Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-07-19
While the Folks Are A,vay
Summer Transformation in a City
Square

TT YoU happen to be wandering around
L the central part of the city one of these
summer days. or rather late afternoons at
say or $50, and have nothing in par
| ticular to do for an hour or two, turn your
steps westward along Chestnut Walnut
| or Locust street. At Nineteenth, IL you
| happen to be walking on Chestnut street
| turn south until you reach Walnut and
| then direct your steps into Rittenhouse
| Square.
1t is not the Rittenhouse Square that
| most Philadelphians know. Not at this
| season of the year and especially late in
! the afternoon. It is not the playground
Of the poor little rich girls" and boys of
| Philadelphias wealthiest and most socially
prominent families. Nor is It the play
ground of the socially grownups," for
there are no flower baaaars in progress.
with brightly and airily eowned young
| women fitting from booth to booth or
from group to group, veritable butterflies
| MO. THAT is not the Rittenhouse Square
4 that you will find on these wonderful
| summer days. The months will pass and
| the summer will wane, and with the re-
| turn Of autumn the brown boards will
| come down from the d. ors and windows
| OF the great houses and faces and curtains
| will appear at the windows and figures
will pass in and out Of the doorways, and
then Rittenhouse Square will take on its
old accustomed appearance
But right now the square seems to be
enjoying something Of an adventure into
democracy quiet. orderly, almost pas
toral adventure. but no less an adventure
at least, for this famous old square.
To participate in this novel experience.
| or perhaps 1t would be better to say to
witness this phenomenon, one has but to
wander into the square and along the
walks. and sit for a while on one of the
benches. and look and listen and then
| look some more.
| THE grass and foliage were never sreener
or more beautiful and the frisky little
gray squirrels never hoped about the
| ground or scampered up the tree trunks
| with more freedom and assurance. And
casting the eye about one sees all the
| familiar landmarks of old and modern
| times.
On one corner stands the dark, son,ber
structure of Holy Trinity, and in other
| directions rise the towering lines Of one
or two tall apartment houses. Here and
there a modern front on an old house or
| an entirely new dwelling--that is, a com.
paratively new dweling--breaks the resu.
larity Of Philadelphia's historic brown.
| stone fronts"
In a word. the framework Of the picture,
| the background of the scene, so to speak,
is much the same as it has been for years.
| And II is only you wander and loiter
| along the walks and look and listen. and
think that you sense the change-the sum-
mer time masquerade transition, metamor.
phosis Of Rittenhouse Square.
| DERHAPS your attention Is first at
L tracted to an army of1icer and a young
woman who watch with an amused yet
kindly expression the antics of a squirrel.
Between quick and furtive glances about
him the little animal digs furiously a hole
at the root Of tree or shrub, and when
not living sqll--at least not "living
soul in the squirrel worlds looking
slows away tiny nut of some kipd.
against what to him will be a certain food
shortage next fall or winter.
Across the way on a bench sits a middle
aged woman. She has stopped to rest
| few moments on her way home from the
factory or store or Office building where
| she works.
| A little further on you meet a man,
older than the woman on the bench. He
is not resting, but is walking diagonally
across the square. carrying a kit Of some
kind of tools, bound for home and a hot
| of clir
and an early bed: for he must rest, relax
and recuperate his strength and energy
and be back on the job early tomorrow
| morning.
As YOU turn into one of the other walks
a you come upon a sailor and his lass,
seated side by side on bench. You know
it isn't fair to stare, no more to listen;
but as you pass you catch glimpse of
the boys face. A fighting sea dog? Well,
yes, when he's on duty, but certainly not
at this moment Just a boy, a fellow like
you were yourself not so very long ago;
like your own younger brother today, like
| all the boys of that age that you have
ever known. And you steal a glance at
the girl and look again at the boy, and
you hope with all the hope that is in you
that he comes back, and the story goes on
to the end.
You look up as you saunter along and
threequarters Of the square ahead Of YOU
is Walnut street. Yes, and those long
green objects that slide along SO smoothly
and noiselessly are the same pounding
creaking trolley cars that you saw and
heard away down there at Fifteenth and
Chestnut streets" And those smaller and