Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-01-04
BOHEMIAN AND BIZARRE :
UNDER LIGHT OF ILLUSION

l Or lLLUSlON
in this backyard table dhote. They all
appear to know each other At any rate.
they talk across the tables to each other.
They all appear to be on parade. They
all appear to be saying unto themselves:
We'll. maybe this isn't Bohemian and
eh?" Most of them essay cpl
grammatic speeches, and some of them
drift into Ollendorf French and become
hopelessly entangled. and become red and
Mustered over IL before they return to the
safer terra frma of English speech. AL
each long table there is one man or wom-
an who appears TO be the leader, the
chairman. the boss, the idol of all the
others at the table. No matter how fiat
and pointless the speeches OF this leader.
the applause of the others at the table
infallibly follows.
Lacking Appreciation.
"Brainy and clever lot. eh?' inquiries
your New York friend. lighting an evil
smelling cigarette-served at the place
while you are waiting for the soup. He
looks somewhat grieved when you merely
reply something that sounds to him like
'Um-m-m.'
When the soup does arrive you find II
to be dishwatery to the last degree. ana
after you taste 1t You look up with the
expectation of hearing him break into an
explosion of disgust over IT, Real thing,
isn't it, he asks you. You are amazed.
for you have known this same man at a
day when he really knew the meaning or
good dinner.
Well. as IS the soup so is the rest of the
backyard table d'hote dinner. The meats
are disguised out of all semblance to
meats. The pastry of the patties is sog-
gy. The vegetables are soggy, and they
are served swimming in a liquid that
seems to be direct from the Dead sea.
The waddling, greasy 250-pound French
man who attends TO your table leans
over your friends chair Familiarity and
asks him If he approves. Your New York
friend does approve enthusiastically and
produces large tip for the "garcon.
When the ragout is served you get a pint
bottle of burgundy. 1t is contained in a
French bottle, but it tastes amazingly
like the burgundy that is sold in San
Francisco for IS cents a gallon. With the
entree you get pint bottle of "sauterne."
1t tastes like a degenerate quality of d.
luted muriatic acid. OF course. you don't
eat; neither do you drink; and thereby
you incur the temporary disapproval or
your New York friend.
Whats the trouble with your he asks
You. peevishly. Have you forgotten how
to appreciate good thing when you go
up against it?'
Not Interested in Museums.
After all, there is no particular reason
for excessive graduation now that it has
been definitely announced that the famous
Kann art collection is to come to the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in this
town. The Metropolitan Museum of Art
is all but neglected by this population.
The average attendance at the museum
isn't much above a hundred-mostly peo-
pie from other cities. No word need to
be said as to what a dismal showing
Matrn 81
Art Is one of the very noblest institutions
of its kind in the whole world. and, broad
ly speaking. New York all but lets it
alone. Only a few years ago the New
because the Metropolitan Museum was
not then kept, open at night. so as to
give the poor people who have to work
all day chance to see the treasures
stored there" So the management of
the museum finally arranged. at consid-
cradle additional expense. to keep the
establishment open until 10 o'clock on
every weekday night For a very little
while there was quite an attendance dur
ing the evening hours, but the novelty
soon wore off. and then the night attend
ance fell away to just about nothing,
and then the museum was closed at night.
1t is the same with reference to that
wonderful New York institution. the Mu-
scum of Natural History, also one of the
most perfect and complete establishments
of it's sort on earth. The extraordinarily
interesting collections on view there are
strangely neglected by this population.
and the attendance is made up almost
wholly of strangers from other cities.
Even the far-famed Central Park Zoo. and
the even finer zoo out at the Bronx,
respectively, attract perhaps fewer Wis.
itors than the Washington Zoo, with
Washington's comparatively scanty popu-
lation to draw from. Down in Battery
Park here there is one of the finest aqua
RUINS in the world. if indeed it is not the
finest, and yet the attendance there Is
so slim that one sometimes is forced to
wonder why 1t is kept open to the public
at all.
Attention is only invited to these facts
for the reason that with especial refer
ence to the announced coming here OF
the Kann collection, the New York edl-
torial commentors betray a tendency to
pat New York and its population upon the
back and to indulge in such whimsical
statements as that the metropolis of New
York is more capable of enjoying and
profting by public art and educational
institutions than any other great city I'm
the western hemisphere-which is. and
should be shown to be. plain moonshine.
CLARENCE l.. CULLEN.