BOURKE-STREET, MELBOURNE, ON SATURDAY NIGHT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 1955, 5 February 1878, Page 4

BOURKE-STREET, MELBOURNE, ON SATURDAY NIGHT.

(By A. M., m the Australasian.) Two rival Yankee operators once bid high against each other f«r the favor of the public. The- first would shave a customer and cut his hair for a " quarter," the second would do both, and shampoo him besides, and pare his corns, for a like sum. At last the competition ran so high that the public could have all these services rendered, and m addition could have its teeth pulled and its portrait taken fora " dime." Though no such bargain is to be got m Bourke-street of a Saturday night, one can get a great many things done for him there and then on payment of a very small sum, by employing different operators. He can get his boots cleaned, and he can be magnetised, or electrically shocked. He can also ascertain his exact height and weight, the power of his arm and the strength of his lungs. All this is done I by means of elaborate apparatus and machines, and there seems to bo no reason to question the accuracy of the result obtained. For people who like to be astonished and mystified, opportunity is afforded to look through an unbore'l brick for a penny, and for those whose aspirations are after the grander phenomena of nature there is a really good telescope, through which they can have a peep for twopence, the owner taking care to keep the instrument directed to the object of most interest which happens to be visible. These, however, are all matters of science or of natural magic. A deeper and more thrilling interest attaches to the proceedings of the soothsayers and fortune-tellers who practise m the streets by night. And it is undoubtedly a great convenience to a man hungering after selfknowledge to be a,ble, with an accurate statement of his height, &c., m his pocket (like a weighbridge ticket), to obtain at only a few paces distance similar information m regard 1 , to bis moral and mental constitution. Yet this he can do, for thej small charge of one shilling. Further, the craniologisi tells his customers what kind of employment they are best suited for, and furnishes a list of the items m their mental organisation which they should cultivate and develop, and also of those' others which they should sedulously repress. Sometimes those ingenious gentlemen drive a good business, mostly among visitors from the country, and it is noticeable that their delineations of character generally strike the subject under examination as being remarkably correct, and only explicable on this supposition that the operator had privily received information beforehand m regard to him. The characters given arc indeed clever, but they come from the inside of the operators' own skulls rather than from the outside of their subjects'. The craniologist takes the measure of his man, and proceeds accordingly. If he can discover no salient point, he keeps to safe generalities, and says that "this young man has considerable natural ability, and would be sure to make a 6gure m the world if only he had a little ■more application ;" or (of a conceited-look-ing fellow) "if he could only confine his attentions to the one fair damsel at a time he would come out all right, but genera] lovers for the most part make a mess of it m the end," Whereat there is a laugh from the young man's friends, and great increase of reputation to the phrenologist. If: an elderly and not too prosperous looking workman submits his bumps foi examination, he is told that "his mental qualities eminently qualify him to shine as a lawyer, say, or a bishop, but he had been wrongly directed m his choice of a pursuit m life ;" a seedy-looking man m black is informed . that " his forte is mechanical invention," &c, all of which is highly pleasing to the ear, since most people are firmly convinced that iv any other than" their actual walk m life they would have come well to the front. One successful trottolr phrenologist trusts m a good deal to his sense of smell. He sniffs round his subject m the hope that he may pick up a hint to guide him to safe conclusions, but he often makes amusing mistakes. He onco told a man that he had about him all the best qualities of a sea captain and discoverer, because he thought he smelt tar, whereas the subject was merely a schoolmaster who had been seeking relief from the agony of a raging tooth by the application of cieosote ; or if he thought there was an odor of putty about, or of cedar or mahogany, ho would say that the gentleman under examination would shine m constructive or decorative art, as a marine architect say, or as a portrait painter. And it be did g» rather wide of the mark sometimes, he was often right, 'and m empirical science one hit out-weighs any t number of failures. Fortune-telling by moans of canaries is at present much practised m Bourkestreet. A long cage is divided into compartments by thin wire partitions, which are not easily seen, and