The age-herald., 1899-08-25
THE ROOF GARDENS
 OF GAY NEW YORK The Audience as Entertaining as
 the Show. THRONGSfROM OUT OfJOWN The Old Olympia Under the Management ofLederer is Crowded Each Night Maggie Cline and Marie Dress
 Ter Are Prime Favorites.
THRONGS FROM OUT OfJOWN
BY ANNIE ksNpR,oK WALKER

terfere with the Dreyfus trial?" said a
 young university man to a German student
 last night, as they sat together at one of
 the New York roof gardens. "rhe em- peror is obliged to know the guilty man and why does he not take steps to clear the matter up?''
 The German student, turning his eyes from the picaninny cake walk which he thought was a clever reproduction of southern custom, said quite calmly, Why dent your president interfere?" "The president knows nothing of the l affair except the details given out by news | papers, but the German emperor knows
 tine man who sold the military secrets. He 1 knows the writer of the letters found at 1 the German embassy"
 '"TEe emperor" said the young fellow
 with the scars, lis like the rest of us. He 1 only knows the newspaper side of the at- l fair, and the newspapers are able to make l Dreyfus innocent or guilty l They cannot make him a criminal" an- l ewered the American, Fin view of recent
 testimony. But what is incredible to me-" 1 he continued, "is that an innocent man l is made to suffer for the sake of the army. 1 In this country it would be impossible for l a human being to suffer such degrada- l tion for the love of the army" And then they went on to speak of the armies
 ''The training of tine army man." said the young student, lis more severe in Germany than in any other country. For this reason the discipline of the Ger
 man army surpasses that of any other.
  advantage."
 The young American to whom he spoke glanced at the scars. He was smiling at
 duelling and mentally comparing it to American football. He could do this and
 yet enjoy the brilliant scene before him.
 The superiority of the German officer over
 the American which his companion had
 politely asserted brought him from Bo- hemia.
 Do you mean to say that your officers are superior to ours?" he said, and then he told him all about the superb discipline of West Point. "Take the American off, cer. Where can you find his equal for mili- tary training, for bravery for honor?'' '"Your officers" replied the young student" were once privates. In Germany l privates cannot become officers. The mli- tary titles are regulated by the social posi- tion of the soldier quite much as by the qualities of the man himself" The American went on then in that
 glorious democratic way to say that while
 social position was alright, still it was
 what the man himself did that proved his
 right to remain in the American army. "I
 do not think" he said, "that tine son of a rapnickar or fhiaf annld m fc of the army, but I know of hundreds of instances where an American has won distinction in the army upon his own merit and without any pull on the part of his family"
 He recalled the case of young Alabam- ian whom many of you know, who entered the army as a private at IS and received a commission solely upon his own merit. At West Point" he continued" the men are dropped out for first one cause and then another and the American army is thus rid of any objectionable men," But" the German said, still speaking of the training of the German army, your army men over here do not have field prac- tice and service in the regiment or at the front"
 "Oh," answered the other, i've may not have all that, except when we kill off a few Spaniards.'' But here the women in the party protested to further discussion of the superiority of the men who wear regi- mentals The American army was of course the only one in the world, and if it is fam fly prestige that makes the soldier, or the etiquette of the drawing room, or honesty and bravery, why, the American soldier
 hoe fu1 hO1ca n draw tO what is the
 use of discussing the subject, anyway? And
 then one woman present, firmly convinced
 of the superiority of everything American, looking at the gay scene before her, knew that at least in this country such a scene could not be reproduced as that of the roof gardens of New York They are in full swing in August, and if one wants to see any friends from the south they are pretty apt to be met at one of the roof gardens, for with the New Workers out of town for the season, their place is at once filled with throngs of pleasure seekers from all parts of the country.
 The picturesque assemblage at the roof gardens is consequently largely made up of out-of-town persons who are also to be
 found these summer afternoons at the near by beaches. The incoming excursion boats
 at night, however, are crowded to their ut
 most capacity, and by the time that Broad-
 way and Fifth avenue resume their glar- ing brilliancy and the lights from the roof gardens dazzzle the eyes, the procession along the streets in point of numbers is not unlike the brilliant crowds of the winter season.
 A roof garden is at its best by 10 o'clock. | There are late corners at Il, and few saunter in at the close of the performance, order something to drink and stay for the music until past midnight. But it is earlier | than this that the tables and chairs are | crowded and that the throng is jolliest. | The New York roof garden, think, is quite | the most popular one this season. One finds there the smartest looking gathering, and after all an audience can | entertain one quite as much as Les Trois | Amourences.
 l When Anna Held lisped French across