CHAPTEE ly
 

FIFTH AVENUE

The New Eetail Shopping District

The first thing that strikes the stranger in New
York is the large number of well-dressed people
seen on this street. And I mean by that not well
dressed in the ordinary acceptance of the term, but
elaborately so. It is no exaggeration to say that in
no city in the world is there a street so altogether
attractive as Fifth Avenue from Madison Square
to Carnegie Hill. It is the one thoroughfare which
by common consent has been reserved for the use
of polite society. No unsightly wagons filled with
hind quarters of beef or other ill-smelling merchan¬
dise are permitted to invade its classic precincts.
The most plebeian vehicle is the bus, and even that
charges double the fare of other cars and im¬
parts a corresponding sense of superiority. All
other commercial transportation is vigorously ex-
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