Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1916-09-05
What is New York
BY Frederic ]. Haskin

tAC SAOWNCu cast 1luc 10 HoInllS Ah0
the cartoons in the socialistic maya
zines. Walk down that way of fine
summer evening. The streets are
aswarm with buxom girls and strap
ping lads. Ruddy old men in little
black skull caps doze before the doors
Of their shops. The troops Of small
boys that play leap frog over the Ave
gallon milk cans on the sidewalks are
not bit less spry and noisy than the
ones that grow up in the country and
they are a vast lot sharper. ;~, r., -
The New Yorker is strong and
healthy because Il he was not he
would be dead; and he is young and
happy of spirit because he is always
amused. Monotony kills as well as
bad air, and while some Of the air In
New York is not all what 1t might
be. there Is very little monotony.
New Workers of all grades and
classes and nationalities are lovers of
fun and they take their fun outdoors.
They are fond Of excursins and pic
mics and fishing and swimming. They
know the value. OF open sky and sea
breezes as recuperatives and tonics.
1t is not the native who sweats over a
sloe-gin AZ in down town restaurant
these hot nights. while couple OF
girls from the Italian quarter IN
Brooklyn do an amateur Hawaiian
dance to the strains Of a German or
chestra. There are few New Workers
among the audience at THE Smash
up" where the plain but substantial
husband of the beautiful Henrietta
kills the Italian sculptor with a
monkey wrench in the third act. The
local product, superfluous to add, Is
not among the passengers Of the rub
Der neck wagons, who Journey to
Chinatown, are told about the Elsie
Siegel case and the Tong war, see q
Chinese baby, and buy teakwood
collar button box for fifteen cents.
The New Yorker seeks none Of
these anus ements II you want to
find him at play in the summer, take
any of the car lines that happen to be
running to Rockaway, Manhattan
beach, Long beach, Fire island,
Sheepshead bay, or any of the other
Long island watering places. After you
get out of Brooklyn you will travel
through a great tidal fiat where every
available bit of water front is occupied
by little cottages standing on stills
and little wooden hotels and piers and
beer gardens. The shallow water Is
alive with bathers and the winding
channels with row boats and launches.
When you get to the beach don
bathing suit and wander forth among
the crowd. Now you are with the real
New Yorker on holiday. He is there
by the thousand. playing in the surf,
tossing ball on the beach, asleep In
hole in the sand with his head pillow
ed in the lap Of his best girl. running
and jumping over the life ropes, eat
ing gritty sandwiches and dill pickles
in the shade of the board walk--hav-
ing the time of his life. You may
know it for a real New York crowd
by the fact that there are very few
Americans present. You may hear
squeals OF delight and chortles Of Joy
in every accent under the sun. You
may see-provided he has not moved
since yesterday-a Japanese artist
making an oil painting Of two German
children playing in the edge of the
surf while a Russian Jew and some
other unidentified kind of a foreigner
looks over his, shoulder.
If you are q rustic, say from the
WOouS anu LAhtSucS VI WdSAAueIOA, -.
c., you may think to stroll up the
beach away from the crowd and COM
mune with nature. You may stroll and
trot as far as you will. and hire a jit-
ney and ride. and the crowd Is still
with you Long island is about hun
dred miles long and more or less mar
row. Compute the circumference for
yourself, multiply it by any reasonable
number and you may have an idea of
how many New Workers take their
pleasure at the seaside on an. average
fair Sunday For as far as you care to
go, the island is frescoed with frol-
licking, snoozing, chattering sand
sprinkled humanity.
What Is New York?
Well, anyway, it's interesting.