News-boys, street-sweepers, rag-pickers, begging girls filled the galleries of these places of amusement.

Here is the clerical visitor's description of the thoroughfare that was then the second principal street of the city: "Leaving the City Hall about six o'clock on Sunday night, and walking through Chatham Square to the Bowery, one would not believe that New York had any claim to be a Christian city, or that the Sabbath had any friends.

The shops are open, and trade is brisk.

Abandoned females go in swarms, and crowd the sidewalk.

Their dress, manner, and language indicate that depravity can go no lower.