Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-07-22
Lizard and His Liz
By Frederic ]. Haskin

Lizard" as you may know, is general
tsfm for a weary youth who is always TO
be found leaning against something or
somebody. Thus, there are lounge lizards,
dance lizards-feminine, dance lizzie
beach lizards, and, as in this story, the
curb lizard.
The curb lizard is indigenous 70 the
pavements around drug stores. 1T eats
anything, expensive things preferred. Its
widespread occurrence at this time ~ due,
in part at least, to the housing shortage
which has robbed the youth Of our cities
of its parlor sofa rights. In the stress Of
war exigencies, parlors have been rented,
sofa and all, to the highest bidder, and IN
the resulting confusion boys and girls be-
took themselves TO the parks and streets
To swell the crowd of lizards and lizzies.
The curb lizard. you understand,
ranges from seventeen to twenty-one
years, period of life when quiet evening
in his own room with good book is not
the boys idea Of pastimc. A little later
he will settle down to married existence,
or drift off with an older and wilder gang,
but, at the lizard stage, the boy with no
aim in life except pleasure finds the most
enjoyment on street corner watching
the danes go by
THE SEVERAL TRIBES.
The curb lizards are divided into groups
according 10 the location I the lamp post
| or drug store wall to which they are
| accustomed to cling. In this city the
groups have organized and selected club
names and presidents. There are the Cake
| Eaters Sand Box Boys, the Order Of the
| Dirty Spoon. Canal Lizards, Moon GazerB,
and the Porkers.
The Cake Eaters naturally came 10 be
socalled because they were so adept at
stoking up on cake, and other eats, at
dances They are proud Of their reputa-
/ tin for extraordinary capacity. and can
he distinguished by their air Of sad bore
dom which is only shaken off when cake
or other rations are placed before them.
The Sand Box Boys haunt the sand pile
in local playground. Here they hang
out-we use the lizard language occa-
sionally in this monograph believing
that our fellow-semi scientists will be
| sufficiently acquainted with it-and
while propping themselves against con
venient tree the Sand Box Boys lamp
The Iizzies who skirt it past them.
The Porkers are the most true-to-typo
of the numerous branhces Of the curb
lizard family so far discovered IN these
parts. There are about $50 POI kers m this
city. Their native element IS the SIDE
walk on + Street, Washington's Fifth
avenue. Here at any time small groups
of them may be found gracefully draped
over a trash box or around a lamp post.
They wear the latest and most startling
styles, not 80 much with the idea of
expressing their sotfls IN unique dress as
with the ambition TO. lead the fashion.
Just now, the highest type Of Poker Is
surrounded by the following assortment
of outer garments: One hat Of any kind
SO long as it is too big or too little. The
bow should flop aimlessly at the back
The coat is very short wasted. Brown Z
the fayorite color, with checks close
second Only one button must be fas-
tened 10 give the proper half dressed look.
Trousers are Of the blunderblis4 pattern,
too tight at the knee and too floppy at the
ankle. The sailors wear EN- that way for
convenience in scrubbing decks, but With
civilian, vanity and not utility IS the one
plausible explanation.
THE LI,AHD DESCRIBED.
The necktie may be an almost invisible
string or large portion Of scrambled sun
set silk. Shoes are usually OF the English
dreadnaught variety, trIffe more con-
spicuous than the now obsolete gunboats.
| The costume IS completed BY cigarette,
| a poker face expression. and now and then
a moustache that seems 10 be struggling
| desperately with bad start.
Some of the most esthetlc curb lizards
augment their manly beauty by carefully
| applied rouge and powder. We have it
| from Young woman acquaintance that
/ she knows a lizard who has his eyebrows
/ pulled and keeps his hair electrically
/ waved. We are also reliably informed
| from another source that the members
| of the Pork organization use only the best
cosmetics. and swear by certain unusual
| brands of perfume.
The appearance of the curb lizards IS
always strange. and they themselves arc
aware of this. Yet they wear their exotic
| haberdashery with bravado and manage
| to look as if they felt perfectly natural.
They realize that the public at large does
not understand their attitude toward
clothes. From their explanations We
doubt il they understand it themselves.
| One lizard defended his get-up IN let
| ter to critic by saying that clothes do not
necessarily indicate character. Some
| of the greatest men IN history dressed
most freakishly," he continued, 'Dlsraell,
the famous English statesman and orator,
used to appear in the House of Commons
attired in a bottle green froek coat, fancy
| pattern pantaloons, and black tie above
which no shirt collar was visible Socrates
used TO travel the streets OF Athens
draped in table spread, Diogenes wore =
barrel and our ancient. reyered and
| honorable father Adam went attired in q
fig leaf. And vet all these individuals
made their imprint on the sands OF time.
THEY ATTRACT ATTENTION.
The Porkers, whose decorations are
certainly a far stretch from DlogeneS and
father Adam, may or may not leave the
prints of their fashionable shoes on the
pages of history, but they do attract no
little local attention and comment.
1t is understood that the Porkers got
their name from the Congressional pork
barrel tradition The Congressman who
wants to get the good will of his constitu-
| ents tries to get an unreasonably big
| appropriation for the improvement of
some creek or harbor back home. This
form of graft is called pork.
The namesakes of the legislative porkers
are mostly employed in offices and shops,
| though some are supported by their
families There is not much wealth
among them, especially after the gorgeous
outfit affected by the gang is bought.
And as the average Porker is endowed with
club sandwich appetite, and carries
around a cheese sandwich pocketbook,
he finds it expedient to graft on the
lizzies of his acquaintance.
There is story that one Porker was
telling another about his experience
| of the night before "And she and | had
dinner down town. he concluded. "It