The Elbert County tribune., 1914-01-23

city In those days: people who wanted
to make money and people who want
ed to spend 1t. 1t was the first kind
that kept the place crowded like q
present-day cut rate Greenland sum-
mer excursion. but it was the second
crowd that paid for the lights. The
lights were most of them down there.
Charley. under that long passenger
lane you see below you They called
1t Broadway, because 1t had nothing
to do with the straight and narrow
path. Now we have lights guide us
around the heavens, but there was
nothing like that in old New York.
Then they had them to trim the spend
ers by.
I've heard of that place they used
to call Broadway" said the superin-
tendent. Lillian Russell sings song
about it at the e. & T. Aerial theater'' =
Il know" said the captain. "and she
was just as beautiful and youthful
then as she is now. She was one OF
the things that helped make New York
the hypnotic-magnet it was. Every
laundress in the country said to her
self at night: Lily Russell went to
New York. and look at her now. Why
can't go and do the same?"
| There was a place called Coney
island, too. wasn't there?" said the SUI
perintendent
Yes. Coney island was the most
crowded spot on the globe in summer
time. On d Sunday it was packed
tighter than Manhattan island. The
New Workers. idea of change of
scene was to get out OF one crowd into
bigger one. When he was jammed
in SO tight that his lungs couldn't work
he was happy. The straight front cor.
time for obvious reasons"
THE people coming into New York
from the rest of the country must
have felt strangely out of place.
mused the superintendent
They did," said the captain, III
they came from the United States
The visitor from Kalamazoo would try
to get chummy with his neighbor in
the theater. Kalamazoo7' the neigh
Dor would say. It's in Africa, isn't it?
No, Michigan oh, yes, Michigan
| hdb . Ou6 Ol tue NtSltIu btaleS
whnt?' The best part of it was that
the other fellow has just got in from
Muncie ind, the day before. But
suppose you came from London-Oh!
deah chap, then you were at home, re
ally. New York always felt ashamed
of the fact that 1t was located so neal
to America. English styles used te
come out there before they did III
London. When the president of the
United States paid the town visi
they sent traffic policeman to the
depot to see that his taxi-cab didn'
break any speed laws. When any
member Of English royalty deigned t.
come over the mounted police were
swept away like chaff by the surg.
of free-born New Workers. rushing for
ward to get in the moving picture O
Crowds Waiting Arrival of Duke o
Con-Naught.' II the royal machin,
would hit a citizen the man woul,
die happy. Such was the patriotism
of that great city at that time"
Didn't they ever go out and see tn
rest of the country?" said the superir
tendent.
Only when they had to. The onl
time they enjoyed themselves thei
was when they stepped up and regis
tered from New York city The rest O
the time they were wishing they wer
back in the crowd
The superintendent stared musingl
down into the silent space below.
There must have been somethin
about the town. after all. to make Sucl
strong attraction" said he.
There was" said Captain Mac
Manus. About five million people"
Copyright by W. G. Chapman.)