Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1910-11-11

| II
and in the long run the experience
won't hurt you. You've acted pretty
decent lately, Jerry, and I'm not half
sorry I changed my mind on that
'heavy-father' stunt and didn't kick
you out. After all, one marriage more
or less Is more of an accident than a
failing, so long as folks don't let 1t
get to be habit. You acted like an
idiot. But bygones are bygones, so
cut out the sulks. Cheap chorus girls
weren't made for grown men to mar.
ry."
"I'll thank you to say nothing
against her." intervened Gerald stiff
ly, with the first faint show of in
terest his father had observed in him
for weeks.
"Just as you like" assented Caleb,
in high, good humor, glad to have
broken even so slightly into the 9TH
ers armor of apathy. "In her case,
maybe, least said the better. So
you're still homesicking for her-and
for New York, eh?"
YES"
| oliil lcel youI oWH CITY ain 6OOu
enough for you?"
What place is for man who has
lived in New York;"
Rot! What place is? About ten
thousand places! And some seventy
million Americans living in those
places are as good and as happy and
stand pretty near as good chance
of the pearly gates as if they had the
heaven-sent blessing of living between
the North and East rivers"
| "Yes?"
There was no interest and only abb
sent-minded query in Gerald's mono
syllable. Listlessness had again set
tied over him. Word and mental atti-
tude Jared on the Railroader.
New York;" reiterated Conover.
"I've took some slight pains to learn
a few things about that place these
last couple of months. Before that I
took your word for it that it was a
hectic. electric-lit whirlpool where
nothing ever was quiet or sane, and
where a young cub who could get ar
rested for smashing up hotel lobby
was looked up to as a pillar of gilded
society. Since then I've bothered to
find out on my own account. New
York's city with about two millions
Of people living on Manhattan Island
alone. We out-of-town jays are told
these two millions are a gay, aban-
doned, fashionable lot that spend their
days in the congenial stunt of piling
up fortunes and their nights in every
1 - I, ,,rl, s,,,Iy hot
and keep 'em up till dawn. 'All-night
fun, all-day fortunegrabbing Great
place! Come see it, Well, l have
seen it. Along around five or six p.
m. about ninety eight per cent. of
| those two million people stop work.
They've been fortune-grabbing all
right, since early morning. Only,
they've been grabbing it usually for
some one else. They pile onto the
subway or the elevated or the big
bridge and-and where do they go?
To a merry old all-night revel on the
Great White Way? To an orgy of On.
with -the-dance. let-joy- y-be-unrefined,'
hey? Not them. It's home they go,
quiet and without exhibiting to the
neighbors any season passes for all
night dissipation. They are as re-
spectacle, decent, orderly, early-to-
bed crowd as if they lived on farm.
'Tain't their fault If homes usually
built on the folding-bed plan and more
condensed than a can of patent milk.
Apart from that, they live just as
everybody else in this country lives
no better, no worse, no gayer, no
| Quieter. There's not a penny's differ
ence between that decent ninety eight
per cent. and the business and work
ing folks right here in Granite"
Gerald did not answer. He had not
| heard.
That's the typical New Yorker"
went on Caleb. "The typical New
Yorker-ninety-eigh per cent. of him
is the typical everyday man or wo-
man of any city. He does his work,
supports his family and goes to bed
before eleven. Those are the folks l
guess you didn't see much of when
you was there Nor of the real So
ciety push or even the climbers The
society headliners are too few any
how to count in the general percent.
age. Besides, they're out of town
half the year. You was mostly en-
gagged in playing Easy Mark for the
other two per cent. The crowd you
went with is the sort that calls them
selves typical New Workers. and
stays out all night cause they haven't
the brains to find any other place to
go. Just dirty little fringe of hu-
manity, hanging about all-night res
taurants or drinking adulterated
booze in some thirst emporium. or
spending some one else's money in
green-table joint. They yawn and
look sick of life. and they tell every
one who'll listen that they're typical
New Workers."
A polite smile from the dry lpS,