Show among the bulls bolls and bears suppose we ve tane tune a look at the raetta raetia erie erle suggested my vall wall street friend 99 fhe rhe rho menagerie where is it cl just up the street we sometimes call it tile the bear garden or tho lunatic slum asylum um for a change 11 by either of these names it seems reems the new york stock exo 3 lange iange is more familiarly known in ia the region of bulls and bean bears t ian lan by its proper one A stranger catering at a time of excitement in the stock market would ta eon enn consider sider the ast last name the mot mo t appropriate at atsuchi such a time alime downright tu madness aaness seems to rule supreme tile the scene presented iq is one of such sueh clamor confusion furious gesticulation and wild sur surging hill and swaying of tile the crowds of grog brokers on the floor that a person witnessing it for the first time might ver veny very naturally regard the roaring hu hustling tain 0 bell beli bellowing C throng as a masa meeting of violent lunatics standing in the gallery provided for the public and looking down upon the three or four iT undred hundred men who struggle and shout and scramble below the stranger may well wonder what uli uil all ill the tumult la is about and whether any real business can bo be done in tile the midst of such buch mad confusion it seems im pOssible that these men can understand each other they are scattered in swaying groups over the floor of the large chambor chamber an and d almost every man in each cael I 1 group appears to be in de desperate erato enato altercation ater mrea wrea cation catlon tion with his neighbor neighbor A hundred ba hands ads are shaking violently before a hundred faces a hundred throats are aro boarin roaring 0 as though their owners were so many screaming lor loy dervishes anda and to make tho the dea deafening cf Ig din still greater squads of well weli ell eli grown boys rush hither and aud thither between the groups calling brokers by name in the highest and shrillest shrill est key their voices can command surely no bedlam ever presented a more turbulent scone scene or one mom more dating and bewildering to an unaccustomed mind than may bo be witnessed in the stoc stock L exchange when the excitements excite ments of a field day stir up the spirits of the bulls and beals beats about ab out eighty elgg eigg lity years ago in 1702 1 02 this famous institution was established if the ruin it has wrought financially and morally as well as as tha thu good it has done alie tho the millions illions ra that have been lost and tho the fortunes that have been made through its instrumentality y the brains that havo have boen been turned the hearts that have been drus crushed hod bod and tho the homes that havo have been destroyed st or made prosperous and bright since speculation began within its walls if all these could ba ascertained and fittingly des described crib erlb they would form an impressive and valuable study for philanthropist or economist it asand is and always has been a sort of maelstrom in which argosy after argosy has boen boon and utterly wrecked and yet so powerful is the charm of speculation that all tile the mostly losson lessons which the tile stock each exchange arige hils has taught have failed to warn inexperienced marinero mariners ma from irom its dang dangerous orous onous straits where scylla awaits them upon oho otio eide cide and dis aa as surely shiely on the tho other othen of course all who venture thither hope to pass through in safety but the hope except in rare instances is never realized Alm aim almost as well might a person penson who could not swim throw himself into the deep water with tho the hope that some accident would save him from drowning I 1 speak now of speculators of tho the class known in wall street as the dear public the regular proc professionals fessio nals of the street are not to be confounded with them the latter are the wh whales alegand and the former the little fish or I small ismall fry 11 on which they feed he must bo be a very clever little fish indeed who rho can always get away from the leviathan strangers visiting the tiie stock exchange always express surprise at the youthfulness of the tilo men by whom the enormous business of the place is transacted hearing so often of the money moncy kings york and naturally picturing to themselves solid loo kingmen men well oil on in middle life as the bulls and bears of tile the groat great stock market they are astonished at finding merely a multitude of young men most of whom have the appearance of clerks and any one of whom will on the slightest provocation yell at an unknown visitor like a comancho comanche or apache savage the magnates of the street who are aro the tho men we all read of in the newspapers are hardly ever seen newspapers in t the e exchange and some even are not members off they tiley generally remain in the background concoct their gians glans plans in little private offices nyi aud and issue instructions t to their various brokers asa as a general issues orders to his subalterns subal terns on a battlefield battle field one of these magnates may havo have half a dozen brokers employed in tho the E exchange change chan at the tile same time without one of the six knowing that that nive five others