The Washington herald., 1918-12-31

New York, Dec. 30.-The real
, hlsh-brow restaurant and tea room
OF the metropolis has been thrown
open to the public. 1t is down
among the titanic basement col
umns of the Metropolitan Museums
great Hall of Casts. in the main
building.
IL Is place where dilettante
dream through luncheon surrounded
Dy romantic panels of scenic wall
paper, in which languid ladies and
trouoadors play lutes midst Wat
teau foliage and Fragonard foun-
tains.
A few pieces of, strength century
furniture, sculpture and pottery
have been interspersed, to make the
luncheon function more interesting
The long-haired art student may
see his or her own features as a
primitive, in eerie old French mir
rors; while even the expert is kept
guessing by the antique silver and
mahogany, the urns and ormulus.
! which catch his eye between
courses.
In the vestibule of the tea room,
| one is familiarly greeted by a
| marble hat boy of the Doric pc
riod-or is it by latter-day John
Gibson?-anyway the extended palm
is quite realistic of today, proving
a wonderful spirit of prophecy on
the part of the bygone sculptor.
In the mems smoking room the
visitor may sit and contemplate a
huge hand-painted Dutch cabinet,
surmounted with a monstrous
schnapps flagon, and muse on the
observation-disclosures of old Holland.
Artistic types" haunt the place in
endless variety.
Perhaps the most familiar and
inevitable is the little old lady
who copies the big old masters. Too.
there are types from foreign lands.
The young Rumanian painter comes
to tea to sit across from a belle
\ OF the village who comes from up
state and has failed at everything
except being in love.
There is a delightful atmosphere of
| Broadway in a new quick lunch place
that has opened near the Columbia
burlesQue house on Broadway. At
midnight the teams from the vaude-
vile houses collect there for a mid
night snack and one hears colorful
tales of troupers.
~ NlllGh-CHtSltu NduueNlllldn, slllHlS
atop his lunch stool eating a slab of
! pie. was telling a crony about being
| stranded with a repertoire company
down South.
You know" he said, "I had to
walk so far that my socks became
| spats."
Another actor told of standing in
front of the beautiful court house at
Annapolis while a photographer took
his picture. He sent it back home
with this inscription written across
| II: My country home" At the time,
he said he was living at the Mills
| Hotel
There drifted into the place the
other night a variety actor in uni
| form. He was plainly disgusted.
Tough luck" he said. Here the
war was the first big success 1 was
ever associated with and just as soon
| as l get my costume it flivvers."
Nocturnal life IS reviving at the
| Long Island road houses Many of
| them closed down during the last
days of the war but all have re-
| opened and are crowded with gay mo-
| torlsts. At one the other night l
saw a new wrinkle in orChestras.
were different colored electric lights
and the leader had electric bulbs Sc
creted around his clothes which were
! lighted when he began a dance piece
The most poular tune of the jazzers
\ seems to be The Rose of No Mans
Land" incidentally I saw Bennie
| Leonard at Blossom Heath Inn dane
ing like professional. He is a young
prize fighter who has amassed a for
| tune and I noticed he left at 1l:3O and
| that he did not smoke and drank
lemonade. Hunter Island Inn, on the
edge of New Rochelle. seems to be
| the most popular place with the
swanky crowds Anything but even
| ing dress is discouraged The proprie-
tor. by the way, used to be plumber
Ihe road to Long Beach is dotted with
new road houses. The road house is
not a summer institution any more.
| Since the lid went on 1t has become
| popular during the winter