Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-05-04
NERVE STRAINED LONDON
S00TREs ITSELF DANCING
In Reaction From War Conditions
Staid English Metropolis
Goes JaZZ-aiad.
HAVE AMERICAN NEGRO BAND
bald-Hcadcd Major-Gcncrals JostIc
Elbows With Green Subultcrns as
ncrry-Makers Seek Forgctfulness
After Carnival of Blood,

LONDON. May 3.-"Whats the mat
Ter with this mans town? Has every
CODY here got the willies?"
. me Inestioner was a stocky little
second lieutenant of the Old Hickory
,nis'on. over here in London. to at
1tnd one OF the college courses gra-
ciousIy put at the disposal Of leave
chcers from the American expeditions
tfITy forces by the british authorities.
re mad been with n signal outf.
pTleaded with the British when the
Iiindenhurg line was crumpled up in
SSeptenber last. lie had been through
neii and hospital. and only a little
i,'the In London. and he wanted to
hno~ what was the matter with this
mans town. The lieutenant put the
chair back against my office wall and
tusEed at a precious American cigar
cite.
Why looky here" he continued his
complaint, Il just come from some Of
those dead and alive towns In the
devastated districts where people wilk
around like ghosts: don't you know
They're sill living Yet, you know.
And | hit Paris on the way across.
You know Paris-blooey. blooey. and
somebody grabbing you for your last
franc Just as you leave, But. say.
what is got under London's collar.
honestly. now? It's different from the
take Lieutenant Hechts query for
text What is got under l.ondon's
collar these days. 'twixt war and
peace? Because | think know--bc
cause there's mighty interesting
psychological phase through which
The English people are passing. and
the United Statcs--l think there's a
story here.
"Pence Ncrves" Affect All.
It's nerves. the lieutenant from
France observed. All Of Britain is
shall call II peace nerves."
over in the states we have a sort
OF national condition Of nerves once
crs come out from under their messy
logs and tell us how the fate. OF the
nation depends on the. vote Old bili
Sykes or his neiShhor T!zzy Ttndale.
the half-wi,. will cast ut the polls in
November. But with US this election
fever 10 an ephemeral and semi. pro
seriously. Here in England right now
folks are suffering far more acute
and dangerous distemrer bred-ot pro-
vocative circumstances such as have
never existed before in EnGland's or
the worlds history. a whole nation
, Is on the rack, and. despite the In
born British calm. is showing signs OF
hyIsteria.
Why?
National Exhnuntion.
For reasons that the corn belt OF
Iowa and Illinois could never guess:
mississippi or Montana have never
known. And these are the reasons:
strain when il was nip and tuck
whether or, not Britain and the empire
would go down before the blows Of
every resource OF the land was taxed
to the limit. Reaction from rigorous
ing, which about a year ago amounted
to almost semistarvation; air raids
which cut swaths OF death and damage
the lowest ebb, bereavemcnts spread
ing like cloud over the land. with
every casualty report issued.
And now the most recent nerve strain
of all-Bolshevism.
The Manifestations.
What are the manifestations of Eng
lieutenant just in. from the dreadful
barren districts OF war-swept France
saw and could not define here in staid.
smoke-stained old London? Perhaps an
observer VINO. perchance. has no,
wholly escaped the prevalent afniction,
the current OF London life. may give
Surprising we pass. by all the purely
parliamentary Mysteries over labor and
the housing problem and the case OF
the demobilized men-all Of which
to to- the statesMand consder the mani
festatons exemplf1ed by the man and
woman in the street:
City Is Jaxz-Mad.
the name they have for il over here.
!, whatever II may be called in the land
Of its reprMted birth London is Just
was In the height of the dancing craze
four winters ago; madden than ever
joyed it's ripest reputation for being
naughty. naughty town. Though
against the JAZZ dance and the SUR tro
responsibility roll their eyes in horror.
yet major-generals. with half-foot
of campaign ribbons their chests
and no hair on their heads, bump
shonlders With mad 3aao young subalterps
dancing clubs in the vicinity Of
Piccadilly.
widely advertised American negroes"
who could not hold job at third rate
so-called music of frying pans, cow
bells and piano; one dance follows an
4, spell between; the revelers sing as
they dance and STAMP their feet for an
encore the m MI ute ;, the jangling dis,
restless dancers from one stuffy resort
to. another as proprietors begin to turn
ehan nee Which Keep going iW nnti a in
the morning. when bacon and cham
payne are served.
just to Forget Awhile.
When the usual morning fog begins
light is doused. one may read the an
swer to this fury in the faces Of the
bobbed- haired girls and slope should
cred boys who reluctantly filter out
onto the sidewalk. Just a forgetting:
just snatch OF sleep before the glim-
mer OF the incandescents ten hours
later calls to n renewal OF the frenzy
Anything to forget that there are pos
sibilities TO be faced. jobs to be sought.
world to be set right.
: The theaters and cinema houses never
have done such roaring business
For the former seats are booked w .eks
hAF
movie house in downtown London
/. queue forms every night an hour be-