aro ire ure uro executing orders from the same man that employs him it is by the lecresy of their operations that tile the leading 0 bulls and bears achieve particular success and I 1 in order that there shall be no leakage of information they keep all their plans and purposes to themselves the whole number of brokers who have the privilege of trad trading in cusat in the 0 exchange is about albut one th thousand d while the number c ct t operators re ret cognized as is leaders probably does not exceed twenty fil iii nive five ve or thirty y these aro are the captains who organize and conduct campaigns the others aro arc the tile rank and file who do the lighting elgh ting bellowing and goring or growling and squeezing according ing to their classification under the signs of Taur taurus usand and ursus A broker desiring to become a member of the exchange is required to undergo a sort of inquisition before a committee in order that his qualifications may bo be determined he must also make a full statement of his ills business affairs q and satisfy the committee chath that he e asin Ls in a proper financial condition if he passes the examination successfully ho he must then purchase 3 a seat in tile the board or in other word words pay spay for the privilege of memberships this privilege Is an expensive one at the present time a seat costs from eight to nine thousand dollars which must bo be paid before the purchaser can do any business in the exchange e A A year ago tho the price was from four to five thousand the value of beats seats varies vanies according to the tho demand if a broker falls fails in business lie can neither use his seat nor sell it until his affairs are settled the seat is held as rm apart a part of his assets and may bo be sold suld for the benefit of his creditors taking ther the number of seats in the board at one thousand seat by the way is a misnomer for seats would only be in the way during tho the daily battles on the floor and the price of each at nine thousand dollars the total value of membership ill in tho tile stock Mc exchange change chango is ii found to reach nearly a million dollars an increase of one hundred per percent cent within a year it requires very stringent rules to keep the lively gentlemen of the exchange within any bounds of propriety propriety A stockbroker stock broker though he e be thirty years old and not many are much beyond this afef age C is 18 just as sure to be in mischief as an irrepressible schoolboy school boy unless business or tilo the rules of the board deter him ho he is a volatile and exuberant animal who finds delight in pranks and peccadilloes and looks upon the playing of practical jokes a almost as a duty anee Ance anecdotes dotes innumerable i annu might bo be told to illustrate his penchant for fun and frolic when not engaged bullin bulling 11 or bear bearing hig stocks lie he is pretty prett sure url to be bre found indulging an g in somo wild sort soft or 01 capers w with this the familiar and standard term for his associates now and then when business is dull lie he starts a war whoop in which lie is quickly joined by fifty others other and presently he be and the fifty arc skylarking lar ling all over the hall if the season be tho the end of summer when the time for discarding white hats is supposed to have arrived and a member enters with one of these objects on his head it 13 18 is 13 sure to come to grief immediately before he is fairly inside a howl of derision dision is raised arid and the hat knocked ox off and kicked off in turn by every foot that can reach it the owner takes all ail this as a matte matter of course and seldom loses his temper over it even though lie he himself be hustled all over the hall hali after his hat next day he may have a chance to retaliate and he surely will not allow it to pass unimproved the entrance of a new member affords a gala time to the boys he mut must be initiated without delay and as lie ho knows tilts this beforehand before liand lland lie ho prepares himself for the ordeal the moment he enters a signal that all understand is given by someone some one near liim him it is no sooner heard through the hall than a wild denion demoniac fae fac yell yeli is raised and the newcomer new comer is is instantly surrounded by a sera scrambling screaming shoving crowd ills 1114 4 hat Is likely to bo be tile the first object oba act of attack the brokers seem to have a special antipathy to hats when the mood for frolic is on if they do not crush the neophytes felt or castor over his liis eye eyes they are sure to send it flying hying to the cel cei ceiling ling some sixty feet foot above and each time it comes down it is returned heavenward with an exultant shout in the meantime its owner is receiving attentions not much milder than those bestowed on tile the hat the boys have taken him in hand and are hustling and hauling him all around the tiie chamber if he is not too heavy to be lifted they have taken him up bodily and are p play lay inga inta queer game of pitch and toss with him throwing him hither and thither from one group toan tonn to an other as though lie were an call y rather than u mail man presently perhaps they get him hina to the centre of tile the hall where whore the there re is a large lame 1 table and I 1 