The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-12


 recent years the New York man of busi-
 ness or affairs has divided himself into
 two separate and distinct individuals
 the one to be found in his home and the
 other at his offices.
 Necessity, no doubt, demands some
 thing of a change in his conduct at these
 two places, but more recently the differ
 ence has become so marked as to pro-
 duee a dual personality almost after the
 ia shion of q Jekyl and a Hyde. It is
 overdone, but the overriding is resultant
 ances always proclaim character and that
 bluff carries conviction. The southern home may not justly
 claim monopoly on hospitality Here
 upon this island is to be found almost
 the same frequency and perhaps an even
 greater lavishness. There is a differ
 ence. however. in its quality. Hospitality is not shown here with the same delight full ease and grace which characterizes the Dixie brand; 1t is bit stiff; little self-conscious in its efforts at sang froid (My neutrality should not be questioned on account of the use of sang froid"-I do not know the German for the same words.)
 Hospitality la Gotham means a kind of display of heavy expenditure accom- panied by an affabiity and warmth of
 manner that seems to say, This is put on for the occasion." The guest is often
 made to feel highly flattered, but some- how he also gets the impression that the parting handshake pulls down the cur tain upon that phase of the life of the host. It is the difference between the natural and the acquired-between the inherent and the cultivated art. L. t. is a far more pleasant and sociable be- ing than when in his place of business. There he seems to feel called upon to smother every hospitabe tendency, and to hide all inclination toward natural cordiality with a veneer of frigid callous- ness.
 | Get to it. get through it--and get''- that is what he seems to be saying over and over, and if you can't dominate him ] with your personality. you will obtain small satisfaction from the brief inter- | view, unless your proposition Is one by which he will clearly benefit materially. And it is all the result of the great | magnitude of New York city. Now and | then it makes one wonder why our south
 ern cities, with their happy. comforta- ble thousands. are making such strug- gles for numerical growth when 1t is so evidently true that the immense popu- latiens they seek will deprive them of the very charms they advertise in their search for increased citizenship. Every day of his life the average New Yorker 'roasts" himself and his neigh bors as well for consenting to put up
 with the congestion of Manhattan island He calls himself cliff dweller-and he Is. Only the wealthy live in detached houses; the rest of us nightly crawl into our little crevices in these great metro- politan cliffs. and as for our real friends frequently the list does not even in- clude all the members of the immediate family And yet the municipal anthem Is, ''This Is the Life!' Evelyn Nesbit, the quandam wife of Harry K. Thaw, is now tangoing. ta taoing and terpsichoreanizing generally at the Jardin de Danse. which is atop the New York theatre, Times Square Broadway. So you see Evelyn is still well up In the world
 And that reminds one-don't speak of it as the Jardin de Dance now-no, 1t Is the New York roof.'' And above all, never say lon top of" We have cut all that and now say atop just as glibly as Tommy Atkins himself. There are men and women of wealth and fame in New York city today who had neither before the dance craze got well under way. Did you ever hear of Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Castle before you heard of the Maxixe? You did not-yet Broadway 1t is their feet now-and 1t is so with others.
 OCTOBER'S CHARM Ne'er was fair October fairer, nor an- other month so fair. Meath the gold and blue of heaven, high above;
 Ne'er were days of any season brighter. richer, half so rare, And all nature has attuned herself to love-
 Iris the season of maturity. experiences 5 day.
 When the rash iInpetuosity of youth. Seems. somehow, to have departed-all unnoticed. slipped away Leaving with us sweet serenity and truth.
 All that represents contement now does fair October hold: Thus I seem to hear the voice of the fall
 "Ye have seen the spring and summer. with their transient green and gold Isn't mellow fruit the sweetest after all?'
 And my soul is filled with music. charm
 ing doubt and fear away