And I was in and out of many a one.

I remember, in those days, on the east side of Broadway, between Sixth and Seventh, from corner to corner, there was a solid block of saloons.
In the saloons life was different.

Men talked with great voices, laughed great laughs, and there was an atmosphere of greatness.

Here was something more than common every-day where nothing happened.

Here life was always very live, and, sometimes, even lurid, when blows were struck, and blood was shed, and big policemen came shouldering in.