Travels in Philadelphia - 1920 Author:Christopher Morley Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: MEETING THE GODS FOR A DIME Ip We had to choose just one street in Philadelphia to the exclusion of all others, probably our greatest affection would be for L... more »udlow street. We have constituted ourself the president, publicity committee and sole member of the Ludlow Street Business Men's Association and Chamber of Commerce. We propose in this manifesto to make known to the world just where Ludlow street is, and why it is so fair. Ludlow street is not in any sense a thoroughfare. It does not fare through, for its course is estopped by several bulky buildings. It reappears here and there in a whimsical, tentative manner. We do not pretend to know all about Ludlow street, nor have we charted its entire course. But the pith and quintessence of this runnel of culture is trod almost daily by our earnest feet. Our doings with Ludlow street begin when we turn off Eleventh street and caress the flank of the Mercantile Library in an easterly gambit. Then, with our noso cocked for any wandering savors from the steaming roast beeves of a Tenth street ordinary well known to epicureans, we dart along until our progress is barred by the Federal Building. This necessitates a portage through the Federal Reserve Bank on to the roaring coast of Chestnut street. We double back on Ninthand find Ludlow reappearing just above Leary's Book Store. Here it is that our dear Ludlow street finds its mission and meaning in life. From the tall- browed facade of the Mercantile Library it has caught a taste for literature and against the north wall of Leary's it indulges itself to the full. Perhaps you would think it a grimy little alley as it twists blithely round Leary's, but to us it is a porchway of Paradise. How many hours we have dallied under that little penthouse shelter mulling over the ten-cen...« less