New-York tribune., 1919-11-09
A Defense of
Broad.uay

is blind man who loves
l. the squirting white lights Of
Broadway. He sells papers in
the heart of them, on Times Square.
He takes his place, in the vestibule
Of large building, when the
theaters are giving Up their thou
sands. He sells the early editions of
the morning papers, and remains
there while the crowd thins out and
until only few people are in the
street. He says that he knows when
the lights are dimmed, not by the
coolness of the morning air, but b,
.he-by the--he couldn't just say.
He has sold papers in this vesti-
bule for years. He knows Broadway
with feeling eyes. He says that he
couldn't live elsewhere, that the
lights lure him. He was blind be-
fore he came to Broadway, he said,
but he has seen considerable since.
For example, he cited, he has seen
girls whom he knows have dyed
faces give rs cents for a paper and
depart. When this happens, he said
it makes him want eyes again.
He cannot do much with language,
he said. He couldn't really ade-
quately defend the street which has
so often been vituperated and con-
demned. He cannot tell properly, he
said, of the dancing partners, out Of
an engagement, who starve and lie
that the other half of the act might
eat. He knows number of chorus
girls, he said, who send money home
regularly to their parents. These
parents think that their daughters
are sa!esg;rls, or stenographers, or
even housemaids, and they are con-
tent to accept money which they
might otherwise thoughtlessly de-
scribe as tainted.
Yes, Ire admitted, Broadway is
pretty much of a tinseled and gilt
locality. He thought that this is be-
cause Broadway's natives live in ar
tifciai settings about three hours
each night and six hours on matinee
days. They somehow keep acting
even when the curtain has rung
down, he said The women still have
their makeup on, he said, while the
men seem to hold real, sincere
feelings IN check He understands,
he said, that when one is blind
his other senses are sharper. To
him has come, he unused, kind of
new sense, which has made him feel
Broadways lights as seeing people
do the glare Of the summer sun.
1t was growing late as he spoke
his defense of Broadway and dis
tributed papers with both hands.
b.
sorbed by the subways, the street.
cars and the cabarets when the blind
man began showing signs of impa-
tience. He seemed waiting for some
one.
A young man, carrying a wisp Of
cane and wearing collar the
same color as his shirt, came walking
swiftly from uptown. He was the
kind of young man who is at home
only on Broadway.
He came straight TO the blind man
and the latter sensed his presence.
The boy greeted him heartily and the
blind mans reply was carried on in
trembling voice. He gave the boy
paper and the latter, in the faint
light from the vestibule night lamp,
began reading. He read of strikes.
liquor raids, treaty reservations and
sugar shortages. while the blind man
OF Broadway listened. nodded and
said, well, WE'LL" often.
The boy was methodical and clear
voiced. He began with the first COL
umn of the first page and chased
that story to the end on the inside.
Then he came out to the first page
again and attacked column two. The
blind mans reply was carried on In
to ask him to repeat some paragraph
that seemed to appeal to him par
ticularly.
The boy continued reading as Gus
toners came and bought At page
9 the blind man told the boy to STOP
He said he had heard enough TO give
his mind something to digest for