The Washington herald., 1918-02-27

EdflS, rep. 2b.-There was sud-
den noise overhead which startled
us as much as a bomb could have
done. We looked at each other stu
pidly, and then with comprehension
and delight. Now we knew what
we had been missing all this time;
now we knew the cause of our
vague unrest; now we knew what
was the matter with the luncheon
and tea, and dinner places; with
everything. MUSIC! That is, the
lack of it!
Somebody up there had opened a
piano, and was wildly hammering
away at little snatches of every
thing. higgIedy piggledy. from
Chopin to ragtime. Work? 1t be-
came suddenly impossible, for we
had made a great discovery; We had
been as serious about the war as
the war itself, which was the same
thing as trying to be as big as the
infinite.
OF course, we all know that the
war is no joke! A man who could
find real humor in this international
insanity could probably have the
time of his life in a morgue; but
there is a well-known fable of the
frog which tried to swell himself
up to be as big as the OK he wished
to fight, and. remembering his high
ly scattered fate, we ceased, for the
time being, to try to attain, in re-
ceptiveness at least, the dimensions
of the cloud which hangs over Eu-
rope and civilization. and started
out to find amusement; not placid,
rigid, stiff amusement, like dining
out or a symphony concert or a lee
ture, but real live amusement, such
as regular restless Americans know.
Go To Movies
The movies! The sign "Orchestre-
Cinema" with its insidious promise,
in the name, of quenching the fever
which burned in our veins, settled the
question.
1t was much more like home thar
anything. All dark in there, and an
usher with an inadequate flash
light to guide your stumbling foot
steps, and a five-piece orchestra saw
ing away at the latest musical COM
edy hits from Broadway, PiccadiIly.
and the Boulevards; the same inef-
fable essence of air which has never
felt sunlight, and the same big
woman with the fat knees, who
makes no more room for you to pass
when she stands up than when she's
sitting.
/, We finally found our places; seats
in a dinky little pen for four, which
they called a loge. In the dense
blackness a stirring and a stumbling!
Somehow, madame lad been inserted
into one Of the two front seats, by a
Frenchman who, IN his politeness,
nobly upheld the traditions of his
race; and monsieur, finding himself
in two feet of unoccupied space, took
a chance and sat, successfully. Only
for a moment, however! Out of the
darkness there came the voice OF the
fourth occupant of the loge, a lady;
she was whispering, rapidly; and she
was whispering 20 Us; huS, while We
have a very fair article of war
French, we discovered that it was OF
positively no use in the dark. The
French which is spoken to US needs a
face to make it understandable, SO
monsieur, with great shame, con-
fessed that he knew only American
Oh, very well! monsieur spoke Ameri-
caine! Great relief in the voice of the
lady, and she said, politely:
Always Polite.
will you sit?'
A blue fnuk seized upon monsieurs
intellect, as he explained. with equal
politeness, that, while it might not be
apparent in the darkness. he was sit
tingt
Panied silence for an instant, and
a slight trace Of distress in the voice
Of the lady. as she inquired, more OF
less plaintively:
viii you sit DOWN.
Monsieur. who is anxious to have
his countTymen well reputed for po-
liteness and accommodation, felt his
ears purpling. and his tongue thick
ening, as he, explained most patient
ly, In two languages. or at least a
language and a half. that he was not
only sitting, but also down!
He began to have doubts about his
physical structure. he began to feel
that his estimate of his own sitting
height musrS always have been at
fault, he began to feel as tall as a
house, from the chair up. particular
~ when the lady. now with much