The Washington herald., 1917-12-18
ByDWIG

Special Correspondent Of he Washington Herald
New York, Dec. 17.-Up in New Ro-
chelle there is the quaintest home in
America-built by laughs. 1t has
only recently been finished and is
owned by Claire Briggs, the cartoon
ist, whose artistic abilities began to
sprout when he was q boy In Wis
consin.
Architecturally the home Is q refu-
tation of the charge OF the serious
thinkers that the makers Of comic
pictures have no artistic sense. for
the Briggs home is perhaps one Of the
most artistic in the East
The house is of old English design
and is built from ancient ship timbers-
1t rests on a knoll In q picturesque
ravine. giving a wide sweep of the
beautiful Westchester countryside.
To its owner 1t is known as Blue
Anchor. The massive front door.
hewn from a ships rudder. takes the
visitor back to the days Of pirates
bold and one instantly has a desire
to get before the big open fireplace
and read "Treasue Island
The living room floor Is OF ship
beams. fashioned roughly and plugged
with oakum. Another attractive spot
IL the Bribbs' bedroom. encased in
glass, underneath which k a series OF
wate' falls that ripple gently toward
the sound.
Down in the basement is the billiard
parlor. filed with maritime antiques
that were picked up by the cartoonist
on sundry tours OF the water fronts.
On the walls are old prints, out OF
and types of seamen who go around
the Horn on wind TANNERS
There is the tang of the sea in every
nook. The home has attracted many
other notables to Avon Road on which
Blue Anchor is situated. A few doors
away is Montague Glass. the author.
who dubbed a group of visitors at the
Briggs maritime home as a bunch Of
New Rochelle Salts" Across a field
ie Arthur Crawford who has made a
fortune giving ideas to artists. His
PLUS A. c." is known on many comic
weekly pages. Jerome Kern, the mu-
sical comedy composer. tired of try
ing to buy Briggs home. is going to
build one as near like it as possible
a half mile away-just for spite.
Introducing the griddle girl! Those
lordly perSonaEes who Tipped flap-
Jacks behind plate glass windows In
the white tiled Child's restaurants
known to Broadway as Cafes Au
Faunt-were missing last week and in
their places stood young girls with
daintier and perhaps defter gloved
hands.
1t was a strike and not the ext
gencies OF war which made necessary
this last call on the womanhood Of
the city. When the griddlejacks quit
the mattresses heroically stepped into
the breach and saved the day for
Park Rows hungry hosts. 1t was
high time: for the city's pride In its
lords of the griddle, standing white
clad and noble in the expanse Of
purity about them. has been sadly
shaken these last months.
The spectacle has become Irritating
rather than inspiring. When women
were working with pickaxes and bag
gage trucks on our railroads and the
daughters of the subway guards and
trolley car conductors are battling
with the rush-hour crowds In our
public vonveyances. II had become a
farce to retain men for the trivial
task of flipping flapjacks.
Turf information bureaus are spring.
ing up in the office buildings OF
Broadway. It harks back to the days
Of Maxim and Gay" when a former
newspaper reporter ran a banlToll Of
81 up to a million by giving feed
box" information to the public.