The Washington herald., 1917-05-16
New York, Day by Day
BY o. o. MCINTYRE.

Special Correspondent Of The Washington Herald.
New York, May 15-Washington Square,
kissed fresh by May, is filed with the
wine Of youth and rosy dreams and the
little girls are hopping across the chalked
lines and back again and the boys are
splashing water from the drinking Jet.
Washington Square is like a world apart
from thp rest Of New York.
The nurse maids congregate on the
stoop and exchange bits of gossip Of the
neighborhood. Young, pasty-faced men,
with dropping cigarettes from their lips,
dregs of the underworld, lounge about on
the benches and grab the wind-blown
sheets OF any paper that comes floating
by.
They look over the want ads-hoping
nothing will offer itself in the way of
work-then stink down on the bench to
blink and doze like desert lizards. Drab
lovers sureoled with spring hold hands
openly and kiss fervently. There Is no
place else to spoon and no one minds.
The ancient, warped hurdy-gurdy men
grind out their weary tunes. They have
d ne.y tune on their roll now. A ditty
from Broadway called. IF 1 Had a Son
For Each Star in Old Glory. Uncle Sam.
I'd Give Them All to You" A khaki
figure PAGES up and down the sidewalk
in front Of the Russian consulate while
the tune Is played and the young girls
lCok at him adoringly.
All over Washington Square the flags
are whipped by the wind and against the
sky they seem like crimson fiowers-fu;l
OF life. A shocked artist sitting at HI
easel out in a grassy part of the park
looks at the sky. He does not move-he
is dreaming just like the rest of the in
habitants of The Square"
Somewhere in New York thers IL an
alarmed CanaFy-knOWn
VINO certainly doesn't know what it's
all about. He left his home, voIoplan-
ed three stories in a brass cage and
struck Thomas ]. Kearney on the ton
of the head and has since had the
freedom of the city.
The last the little warbler recalls
OF the old neighborhood is a consign-
ment OF language which might well
stun an eagle. Pecky was sitting on
the cross bar of his brass den in a
Broadway hotel room when a maid
who recently arrived from Poland and
subsequently explained she doesn't
know anything tried to feed him.
She knocked him out the window
When bell boys arrived they noted that
among other things lost were the
maids consciousness and balance and
the beloved Pecky. There is a reward
OF 5000 for Pecky and so he must be
McGowan's Pass Tavern in Central
Park is doomed. 1t hasn't any more
chance than an ancient and historic
cathedral would have within the range
of the German guns. 1t has outlived
its usefulness.
The. day of the road house in Central
Park has passed. 1t has not been oc-
cupied for months. Years ago It was
the liveliest place in New York and
when the first snow of the year came
young bloods hitched up their fast
horses to cutters and, raced to the
tavern with flying feet.
1t was an old custom that the first
person there received a magnum OF
champagne. But no more will the
sleighbells Jingle as the driver cracks
his whip and hurries over the snow
white landscape. The old building is
now being dismantled.
Seen around the town: Three Chi
nese laundrymen hitting the trail al
the Sunday tabernacle. An actor out
of a Job buying a bouquet for a tired
apple woman. A Chinese chow dos
wearing leather leggings on Fifth ave-
nue.. A subway guard reading Shakes
peare. A sign reading: When your
laundry fails to come, remember u.s."