors of human life and character" gained most of their inspirations, and it was the result of such prophetic, not to say studied analysis, that contributed in no small degree to convert their fictions into almost absolute realities. As the busy throng daily hurry by you have many, opportunities and. an endless variety to choose from. At first your observations partake rather of an abstract and generalising form. You take the masses "on a face," as they say in hydraulic mining, and think of them in their aggregate relations only. Soon, however, you begin to " individualise," and regard with a minuter interest the innumerable varieties of figure, dross, mien, and facial expression. As you take a deeper plunge, you are, to use a hackneyed phrase, predestined to encounter " all sorts and conditions of men "—merchants, traders, drunken men, and sailors ; loafers, topers, attorneys, and stockbrokers; Chinese, Assyrians, men-of-colour, and Indians, Continentals, aboriginals, nuns, I and reverentials.

, There is that thriftless class, too, for j whom " dignity of labour " hath no charms, and of whom we may freely include the Jeremy Diddler, the cub-purse, the spieler, the confidence trickster, and others of that ilk who live on their wits, and masquerade in the cast-off graces of their betters. Some of the latter, however, have of late years proved themselves to be nob utterly unregenerate, having finally settled down to the respectable occupation of tote and bookmaking ; a profession in New South Wales whose name is legion; for your " city gamins," one and all, are " up-to-date sports," and nob content with a daily race bill, must needs have the potage " nightly served," and with electric light adjuncts. But we must be in the fashion, and_ move oa with, the crowd. MY SOUL FOR A RARITV. During your progress through space the monotony of things is occasionally relieved by an unexpected apparition in the shape of an original. A man whom, as it were, takes himself into his own confidence, and is eternally holding commune with visionaries that exist only in his imagination, whereby he "suits the action to tho word and the word to the action." Bub most people, engrossed in their own affairs, pass him by, and heed him nob. Then we have the "musician original." I don't refer to tho " itinerant," who is a soulless being at best, and certainly not an original, much less a rarity. No. Attention is directed rather to the man that carries a violin case, and wears long hair. One might be apt to exclaim, why this thusness of profusion ? Yet, wherefore ask the question ? Cannot a man, in this free country of ours, carry a violin case, yea, or even a tennis-bat for the matter of that, and yet be a player in neither case? The query goes without saying. Another, perhaps equally familiar frequenter of the public highwaj', and one, moreover, that may bo encountered at almost any time of the day, or even night, is an individual that might be classed among the " ultra demonstrative order." One, in fact, who, viva voce, lets the passing world into the gravest possible secrets, recklessly oblivious as to whether the disclosure in question refers to a premeditated burglary or to a special meeting of the city mission, and is in the act of declaiming to his friend (presumably in a stage whisper) that the whole business is nothing short of a blank and unmitigated swindle, and that the policeman's in it, etc., etc. You are just able to catch the tail end of the concluding sentence, and gravely treasure a hope that the scoundrelly policeman referred to may be forthwith disrated, and be made to feel the full penalty of his evil-doing. ' Nevertheless, as we have a mission to perform, we must hurry on with the push. The latter word, by the way, is, so far as the colonial acceptation of the term goes, by no means an inappropriate one when applied to the genus larrikin ; for you frequently find yourself jostled by these "gentlemen of the highway," whose passage should certainly be confined to the road track, or until such time as they are taught to comport themselves decently 011 the ordinary footpath. Apropos the latter element. A farmer, who happened to be on a town visit, was once heard to remark to a stranger, who, like himself, had been hustled in a similar uncourtly manner, You see, friend," said he, " these 'ere lads be like coarse grain, they want a heap o' winnowing and no end o' thrashing." . CHROMATIC TINTS. As you pass up and down either of the main thoroughfares comprising Pitt and George Streets, the representative types of feminine beauty you occasionally meet are nob the leasb of the city's attractions, and act as a pleasing conbrasb againsb the sterner and more sombre tints. For without any remote effort at fiincy sketching, it may be truthfully asserted that the colony of New South Wales can more than hold its own in the above poetic respect, sufficiently so, in fact, that you often feel tempted to congratulate the gifted owners on their well-moulded features and sylph-like forms, and which you invariably fail not to do, though only through that psychical medium prescribed by etiquette. If some ladies are charming enough to inspire the sentiment " that ib would be a liberal education to know them," equally so may it.be said of some of the opposite f«ex, whose faces bear a kindly and benevolent expression suggestive of generous deeds, nob unaccompanied by a pleasing self-consciousness at having been the author* of them. Yet, on the other hand, how often do you not encounter the extreme antithesis? Faces whose scheming rascality is truthfully depicted in almost every lineament of their features, and though past-masters in the art of duplicity, have not, apparently, sufficient tacb to counterfeit the virtue that is certainly not inherent in them. In a commercial city like Sydney the office clerk is not the least familiar form that greet you in the busy throng, and of all other classes of toilers they, at least, are decidedly not in the minority in point of number, and may be divided into sections, or even subsections. ' There are the "steady old fellows " to begin with, many of whom wear sp#cs. They are usually habilitated in the

