The Washington herald., 1919-10-14
NEW YORK CITY
By o. o. McNTYRE

New York. Oct a-Christopher
street is down near the ferry boat
landing and most Of the folk make
their living along the riverfront. It
is a city Of its own and the language
is the patois Of the docks. The men
are great physical huiika raw boned
and square shouldered. and many Of
them have been around the Horn on
vindtammers and felt the impact Of
the Delaying pin.
There is . kindly gruff cafher(derie
among the men and q grunting re-
spectfuiness toward their women.
many Of whom never saw uptown New
York or the woolworth Building. not
SO far away. The stevedore wants his
woman to stay home and about her
only amusement is the movie.
Christopher street has evolved the
most neishborly movie In the world
perhaps. There In q tiny. shabby little
movie place IN the heart of one Of
the tenement blocks. The manager Is
q genius. Suddenly the progress of
the slapstick comedy reel is interrupt
ed
The farce Is broken by . patch Of
static white. And across this shin
ing blank appear these words. in
hasty scravl:
Mrs. Sol smith-The iceman is at
! your house"
A tired woman rises from her seat
and hurries up the aisle and out to
her flat to receive the ice. Again
there will be a message with q picture
! to illustrate it. A baby's head and
the cryptic words:
Mrs. Lyvinski-Outside."
IL means that Baby Lyvinski Is un-
manageable. Nobody pays any atten-
! ton to the interruptions. Even the
| other night the following message did
nothing but stir a slight ripple Of ap-
plause: .,
"Erick Stengard-You have Just been
made the proud father OF a son. Go
home" Erick, who was laughing
heartily at a fat man getting a
custard pie in the eye. sobered down
and numbered out And one learns
from the ambient chatter that Erick Is
. already the father OF nine.
The doortaker greets him with An
other. eh. Erick." as he goes out. and
Erick has the same bashful smile OF
happiness that a proud papa has for
the FIRST time.
There Is a man in our town whose
business it Is to measure several mil
lion blades OF grass. No blade may
be more than two inches long. His
name is Henry Fabian. and he is the
veteran groundkeeper at the Polo
Grounds, home OF the New York
Giants and Yankees. Fabian has been
building baseball diamonds and mind
Ing them for the past twenty years
since he quit being professional
baseball player. 1t is his business to
see that the grass never shall be too
long to impede speed afoot or the
speed OF a batted ball Perhaps you
did not know it. but II is true that a
traction OF an inch In the length Of
the grass could decide an issue, may
be. upon which the whole nation
hangs breathless. But 1t is So
The suggestion to import Chinese
( iabor during the present industrial re-
adjustment has not met with any
favor here. Statisticians report that a.
consequence OF national prohibition
more than 100000 working men are
planning to leave for Europe as soon
as they can go. This will Temporarily
cause big shortage in labor and sew
eral big employers OF labor In New
YORK urged that Chinese be brought
here for limited period-but Judging
from the protests sent to the news
papers the idea will not be carried
. out.
Aprominent New York lawyer has
cover charge is illegal and that he
will not have to pay IL. The patron
happened to be a newspaperman who
resented the injustice and refused to
pay the gouge. The hotel has sent him
bills and threatened suit and the
patron invites the suit-but the hotel
EVIDENTLY knows that it has no lust
claim.