Evening star., 1902-08-02


street piano player has gradually worked
his way from Harlem ton the middle and
park residential districts af the town, and
!. rs Is CHARMED that he picks up from $50 to
keys.
Another of these musicaE wagons contains
Sisht iyToiean singers, four men and four
women the latter exceedingly pretty. They
are all togged out IN the Tyrolean manner
OF dress and makeup The four men have
guitars, and they sing the yodling songs
OF their native mountains with the women.
Ihsir music is very sweet and appealing,
ana the novelty of their street work COM
mandS lot of money from those who see
and listen to them.d These people were
brought over here to take part in a theatri-
cal production that failed to make a hit,
and when they found themselves stranded
they TOOK to this scheme They, probably
earn seEerai times the amount they would
nave mace mad the theatrical venture been
successful by their street singing
Now that the ice has been broken by
tnese open-air wagon specialties, prepara-
tohs are IN hand to spring a number of
new new ones among them a wagon load of
Spanish students. van load of Hunga-
rlanS, comprising Hungarian orchestra,
ana so on After a while the wagon monol-
oglst will probably drift along, if not, in
u1eu, tne open-alr exponent of Hamlet and
Macbeth. 1t remains to be seen how the
theater managers will relish this scheme of
having the New Workers. entertainment
carried to their doors.
An Awful Example.
A few afternoons ago a tot of a girl, less
than four years old, was picked up by a
policeman of one of the uptown precincts
IN a state OF blear-eyed, stupid drunken
ness. The cop took the young one to the
station, where the matron tucked her away
to sleep off her intoxication The young
ones parents appeared at the station in
condition of partial frenzy few hours
fhn;r I. > yir1 4
appeared that they had dropped into a
beer garden together, and the little girl
along with them, early in the afternoon.
Ihey drank several glasses of Rhine wine,
and mad permitted the child to take fire.
quent sips from their glasses, just for the
fun of seeing her drink wine. The little
girl had developed distinct jag from these
frequent sips, and had slipped away from
them unobserved, to be picked up later by
the policeman while wandering aimlessly
about the streets.
Cases in infantile intoxcation are so fire.
quent over here on the part of young ones
whose parents, with a species of imbeci.e
pride, permit them to take draughts from
their glasses of wine and beer, that the
temperance societies of New York are be-
coming aroused over the matter, and they
are now gong after such parents with
sharp stick. There is a good deal of solid
truth In the contention of the temperance
people that the practice SO common among
some parents of children, and particularly
among parents of certain foreign natonall-
ties, Of permitting their children to- sip
from their glasses at the beer gardens and
other open-air resorts where alcoholic
drinks are sold, is a wholly unnecessary,
but decidedly effectual way of manufactur
ing drunkards. The temperance advocates
say that they have the figures to prove that
thousands of the drunkards in this coun-
try have attributed their early development
of a taste for liquor to the sips which were
allowed to be taken when children from the
glasses of their parents.
The temperance societies are going to pc
tition for law making it a misdemeanor,
punishable both by fine and imprisonment,
for parents to give alcoholic beverages to
their children under any circumstances
whatever, unless for medicinal purposes
and under the supervision of a doctor or
apothecary, and there is pretty fair
chance that their petition will be granted.
Whatever may be the underlying cause,
the amount Of drunkenness among mere
children in New York is something appall-
ling to contemplate. In certain sections of
the town there are well-OrganiZed gangs
of boys, their ages ranging from ten to
fifteen, who make a practice of hopping
on to weak-looking adult pedestrians and
robbng them, in order to get together~the
price of "kag' of beer, which they carry
to a vacant lot and guzzle until they are in
a state of brutalized intoxication. At the
political clambakes and other -of-doOr
affairs of the East Side population the num-
Der of miSerably drunken young girls tot
terng around before the festivities are well
under way is some thing sad to see, and yet
such exhibitions attract little atten-
ton, ard elicit no other sensation than that
of mild amusement from the grown indi-
vidualS attending such affairs.
What We Shall See Yet.
1t may be that we shall not see young
Santos-Dumont fly around the Liberty
statue or from Brighton Beach to the Bat
terry, after all. The young Brazilian is said
to be considerably Disguised over the back
wardness of the rich sportsmen of New
York in coming forward with offers to help
him out in the matter Of expenses, in the
form of prizes or otherwise to recoup him
for the outlay which he would have to
make before showing New Workers how
easily he navigates the air. There is, or is
said to be, club of aerial navigators,
composed of rich young Sportsmen in New
York, but nobody appears to know much
about it-where it holds out, it's officers. its
address or anything else about it. 1t is
certain, at any rate, that up to the present
time this club hasn't come to the front
with tenders to back the young airsnip
navigator with the hyphenated name as he
anticipated when he announced that ne
would do his flying around New York and
it is now problematical whether he will do
any sailing around in this upper at ALL
There was some talk of a company being
formed to exploit Santos -Dumont In his
aerial performance but when it was per-
whereby money could be got out Of the pub
lie on the strength of Santos-Dumont's
flights the notion appears to have been
abandoned. 1t was wisely concluded that
nobody would pay money to go into the
incloSure to see the young man starting out
on his aerial sails when they could quite
well see his airship after it was we'll
under way. SantoS-Dumont expresses con-
siderable surprise over the backwardness
of theaaeriai business as sport over this
way. He says that on account of the num-
Der of rich and idle young fellows in this
country, ballooning ought to be mighty
well developed sport in the United States
He remarks that the real "hot sports"
among Frenchmen have long since given
up even the racing end of automobiling as
something too common and non-exciting
and have taken to the navigation of the
air instead. Although Santos-Dumont is
rich young man, he can't very we'll be blamed
for feeling that he ought to have some sort
of backing If he is to soar through the air
for the delectation of the New York pop
ulation. 1t is said by his representatives
that it would take $4,000 at the very
smallest estimate for him to arrange for a
few fights over this way. and II is not