Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-08-06
WILLOW GROVE

CPEAKING as a foreigner-every man
~ is a foreigner in Philadelphia until
he has lived here for three generations
I should say that place is more typi-
cal Of the Philadelphia capacity for en-
joying itself in a thoroughly Senteel and
innocent way than Willow Grove. Cynics
have ascribed the placid conduct of Will
low Groves merrymakers to the fact that
eighty minutes or so standing up in
crowded trolley blunt human capacity for
abandonment and furious mrth. Physi.
olosists say that the unprecedented guam
tity Of root beer and hard-boiled eggs con-
sumed at the Grove account for the staid
bearing Of the celebrants. Be that how
it may, Willow Grove has the genial and
placid flavor of a French amusement park.
Contrary to popular theory. the French,
like ourselves, are comely behaved on an
outing. People to whom enjoyment is a
habit do not turn their picnics into an
orgy.
TT TAKES practically as long to get to
L Willow Grove as it does to Atlantic
City, but the sunburn does not keep one
awake all nisht and asleep at the Office
the next day. That rolling watershed
where the creeks run alternately into the
Delaware and the Schuylkill is we'll hilled,
watered and aired. There is no surf, it is
true but a superb panorama of the white
conlbers of the sky, the clouds! And fields
Of plumed and tasseled corn, Pickering in
the wind, are no mean substitute for sand
beaches. Let us be practical; no one can
eat the surf! And the most important
matter in picnic is to have plenty Of
food
Let me state, in passing. that the ideal
picnic lunch is always packed in a shoe
box; there should be included an opener
for root-beer bottles, and doughnuts cal
culated on basis of three for each adult.
Inside the ring of each doughnut should
be packed a hard-boiled egg. Each party
Should include one person preferably an
aunt of prudent instincts, to whom may
be entrusted the money for return car.
fares, Ada's knitting bag, Ada's young
mans wrist watch and registration card
in draft Glass "A, fathers spare cigar for
the home voyage, grandmother's pneumatic
cushion and Cousin Janet's powder papers
and copy of Spumy Stories. This prudent
person will form a headquarters and great
general staff, strong defensive position
upon which the maneuvers Of the excur.
sion will be based.
THE first thing that always strikes me
l. at Willow Grove is how amazingly
we'll dressed everybody is. The frocks, hats
and ankles of the young ladies are vision
of rapture. The young men, too, are we'll
dressed, in the best possible style, which
is of course, the uniform Of Uncle Sam.
The last time / was there 1t was special
celebration day for the marines. Several
hundred Of them were Looping about in their
| cdte-au-ldtt khaki, fine, tall lean chaps,
| with that curious tautness of the trousers
| that makes the devil dogs look stiff-kneed
| Bronzed, handsome fellows, with the char
! acterstic tilt of the Stetson that must flut.
ter the hearts of French fappers And as
| for the girls If Willow Grove on a Satur-
| day afternoon is a fair cross section of
| Philadelphia pulchritude, I will match II
| against anything any other city can show.
ILTILLoW GROVE, of course, is famous
w for its music, and at dusk the Marine
| Band was to play in the pavilion. That
open-air auditorium, under the trsmulous
J eeilin o>of tafl naples and willows ana Syco-