El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1913-01-03
Lonesome In A Big City
No Need of Staying Lonesome; Pene-
trate the Veneer, Reach
the Real People.
By Winifred Black

10 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 leaf
less branches.
And they laugh at you and say you
are out of date because you do not
think it the height of bliss to sit for
hours in a glazing white light and
drink another" and watch people, and
gossip, and wonder who she is, and
whether the diamonds on her hands
are real or imitation, and who the
blonde at the next table is, and 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, if there isn't a real
woman somewhere in the city; woman
who likes to sew, a woman with a new
receipt for salad, a woman with baby
to love, a woman with real husband,
not just somebody who pays the rent
and was in love with her once when
she was younger and prettier; a WOm-
an who reads poetry and cries over a
love story; woman who would like
to see a decent play once in a while;
a woman who hates vulgar jokes and
can't see anything fascinating in a
display of middle aged persons in
Scanty clothes pretending to be college
girls out for lark.
Lonesome are you? Well, little
woman, you don't have to get used to
it. and don't try; don't even think of
trying.
The people you see aren't the whole
city They may think they are, but
they are not. They are only the bub-
bleS on top of the cup of good Ameri-
can coffee that is underneath, that's
all.
Somebody works, somebody plans,
somebody sacrifices Who do YOU SUD-
meets the rent day, who settles the
grocery bllls-why, the very woman
across the hall from your own little
fiat.
What the woman with the gorgeous
hats and the electric runabOut? Why
she's from the west, can't you tell that
the elevator man? Yes indeed, She
has picked many 4 pail of blueberries
for her mother to put up.
Down stairs, the woman with the pug
dog and the French maid? Bless your
heart, can make salad and does make
it, too, even if she hasn't asked you
Tor your recipe. You talk to her about
trees some day and see what she'll tell
You about the woods.
Didn't you notice her eyes were red
the other day, when you met her in
the hall? Quarreled with her husband?
Not a bit of 1t, home sick, that's all,
just plain home sick for a rose tree
and a Gala lily hedge, and a good
neighbor to say "HOwdy'' to.
Her husband is home sick, too, yes,
the man in the fur coat. Why bless
your heart, he's from Indiana
and he'd give all the fur in
his coat to be back there right
now. He has played hockey and gone
'sWimmin',' just as your husband did
when he was boy
The man your husband spoke to at
the front door the other night used to
stay in after school to learn the presi-
dents, just as your brother Joe did
when you thought he would never in
the world pass into the next grade.
Home sick among strangers? why,
you're not among strangers. you're
among home folks; they are all around
you if you did but know it. and crazy
to get acquainted with you.
A city lonesome, cold, unsympatheticI
Well, maybe it is, but the people in at
are not They are just plain Americans,
plain everyday. honest hearted, simple
Americans. They only do the pose just
for fun; their hearts aren't in It the
least little bit in the world.
It is Just a veneer, you can rub il off
Just as easy. Try it some day with
almost any of your neighbors and see.