Peeps at Great Cities

Excerpt from Peeps at Great Cities

New York, with other cities, has a spirit of its own. You notice it very soon after getting there but, of course, like everything else, it takes time to understand this personal side of the place, this individuality. And yet this side is by far the more interesting, and is truly New York. New York is gay, but not with the gaiety of Paris or Vienna, or of the Southern cities. It is a hard, busy gaiety, Without the polished grace of the French capital or the childlike charm of Naples. New York's gaiety is more that of a hard-worked and anxious man, who throws of? His business cares and troubles for a little While, and goes in for what he calls a good time. The English are said to take even their pleasures seriously; and though New Yorkers don't do just that, they do take them in a hurried, restless fashion, and are too often rather rough than merry, as in the New Year and election merry-makings, that, though kindly enough, are more given to horseplay than real fun.