are observed only by a few. In each there are birds, and m a vA.dk on a platform m front of the cage there are' little packages, like seidlitz powders, neatly arranged. These are called " plaueta," and contain characters or prognostications of several sorts and qualities, suited to the different sexes and varying ages of clients. When a customer pays his sixpence one bird is liberated, and immediately proceeds to select a powder or planet, being, of course, limited m its choice to that kind which will most nearly meet the case. Having made his selection, he is rewarded by a few grains of seed. Of course there are many ways of making the planets allotted seem to be exceedingly correct. When an elderly woman is told that she would ,have led a happier and more peaceful life if she had married her .first love, she at once recognises the truth of the statement, and has hor natural resentment against her present possessor pleasantly stimulated. If a young matron is warned thatshe will havo trouble withher fifth son, but iv the end he will turn out a credit and a pride to hor, she is naturally gratified, though, perhaps at the siune time thrilled with a sweet solicitude., When a young lady is warned against encouraging the hopes of too many! admirers at the same time, and assured that the one who says least is often the most sincere and constant, and will make the best husband, she is supplied with food for delightful cogitation. When a young girl is said to have dangers to encounter at about the age of fifteen, and that her parents should, watch after her carefully at that period, the statement is a. mere truism no doubt, but it ia highly suggestive of romantio adventures in' the future, and feeds the imagination of the young lady who is the subject of it, m a way that is quite fascinating. ' ! ".' Among the most rioted conjurorb of Bourke-street and the Eastern Market on Saturday night is the man with ! the, p*urses and half r crowns. He offers' a purse for a shilling, but no one accepts. He then, takes a , hatf-croiyu from a wjallet hanging from his'side and throws itinto

the purse. " Anybody have it now for a j bob 1 No V Then he throws m several more half-crowns, one at a time. The audience sees them thrown m, and hears , the rattle of them quite distinctly ; but ' there is an impression abroad that the ! thing is too good to be true. At last, i when the purse obviously contains several i pounds m silver coin, someone's greed overcomes his prudence, and he hands m hi 3 shilling, only to get m exchange, of course, an empty purse. How the thing is done no one can discover ; it is unquestionably a clever trick. But a cleverer trick was played off upon the conjuror the other day, if all is true that I hear. Spying among his audience a man whom he knew slightly (and trade being slack at the time) he gave him a sly wink, the purport of which the other readily guessed. Then a purse was put up m the usual way, and after a time sold to the stranger, when, behold ! it was found to contain several genuine half-crowns, which, having been duly exhibited to the public, the lucky purchaser coolly walked away with. This was mean conduct, but I think the conjuror will be even with his false friend another time. It seems strange that this kind of business should pay. The half-crown man works as hard as a coal-whipper, and exercises as much skill and dexterity as a watchmaker, and yet his gains cannot be great. But then he probably knows his own business best ; if not, he is no conjuror. It has often puzzled observant visitors to Bourke-street to understand why so much business should be transacted there after 10 o'clock on Saturday night. The purchase of perishable articles of food at this late hour is partly explained by their perishableness, and partly by the procrastinating habits which too largely obtain among the working classes. But why the buying of necessary articles of hardware and crockery, woodwareand drapery, should be similarly deferred is more obscure. Yet so.it is, and m the Eastern Market chaffering for tea-kettles and washing-tubs goes on briskly until close upon the advent of every succeeding Sunday — just as briskly as the dealing m cabbages and eggs. Perhaps it is that the buyers do not really come to the market to provide themselves with household furniture or clothing, but are drawn on to buy through seeing articles of which they partly stand m need, under the magnifying and improving glare of gaslight, and when to some extent under certain genial influences which tend to the opening of the heart and the slackening of the purse-strings. Then there is the eloquence of the sellers to be taken into account, and that business ingenuity which m our day has provided for the supply of a thousand wants of which nobody was ever conscious until it was pointedly brought under his notice by people with wares to dispose of. The insinuating vendor of household glue and infallible cement suggests to the minds of many people, m the course