The daily sentinel., 1909-01-07
SWIFT TIMES in
GAY new YORK
LBy Glenn Guernsey. ]

S"i 'V' 70 spouse.
So sang a modern Omar as he ca
romed joyfully down the White Lane
at am Friday morning His was
the spirit of the crowd-of the hun
dred thousand. more or less. who as
sembled in Broadway and welcomed
the new year with a salute of pop
ping corks and clinking glasses.
Friday-the grim, gray dawn of
the morning after-it was a sad and
repentant New York that placed its
collective hand feelingly over its re-
bellious stomach and solemnly vowed
Never again"
And modern Omar might inquire
Indeed. indeed. repentance oft be-
fore we swore-but, We're we sober
when we swore?"
II is coDservatively estimated that
million dollars would hardly cover
the cost of this gigantic orgy. AS "A
pen picture of Gotham's annual de-
bauch. nothing equals this by Roy
McCardell:
Every cafe. every restaurant on
bright Broadway was thronged. Men
guarded the doors to permit no more
within. Tables had brought premium
prices. The service. so far as food
was concerned, was not even as good
as usual. But there was plenty to
drink instantly forthcoming
Nothing but winei
UP and down the streets, even be-
low the deadline of the lower Flat
iron, jostling throng from Harlem
the Bronx, the east side. Brooklyn
and adjacent New Jersey and Con-
necticut cities skylarked with scuff-
ling horseplay. Bells, clappers, rat
ties. squawkers and horns were
sounded Confetti was thrown and
feather ticklers Aandished. An end
less parade of automobiles, hansoms,
'rubber-neck" autos and turnouts of
every description, save water wagons.
laden with celebrants passed up and
down.
The throngs on the sidewalk
thinned after midnight. The crowds.
hoarse and tired. had gone home, but
inside the restaurants the well
dressed men and women sat all night
and gorged and guzzled
Nothing but winei
Roses We're showered. souvenirs
were distributed, opera stars sang.
women smoked and drank.
Nothing but wine,
The stranger within these gates
that knew not of the unwritten law.
unalterable for this night. stopped
waiter and said, Bring us some
beeri"
And the waiter said smilngly
pityingly. Nothing but wine is
served after 10"
"All right" replied the stranger
yap, yokel. farmer. hoosier and cheap
skate, Bring me glass of port
ADD News views and gossip of n Y
The waiter went away and never
returned. but the assistant head wait
er came over shortly afterward and
said: I'm sorry, but this table is
engaged" And the stranger. the
yap, the yollel. the farmer. the hoos-
Ter and the cheap skate and his
friends We're firmly but kindly led to
the guarded door.
Succeeding them were men and
women for whom obsequious boys in
uniform checked costly coats, shining
silk hats fabulous-priced bonnets and
furs. The newcomers ordered
Nothing but wine!
Midnight. Just few women We're
drunk here and there. But ii was
genteel intoXication Nothing but
wine. True. it's degrading effects
We're the same rs if the cause We're
the slops dispensed in mixed ale
dive, but here We're women in costly
gowns, beieweled with gems, of price
who drank nothing but wine.
One O'Clock. More drunken wom-
en- on nothing but wine Two O'Clock
and more Seutimentally maudlin
women singing songs, bitter women
in whom nothing but wine aroused
old mates, 1ealOuSleS ana anliuOSltleS
Some We're led off, some staggered
off to the retiring rooms deathly sick
on nothing but wine
As the new year grew older all
shame or concealment died down in
the dressing rooms. The doors stood
open; maids and attendants, who also
had had nothing but wine, worked
perfunctorily with ice bags and re-
storatives over the retching and COM
atose.
This was not alone in one place,
but in all the women's retiring rooms
in every great hotel and restaurant
on Broadway.
1t was the slaughter of the sophis-
ticatcd at the Battle of the Bottle.
Nothing but wine.
The wornout women attendants
We're choice" now. So many We're
on their hands that they admins
tered only to those of celebrity or the
women conscious enough to tip liber-
ally first.
Women got as far as the door and
fell over in stupor from nothing but
wine. There they lay. Down and
out and all in said the maids help
ing only those who could still speal,
or stagger.
Jewels fell from FURNISHED locks or
from gowns torn open for more air or
easement from qualms. Paris dress
es, bedraggled and polluted. were
torn and disheveled as their owners
were dragged out of the gangway.
Drunken men clamored at the
doors. "Wher'sh my wife? She lef
me an hour ago."
"Aw come in and pick her out.'
snapped the maids. if the man gave