ay, and terminates at Wall
street. It is about half a mile in length, and is one of the narrowest
and most inconvenient streets in the city, being less than fifty feet in
width. The houses on each side are tall and sombre looking, and the
street is almost always in the shadow. The roadway is hardly wide enough
for two vehicles to pass abreast, and the sidewalks could never by any
possible chance contain a crowd. Indeed, the street is seldom thronged,
and the people you meet there seem to be possessed of but one desire--to
get out of it as fast as possible. A stranger would, at the first
glance, unhesitatingly pronounce it an inconvenient as well as a
disagreeable thoroughfare, and yet the truth is that it is one of the
most important streets in the city in respect of the amount and variety
of the traffic carried on within its limits.

It would be hard to describe its architecture. Scarcely any two houses
are built alike. At the lower end, in the vicinity of Wall street, iron,
marble, and brown stone structures flourish, but above the Post-office
the buildings are a study. The most of them are old, but all show signs
of vigorous life, and from cellar to attic they are jammed full of busy,
scheming, toiling men.

[Picture: NASSAU STREET.]

Along the street are some of the best known and most trusted banking
houses of the city, and millions of dollars are represented in their
daily transactions. The great Post-office receives and sends out whole
tons of matter every twenty-four hours. The bulk of the periodical, and
a large part of the book-trade are carried on here through the agency of
the great news companies. Real estate men flourish here. Struggling
lawyers seem to think this street the road to success, for here they
cluster by the score. You may buy here diamonds of the purest water, and
others that had better be kept out of water. The most valuable of
watches may be obtained here; also the most genuine pinchbeck timepieces.
If one is a judge of the article he is buying, he may frequently purchase
to advantage in Nassau street, but as a rule he must examine his purchase
closely before paying for it, and be sure he receives what he has
selected. The variety of the pursuits carried on here may be ascertained
only by a diligent perusal of the signs that line the street. Perhaps in
no other thoroughfare is there to be seen such a multitude of signs. The
fronts of the houses are