Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-02

herit millions on millions. are to be seen
finding their happiness In the street.-The
plebeian street, where one child is as good
as another. Why do the boys and girls
of these moneyed papas and mammas play
In the street? Simply because the average
house of the wealthy cannot boast enough
green about 1t for chidrens romping
ground. Children must romp If they are
to grow, and so to the streets they go for
their romping.
There is a tradition that the children
Of New York's rich are monotonously con-
Quoted to Central Park of a morning for
their daily outing. Well. those who are
not old enough to protest are taken there
and put on benches, after which the
nurses promptly forget them till the lunch
hour And as for the others, they may
or may not be started for the park. At
any rate, only small minority arrive
there. The call of the street seizes them
before they are beyond sight Of their
stately homes, and thereafter 1t is the part
OF the nurses to play rescuers II at any
time they behold the future money kings
and much-to-be-sought-after heiresses in
danger of being run down by the wagon
of the grocer, the butcher or the candle
stick maker, each of whom respectfully
solicts patronage daily at the rear doors
of the houses sheltering these self-same
endangered youngsters.
You've doubtless read what prim and
proper little bodies the children of New
Yorks rich are. Perhaps they are when
on exhibition in all their regaiia at their
also filled with that degree of ennui which
Is considered smart in the youngest as
well as the oldest OF all who go to make
up the exclusive moneyed set. Perhaps,
then. But never while at play in the
streets. They shout and laugh with all
the abandon of girls and boys whose par
ents are puzzled over where the money Is
coming from to meet next months bills
They deliberately acquire picturesque
coverings of dirt before the mornings fun
is well under way. They squabble and
fight, and show the same jealousies of
childhood that are to be noted in less
favored sections. they play the same
games and play them the same way thus
proving the universal brotherhood of chill
dren.
Favorite Street Game.
Though the base ball sails up and down
New York's thoroughfares at all times
when the national sport is on; though foot
balls unexpectedly bound from asphalt
strips against the windows of brown-stone
mansions and through the open doors of
ramshackle tenement houses; though mar
bles are shot from street curb to street curb
in proper season, it still remains true that
the street game par excellence for the New
York boy is that very, very venerable game
of cat"
Rich boy. poor boy, beggar's boy, thiefs
boy. and yes, immigrants boy-ail the boys
who live on Manhattan know how to play
the game of cat" They play 1t, too, all
the year round. The only time the cat is
let rest Is when the streets are covered with
snow and 1t is impossible for lack of solid
surface to send it whirling by well direct
ed bat while il Is rising In the air from the
initial blow on its tail.
Cat is played In some other communities
In this country, but In none with the intens-
ity and devotion displayed In New York.
In still other cities and towns 1t is wholly
unknown | have asked numerous persons
coming to New York after passing their
boyhood years elsewhere II they have ever
seen cat played in their boyhood home
towns. In the majority of cases the an
swers have been In the negative And my
self have lived in several cities and towns
and not until moved to the metropolis DID
get acquainted with the good old game OF
cat. How do I,know it is a good old game?
Who could help forming such an opinion of
Il after watching half dozen boys knock
ing their cat up and down the street for
hours at q time and beholding the joy in
their faces while they are at Il?
OF course, the New York game of cat is
not exactly like that which the children of
Mesopotamia. who filed the old valley with
laughter when the earth was young, played
Neither Is It like, in all particulars. to the
kind of cat that today entertatns tho tur-
baned youngsters OF the Iran plateau, as 1t
doubtless did their predecessors of several
thousand centuries agone Nor is the Ashanti
boys game a duplicate of the New York
boys. Yet. were Mesopetamian boy and
Persian boy and black boy to be set down
before crowd Of New York boys diligently
playing their game of cat, each of the
sturdy little strangers would recognize in 1t
the basic principles of his own beloved
game of cat. speedily seek admittance to
IT, aud as speedily become versed In the
New York wrinkles.
There is this general popularity about
the game of cat in New York-it has diff
Terminating features In various parts Of the
city. The game as played on the upper
West side Is not altogether like that played
on the East Side. for example. and the East
Side variation and cat of the Harlem boys
do not agree in every respect. These local
variations are handed down from one gener-
alton of boys to another, and cherished by
them Therefore. II you should ask three
New Workers born how the game of cat is
played, and from each should receive an
explanation different in one or more re-
spects from the others, do not think that
here is confusion worse COMPOUNDED
what game did enjoy most when | was
a youngster?" repeated the judge. New
York born boy whose reputation has reach
ed beyond his native city. Cat. And what
would / play now if official dignity did not
hedge me about like bristiing bayonets?