The Washington herald., 1918-03-09

Special CorrsSpondencs The washingtoa Herald.
New York, March s.-What is Broad
way? Anatole France tried to an
swer the question, and so did Pierre
Lott, who gave his own coIorfuI yet
disappointing impressions. Broadway
is the most misunderstood street in
the world. 1t is typical only Of it.
self, and to attempt 10 compare il
! Is ridiculous.
To understand Broadway is not 10
consider il as a street Of thesteTs.
table d'hotes. old rose and gilt dan
SAINTS. magic shops. hotels, and clog
ged with street cars, limousines. fiiN-
vers and oddly dressed people.
Broadway is a state of mind-a COM
edy. tragedy. frown and a smile. 1t
bestows with one hand and takes
away with the other. 1t is a cynic
and an optimist. a royal good fell
low. a beautiful woman. a highbsIl
and a headache. The spirit of Broad
way is the spirit OF the carnival.
1t is a punchbowl full of cham
face and sharp, cruel. piercing briars
hidden underneath. The confirmed
Broadwayite believes with Elizabeth
that life is a bog over which we
must travel lightly, for if We stop
We sink. The camaraderie Of Broad
way is as free as the air and at
the same time 1t is as costly as
jewels.
70 ha - ~
heap of their professions and then
they have fallen to the gutter on
Broadway. One Of New Yorks fer
mer celebrated surgeons may be seen
nightly Sinking out of his Broadway
rendezvous in quest of drugs.
Broadway welcomes heroes and
proves them clay. The brilliant Mar
Quis Edmond di Castillo had Broad
He had letters from his dear friend
All" King of Spain, and Broadway
found he was a s15-A-week ex-cook
and laughed hight out loud and wait
ed for the next hero.
Song. laughter. wine, beauty, color
and lfe-always life. Tragedies for
the side streets, into which are
crowded those, whose steps have
grown heavy in the swift dance. The
world laughed at Vernon Castle
broadway worshiped him. Which was
right?
l know a man who has lived on
Broadway only five years. He told
me once: $50 far as ! am concerned
they can cut all the bridges down on
Manhattan Island, wipe out all the
side streets. l am willing to live
on Broadway forever"
And so, as Arthur James once said
Broadway is the light that never
grows dim, the FIRE that never burns
low. the heart that always palpi-
tates.
New York hotel managers have ar
ranged to place their walters, clerks.
bell boys, BARRIERS, mahicures, por-
tiers and early-rising chambermaids
in harmonious juxtaposition TO the
relative and correlative phenomena
underlying. the gentle art of distin-
gushing a major from a captain
say at five or ten yards.
Men who sit down at dinner as a
major and have their soup served
as captain are becoming fused
They admit 1t. And so the large ho-
tells are opening a school in which
hotel employees will learn the army
and navy insignia. The Plaza has al
ready opened Its school and the Wal
dorf and Ritz schools will be opened
next week.
He has Just returned to his New
York from Russia, where he had
spent several months after the revo-
luton. He had seen The rise and
fall of kerensky and the first splash
Of the Bolsheviki. Naturally every
body asked him about the Russian
affairs till he grew tired of talking
about chaos.
And one night after q quiet hour
or so in Broadway bar, where he
had been gossiping with friends. an
old friend slapped him on the back
with the same old question, And
what's the matter with Russia. any
how"
"oh, Russia is just one seething
titanic Greenwich village"