How many hours,
forenoons and afternoons--how many exhilarating night-times I have
had--perhaps June or July, in cooler air-riding the whole length of
Broadway, listening to some yarn, (and the most vivid yarns ever spun,
and the rarest mimicry)--or perhaps I declaiming some stormy passage
from Julius Caesar or Richard, (you could roar as loudly as you chose
in that heavy, dense, uninterrupted street-bass.) Yes, I knew all the
drivers then, Broadway Jack, Dressmaker, Balky Bill, George Storms,
Old Elephant, his brother Young Elephant (who came afterward,) Tippy,
Pop Rice, Big Frank, Yellow Joe, Pete Callahan, Patsey Dee, and dozens
more; for there were hundreds. They had immense qualities, largely
animal--eating, drinking; women--great personal pride, in their
way--perhaps a few slouches here and there, but I should have trusted
the general run of them, in their simple good-will and honor,
under all circumstances. Not only for comradeship, and sometimes
affection--great studies I found them also. (I suppose the critics
will laugh heartily, but the influence of those Broadway omnibus
jaunts and drivers and declamations and escapades undoubtedly enter'd
into the gestation of "Leaves of Grass.")
PLAYS AND OPERAS TOO
And certain actors and singers, had a good deal to do with the
business. All through these years, off and on, I frequented the old
Park, the Bowery, Broadway and Chatham-square theatres, and the
Italian operas at Chambers-street, Astor-place or the Battery--many
seasons was on the free list, writing for papers even as quite a
youth.
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