soberest of sombre tweeds; sometimes, however, they are known to sport a black frock coat. Their hair and beard may, or may nob, be .tinged with the frost of ages. This representative type of the above is a regular frequenter of "o'clock ordinaries or grills, for, like hi 3 London prototype, he likes his midday chop and coffee, or srlas3 of bitter beer, as the case might be. Following closely in the rear, his more youthful compeer suddenly looms upon the Protean canvass. He is generally, if we may use a horsey term, "nattily caparisoned," and his style of dress and dapperness of carriage are essentially his own, and goes far to mark his individuality. He usually sports a brier pipe, a Gladstone bag, and a buttonhole. He is relating in a jaunty careless air the details of his last evening's dissipation, whilst his companion; with head bent low, seems too intent upon consulting his horoscope (the paving flags) as to how the dickens "he is going to meet his last week's disbursements re tote, billiards, and other excesses." He. will have, perforce, to "shorten sail somewhat," and pub the helm down " hard aport," or until such time as he is able to steer clear of troubled waters.

There is yeb another unrecorded section of the city scribe, and who may be readily recognised, nob merely by the quiet unpretentious cut of his broadcloth, but by a certain staid and sober-visaged countenance, with a typical " made-to-order" expression to match. He is not one of your " Malacca-cane young men." He also partaketh not of strong waters, neither indulgeth he in cigar, cigarette, or other smokes ; and . is, presumably, a member of the Y. M.C.A. Though somewhat "slow in his paces," ho is credited, nevertheless, with superior "staying powers," and if, when on the brack, he showeth all comers his heels, who shall say him nay?" The small tradesman, shopkeeper (or middleman as he is sometimes called), can readily be picked out in a crowd, for his step is elastic, and his face generally wears a fardistant look, as though his mind, like the present condition of the world's affairs, were too full of anxious doubts and financial perplexities to note anything that might be passing on either side of him. Ho is probably thinking of that "'2-17 —1 bill " that Mr. Usurious Octopus Israel had as a personal favour discounted for him the other day, and, doubtless, wondered what proportion it would likely assume when due. A matter which should have caused him little or no concern, for Mr. U. O. I." is sufficiently methodical in his way to esteem even a ready-reckoner one of the sublime superfluities of this age of unconsidered trifles. No ! " Shent per shent, or double are quits," being the usual burden of his song. So easily calculated, you know, and all that sorb of thing. It is usually on the quieter side of a busy street that the office man, the merchant, and the banker pursue the even tenor of their way. The measured step, serene countenance, and portly bearing, readily betraying the significance of their calling, while the lineaments of the face may be said to assume the self-com-placent air of an expert card-player, whose only outward visible expression is as a " sealed book," and conveys naught of the fiscal policy of its boasted owner, though trade secrets have been known to be dispensed or made negotiable to the overcurious, but only at the current rate of interest. Should the hour be, say, between five and six p.m., you wiil not unlikely encounter occasional troops of mechanicsstonemasons, labourers, and other craftsmen, returning from their hard day's toil. Their lob, on the average, should by no means be an unhappy one, for their occupation, generally, is of a healthful order, and as "health" usually brings with it contentment and a good appetite, the worry and anxiety of the world's troubles are nob so likely to affect them in the same ratio as those engaged all day in stuffy offices and sedentary pursuits. And provided their wives be cleanly and industrious, and their children well cared for, they should have fewer causes for complaint than have some of their less fortunate neighbours THE SEEDY RESPECTABLE. There iB little difficulty in defining this class of unfortunates, and whom at the present time are unhappily on the increase. Their sad careworn features, accompanied by the vacant stare, which denote an utter insensibility of surroundings, an insensibility, moreover, that may even extend itself to their own personality. A threadbare coat, usually buttoned up to the chin, to disguise their inofficiences, which need not be here mentioned, doubtless constitute their only upper garment. Both hands, too, are thrust deep into trousers pockets, which encounter naught but emptiness. It is self-evident) that this class of man has seen better days. ■ Unable to procure employment, and being too proud to beg, one can only conjecture what may be the probable outcome; bub that, alas! is also a secret best known to himself. Meanwhile an occasional batch of rosy-cheeked maidens hurry by with their school-bags, filling the air with their merry and joyous laughter, refreshingly oblivious of the cares and troubles through which even they may some day have to pass. And so the world goos on, heedless in most part of all else save that which immediately concern themselves. Thus do the grave and the sad to the gay and the thoughtless unconsciously betray themselves.