Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-08-31
CAMPHOR BALLS
Meditations on Oysters
WE WALKED down a little stree

vAJD "ALhED OOWn a little street tndt
w runs a modest course through the
middle Of the afternoon, scooped between
high and rather g-imy walls so that a
GOODNESS and a shadow are upon II. It is
a homely little channel. ~frequented by
laundry wagons taking IVA great piles
OF soiled linen from the rear of q large
hotel, and little barefoot urchins pushing
carts fun Of kindling wood picked up from
the litter Of splintered packing cases. On
one side of the street is a big power-house
where the drone and murmur of vast dy-
namos Groom a soft undertone to the dis
tant 'clang and zooming of the trolleys.
Beyond that is the stage door Of a bur-
lesque theatre, and a faint sweetness Of
grease paint drifts to tAe nose down a
dark, mysterious passageway.
ME WALKED down this little street,
w noticing the For Rent sign on a sa-
loon at the corner and the pyramided
boxes of green and yellow apples on a
fruit stand, and 1t seemed to us that there
was an unmistakable breath of autumn
in the air. Out beyond, where the street
widens and floods itself again with sun,
ticiS "dS meat dnu SHlIHIIleT ana lne Blll-
tering plate.glass windows of jewelry deal
ers. but In the narrower strip of alley we
felt a premonitory tang Of future frost.
At the end of August the sunlight gets
yellower, more oblique; it loses the pale
and deadly glare Of earlier days. It Is
shallower, more colorful, but weaker Of
impact. Shall we say it has lost it's punch?
AND then we saw a little oyster cafe.
"A well known to many lovers Of good
cheer, that has been furnishing itself for
the jolly days to come. No one knows
yet whether the U.boats have frightened
the oysters, whether the fat bivalves will
be leaner and scarcer than in the good
old days; no one knows whether there will
even be enough Of them to last out until
next Easter; but in the meantime we all
live in hope. And one thing is certain
the oyster season begins on Monday. The
little cafe has reprinted its white front
so that it shine Hospitality; and the sill
and the cellar trapdoor where the barrels
go in, and the shutters and the awning
poles in front, are all a sticky. glistening
green. The white marble step, followed
by thousands of eager feet in a million
lunch.time forays, has been scrubbed and
bright and early, out goes the traditional
red and green sign of the r.
THE poor patient oyster" as Keats calls
= him Tor her, for there are lady oysters,
too, did you know0 is not only a sessile
L;,,a1,.z II, l.. A.. II -
autumn and winter cheer. Even if Mr..
Hoover counts out the little round crack
ers in twos and threes, we hope there will
be enough of the thoughtful and innocent
shellfsh to go around. When the cold
winds begin to harp and Whitney at street
corners and wives go seeking among cam.
phor balls for our last years overcoats,
you will be glad to resume your acquaint.
ance with a bow of s,eaming bivalves,
swimming in milk with little clots of vel.
low butter twirling on the surface of the
broth. An oyster stew, a glass of light
beer and a corncob pipe will keep your
blue eyes blue to any weather, as a young
poet Of our acquaintance puts it.
Some one writes to us from Browns
Mills in the Pines to ask the address of
that magazine, Love, Courtship and Mar.
riage." which is Pennington, Mich. Pining
away, evidently.
Our correspondent adds that the maya
zine must be something entirely new"
No, dear friend, not new, but dixie all such
enterprises) the oldest thing in the world.
Tn thasa dave u,hnr ca MANY loIiac ha,-o
abandoned the charming ~frailties of their
sex, we are proud to state that this news
paper boasts in it's women's department
two delightful young lady editors who are
afraid of mice and thunderstorms Per-
maps they are the only two left in Phila-
delphia?
In any case, hat dispeses of the old
tradition that the women's pages Of news
papers are edited by elderly bearded men
stained with nicotine.
Have you ever noticed the little glass
cylinders of paper drinking cups that are
often found in hotels and railway stations?
They have a slot for the insertion of a
coin, and by this slot is the following in
scription: Insert penny or nickel.
These naive machines are made by the
Individual Drinking Cup Company, of New
York, and we think that only a New
Yorker would be so profiigate as to put in
a nickel when a penny would do. Ger
tainly no Philadelphia would fall for
that.
Have you ever met a man who could
define or describe the colors known to
our wives as beige and taupe? We be-
lieve that beige is the color of Senator
]. Ham Lewis's whiskers, but we are not
sure.
That German retreat specialist seems to
be in his element