despite his struggles to get away lie he is laid nat hat on sub subjected ejected to a new process of jocular persecution As many of the boys as ure uro aro are within iri lri reaching distance seize him tty liy legs feet arms and head and pull and drag him jilin over the table now to one si denow donow to another until the poor fellow who wiio generally preserves goodnature all ali almost breathless when they finally release him his hair iball is all ail over im 1113 face his collar and cravat probably have disappeared his hat ilat is battered utterly out of shape bis ills coat colit I 1 is either rent down the back or dep deV deprived rIved ofa gfa of a skirt one of his boots if it not both has parted company with his liis feet and his vest and linen are mussed ed in a way to make a proper housewife groan with despair but the ordeal ia 14 now past the new man has become a broker in good standing ding and is ready an hour later to join his persecutors in new mischief or contribute hn his share to tho uproar of a struggle between bulls and bears boars but there is no delight fo enjoyable to these mischievous merry makers as that of catching a astray stray countryman on tho floor fluor T the h e stock E exchange seems seem to have particular attractions for our bucolic friends coming to town on a visit they have heard a gre great it deal about abom it and being in town tiley they want to see what it itis is it is against the rules for any person not a member to go upon the floor but buot occasionally a gentle gentleman maii mali from the rural e equipped aped with carpetbag carpet ba bag and umbrella um biella luli lull a and knowing nothing about this rule slips past the doorkeeper door kee hee keeper er unnoticed but if the bloor koeper keeper overlooks bl him im tho the boy boys a do not the ina lne stant instant he I 1 is feen seen two or three brokers move quietly between him and the door hnit and then elbow and push hini him forward apparently by accident yli get him a considerable sid erable distance from it one of them then cries out wat new Tennes sees ees the meaning of this is known by all it is a signal that a stranger is on the floor instantly the whole business of tho place is sus a terrific yell is raised one that would do credit to any band of savages on oil tho the continent and the frightened aud and bewildered countryman finds I 1 himself 11 f pit pitched ched and hustled thither up and and do jowui ans across al and 1 d arai anAs li nuby U by a surging riz rivo rig crowd and if he lie looks upward lie he may see his hat dancing through the air in one direction his carpet bag in another and his hia venerable jim umbrella brella lna ina in a third but fortunately for the stranger there is help at hand one of or tile the door doorkeepers keepers dashes into the crowd grasps him jilin by bi tho the collar and pulls him jilin by main force to the door whither his hat carpetbag carpet bag and umbrella um biella follow him and aud lie ho makes his way to the a as 3 quickly as lie he can call hardly knowing know ing whether lie he has escaped from a band baud of indians ora or a lunatic asylum but ery very glad to have escaped at all it is very rarely that any one is injured in these sports of or the brokers the tile play may maybe be somewhat rough but there is no intention to hurt and nerves and clothing surfer suffer about the tho only damage that is done of the thousands of practical jokes played placed in the tile exchange one of a comparatively harmless character may bo be related the cloakroom cloak room connected with the hall ball is a recep bicle for the overcoats canes and overshoes of members one very disagreeable day last winter whiter when the streets were deep in slush business was extremely dull and the spirit considerably depressed as well owing to the condition of the streets most of the brokers had worn overshoes c chiefly of the kind known as when wilen going to the boar dand all the shoes i were a as usual deposited in tile the cloakroom cloak room when the dullness of the day had become almost intolerable one of the tiie boys conceived a bright idea to relieve it moving slyly to tile the cloakroom cloak room lie ho got a large cloak and spread it on oil the floor their then gath gathering erig all tile tiie shoes within ills his reach into tile the cloak ho he I 1 picked up his prize pike and moved quietly back to the hall stationing himself in a corner with the bundle at ins his feet A minute later a shoe was seen whirling through the i air and then another and another brokers thinking some one oile was throwing their siles shoes out of the cloakroom cloak room made a rush ruil thit herbut found no one ane there then turning around they found tile the air rapidly thickening with overshoes overshoe which soon fell in a heavy sho their heads it did not take tate them long to find out tile the cause of the tile phenomena the mail man with the bundle was quickly discovered and in all an instant the spirit of mischief had broken loose all through the tile hall liall the shower show er of shoes thickened and thickened until the air became actu actually allN dark with these articles arid and when tho tile sport finally ceased the tile overshoes of two or three hundred members were so mixed and scattered about |