of his pleasant and plausible harangue, that they have fractured fire screens at home, or China cups, or Dresden' shepherdesses, and that now is their chance to rehabilitate their property by the purchase of a sixpenny packet. The prudent householder who has never found the mixture oi batter, the beating of eggs, or the pairjing of apples onerous tasks, discovers all ai once how troublesome they are when the vendor of Yankee notions submits to hex attention little machines that' will perform those duties almost by their own unaided exertions. When a' compendious implement that" will sharpen saws, and cnl glass, and nip fencing wire — that will, m fact, perform nearly every domestic dutj except get up m the morning to take m the milk — is offered for sale at a ridiculously low price, many buy it eagerly , wondering how they have got on so long m tolerable comfort without it, and without 'staying to reflect that they never ck require to sharpen saws or cut fencing wire at home. Similarly, when bunches of herbs are brought under notice from which an infusion may be obtained which is a sovereign remedy for all the ills that afflict the bodies or the minds of mankind, many people at once become aware of mysterious bodily pains and uneasinesses, of perturbations of the mind and inequalities of the temper, from which they have long suffered, and hopefullj invest m the proffered vesjetables. All this is, perhaps, for the good of the trade, and tends to the more equitable distribution of capital. At all events, it makes up much of the Saturday night Bourke-street traffic, which depends greatly upon a'judicious utilisation of the forces which Sam Slick designated " human natur an' soft sawder." The coffee stalls are a promiuent feature m the Bourke-street Saturday night presentment. There will be seen cheek by jowl the larrikin and the swell, the hornj-handed and sober-minded son of toil and the street-Wcilker. • And' why riot ? If a civil service clerk and a cabman choose to sup at the cost of sixpence, who is to say them nay 1 Lcose women must have , their food like others, and a respectable father of a family may eat his saveloy and . drink his coffee m close proximity with members of their class, and take no harm. If he keeps himself to himself, as the phrase runs, nobody will interfere with him. And this brings me to an important branch of the Bourke-street Saturday night question, upon which I have no wish ..to enlarge, but cannot altogether neglect. Hundreds — perhaps thousands — of young women and girls parade the street of a Saturday evening, going up and down between Spring and Elizab'ethstreets for an hour or more, and there are not, wanting so-called social reformers who would have us believe that they are there for immoral purposes, or that if they are not intentionally arid deliberately there , for such, purposes, they are ,at least open r for improper proposals. Ido not believe a word of it, and I have as good sources of information on the subject as any social reformer. They are for . the most part girls who have spent the week m constant and depressing toil m shops, and factories, and workrooms, and theyfrequentßourke-street of aSaturday night that they may breathe a little fresh air, and look into the shop windows and enjoy the exhilaration of seeing the crowd, and, perhaps, meeting friends of their own sex or the opposite sex. That they would be better and safor at home reading improving bopkß and darning their stockings may be true enough, but we do no not find that the members of any;class iiabitually practise self-denial, and lead the life that is most likely to conduce to their own best interests here, and hereafter. Then why, expect so much- from Melbourne, work-girls, mostly frif pious and vain, no doubt, but siich as circumstances and education (or the want of it), co-operating with the inherent sinf aliXeßs of , human nature (as we are asked ,to believe), ; have .made them ? I have seen" the mill -girls : of Manchester and Staley - bridge, ' of Glasgow, Dundee/: and Belfast, take their ; much-needed airing m their respective city streets at night, and little evil be, thought of it, little evil come of it f The chief difference between those antl.

our own factory girla is that the former t went generally bare-headed and some- J times bare-footed, whereas the Melbourne a working women are nearly all sufficiently j and neatly clad. Of course Ido not like ( B to see young girls m Bourke-street at t night, except under the care of respon- j sible protectors ; but, as a truthful de- £ pictor of the scenes which the street ] presents, I feel it to be my duty to protest again 3 1 the injurious allegations j so often made m regard to a class very 1 numerous among its luibitues, which cannot be known to be true, and which , there is not sufficient reason to believe to be true. If there is anything seriously ! amiss m our social condition, we do not ; go the right way to work to mend it by ; grossly exaggerating its extent. '■