The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1912-12-30
Lonesome in a Great City
By wINIFRED BLACK

SO you are lonely In the great city.
little woman? You love trees, and
grass, and flowers, and the bare
earth, and the Wild winds, and the
ieaf1ess branches
And they laugh, at you and say you
are out OF date because you do not
think st the height Of bliss to sit for
hours In g. gIaring white light and
drink another" and watch people.
and gossip. ahd wonder who she is.
and whether the damon Is On her
hands are real or imitation, and who
the blonde at the hext table liz. end
why the waiter takes so much
trouble for the greasy little man with
the pigs eyes.
And they say you'll learn city ways
soon. and you don't want to learn
them, and you wonder II there isn't
real woman somewhere in New
York. woman who likes 70 sew. a
woman with new receipt for salad,
man with real husband. not Just
somebody who pays the rent and was
IN love with her ONCE whsn she was
younger and prettier.
A woman who reads poetry ard
cries over e. love story. . woman who
would Ike to see a decent play once
In a while. a woman who hates vui-
gar jokes and cant see anything fas-
cinating in a display OF raiddle-aged
persons in scanty clothes pretending
TO be college girls out for a lark,
A woman with good sensible
clear head who doesn't want TO
spend every dollar she can wheedie
out OF her husband for clothes with
which to make her look so that some
man on the street win ask her whose
doll are your"
Lonssome. ars yor-frou ken
| lucky. sou gay, and can't get used
Broadway Well. little woman, you
| don't have to get used TO II, and
don't try; don't even think OF try
ing. - ~
| The people YOU see on Broadwa.
| aren't the whole city. no, nor ever
| hose you see on Fifth avenue. either
! They may. think they Are. but the.
| On top Of the cup Of good Americas
| coffee that 10 underneath, that's all
| Somebody works somebody plans
| somebody sacrifices. Who DO you
| suppose pays for all those clothes
/ who meets the rent day. who settles
| the grocery bills--why. the very wo
| man across the hall from your owI
t1stie fiat Came from Tennessee
| fou Just ask her some mooniigh'
| night If she ever gets river sick.
! and watch the tears come to he'
ayes.
| What. the woman upstairs. the on,
/ with the gorgeous hats and the cleo
trie runaboutg Why she's from tn
West, can't you tell that by the wa,
she says good morning to the eieva
tor nian7 Yes, indeed! She's from
Decatur, H.. or Negaunee, Mich. 81
sure as you are born. She has pick
ed many a pail of blueberriee for hx'
| mother TO put up--when the wood
| began to burn of In the great fores
| up there by the blue lakes.
Downstairs, the woman with tn
| pug dog and the French maid7 Bies
your heart. she's from Sacramento
! Cai-never saw snow in her lie til
she came to New York. She cal
make salad, and does make 1t, too
even IL she hasn't asked you fol
| your receipt. You talk to her abou
| trees some day and see what shell
tell you about the redwoods, and wha
| makes them SO big.
| Didn't you notice her eyes wer'
| red the other day, when you met he
| In the hail7 Quarreiled with he
/! husband? Not a bit of II. home
| sick. that's all, just plain home
| sick for q rose tree and = Gala Ill!
hedge. and a good neighbor to So,
"Howdy" to-
/. Her husband u homssick. too. YES
the man in the fur coat. Why, bles
| your heart. diana. and he'd give 81
the fur in his coax to Be back ther'
right now to spend ChrtStmaS. HI
has played hockey and gone swim
| min'," Just ~ your husband did wis,
he was . boy.
/ The man your husband spoke to .
ths front door the other night uset
TO stay in after school 70 learn tn
presidents,' just - your brother Jo'
/ did down In Frankfort. when w,
thought he would never IN the wori'
lass into the neat grade.
Homssick among strangsrsf Why
you're not among strangers, your
among homo folks; they are 81
| around you II you did but know I.
/ and crazy 70 got acquainted Will
you.
New York lonesome. cold. unsym
| pathetic! Well, maybe New York Il
but the paopis In II are not The.
are Just plain Americana. plAi'
| everyday, honest hearted, simple
/ Americans. They only do the New
i York pose Just for fun. their heart
4 aren't In 1t the least little bit in tn
/ world.
i Now Yorkism 10 Just q veneer. 70,
I can rub II on Just ~ easy. Try ]
some day with almost any OF you
neighh0rs and see.