To attend the New York City anti-war demonstration Young wore heavy corduoroy pants with brown and black stripes, "Trek" shoes by Clark, a nondescript, grey-brown cotton shirt, a green Italian wool sweater and a blue, black and green ski jacket by Descente. On his head was a magnificent raccoon hat with the ear flaps down. His eyeglasses were variable, light-sensitive, tortoise shells by Persol.

Prior to leaving his cave Young fortified himself by consuming a thick Polish split pea soup, to which he had added sliced Italian sausage of a type known as Christmas sausage, with lentils supposedly used in making it, although they were undetectable. One slice of pumpernickel bread completed the meal.

He left at about 1PM, an hour after the time scheduled for the demonstration, and it took him about a half-hour to get there.

The food and clothing served him well on the 1 1/2 mile walk in bitter cold up an almost empty First Avenue, preceded and followed by a line of similarly-minded New Yorkers. He noticed a few amusing signs - "Stop Mad Cowboy Disease" and "Duct You" were among them. Above 34th street police and barricades were everywhere. They kept the avenue empty past the United Nations, and, at 51st Street, Young turned west to Third Avenue where the demonstration was concentrated. The avenue was jampacked with demonstrators. From ground level, the extent of it was impossible to guage.

But, if Young calculates that he had to slide past 60 people to get across the avenue and if his passage required a two foot clearance then, if the crowd extended for twenty city blocks (according to news reports) or a mile (5,280 feet) that means there was a row of 60 people every 2 feet making the calculation 60 x 2,640 or 158,400. In other words, at the moment Young crossed Third Avenue, there were 158,400 people on it. This, of course does not take into account the comings and goings of numerous people, the side streets thst were filled and the countless number who were deterred by the extreme cold. In short, Young thinks it is fair to say that more than no less than half-million people came into the area for the purpose of showing their opposition to war. A tremendous showing.

The crush was so great that one of Young's two bodyguards was separated from him as he crossed Third Avenue to get to the other side.

Young saw and heard nothing of the famous people whose presence will no doubt be adequately reported in the media. He did however see an elderly man with a shopping cart who was giving out well-reasoned "Impeach Bush" leaflets. He also saw countless "typical" New Yorkers of all ages, including some in ordinary wheelchairs and in the motorized variety. In short, it was the sort of crowd that defies characterization as loony extremists.

The size and seriousness of the demonstration has already been obliquely recognized by the Bush administration. An early comment scripted for Bush said something to the effect that "if there were 500,000 demonstrating they should ponder the fact that Saddam has killed more than that number."

To which I would say "Ponder the fact that the people of the United States are pulling on your reins." And this is not the end.

Daniel Young