The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-07-22
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HAskIE, Director.
Washington, d. Q.
THE LIZARD AND MS LIZ.

specimen of humanity so far little
known to science. We refer to the
curb lizard, a species which in this
| town may be studied under unusually
/ favorable conditions. as the atmos-
phere around here seems to stimulate
! its growth.
Lizard" as you may know, is a
general term for a weary youth who
/ is always to be found leaning against
something or somebody. Thus, there
are lounge lizards, dance lizards
feminine, lizzie-beach lizards, and, as
in this story, the curb lizard.
The curb lizard is indigenous to the
paveme nts around drug stores. 1t eats
anything expensive things preferred.
Its widespread occurrence al this
time is due 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, par
lors have been rented. sofa and all, to
the highest bidder, and in the resulting
confusion boys and girls betook them
selves 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 a quiet
evening in his own room with a good
| book is not the boys idea of pastinle.
A little later he will settle down to a
married existence, or drift off with an
older and wilder gang, but, at the
lizard age. the boy with no aim in life
except pleasure finds the most enjoy
ment on a street corner watching the
DANES go by"
The Several Tribes.
The curb lizards are divided into
! groups according to the location of
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 presi-
dents. There are the Cake Eaters,
Sand Box Boys, the Order of the Dirty
spoon Canal Lizards, Moongazers, and
! the Porkers.
The Cake Eaters naturally came to
be so-calied because they were 50
adept at stocking up on cake, and
other eats, at dances. They are proud
capacity, and can be distinguished by
their air of sad boredom 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 outwe use the lizard language
occasionally in this monograph be-
heving that our fellow semi-scientists
will be sufficiently acquainted with
| it-and while pFepping themselves
| against a convenient tree the Sand
Box Boys lamp the lizzies who skirt
it past them.
The Porkers are the most true-to-
type of the numerous branches of
the curb lizards so far discovered in
these parts. There are about $50
POrkers in this city. Their native
element is the sidewalk on F street
Washington's Fifth avenue. Here at
any time small groups of them may be
found gracefully draped over a trash
box or around lamp post.
They wear the latest and most start
| ling styles, not so much with the idea
| of expressing their souls in unique
| dress as with the ambition to lead the
FASHION. Just now, the highest type of
Porker 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 aim
lessly at the back. The coat is very
short wasted. Brown is the favorite
color with checks close second.
Only one button must be fastened to
give the proper half-dFessed look
Trousers are Of the blundeFbuss pat
tern, too tight at the knee and too
floppy at the ankle. The sailors wear
EN- that way for convenience in scrub
bling decks, but with a civilian. vanity
and not utility is the one plausible ex-
PLANTATION.
The Lizard Described.
The necktie may be an almost in
VISIBLE string or large portion of
scrambled sunset silk. Shoes are
usually Of the English dreadnaught
variety, a trifle more conspicuous than
the now obsolete gunboats. The cos
tune is completed by a cigaFet,
| poker face expression, and now and
then moustaehe that seems to be
struggling desperately with bad
start.
Some OF the most esthetic curb
lizards augment their manly beauty
by carefully applied rouge and pow
der. We have it from a young wo-
/ man 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 cosme tics, and swear by certain
unusual brands of perfume
| The appearance of the curb lizards
! is always strange, and they them
| selves are aware of this. Yet they
wear their exotic haberdashery with
braYado and manage to look as if they
/ felt perfectly natural. They realize
| that the public at large does not I'M
deFstand their attitude toward clothes.
From their explanations we doubt if
! they understand it themselves.
One lizard defended his get-up in
| a letter to a critic by saying that
/ clothes do not necessarily indicate
in history dressed most eakishly,"
| he continued. "DisraeH, the famous
! English statesman and orator, used to
appear in the house Of commons at
ktired in bottle green froek coat,
faney pattern pantaloons, and a black
/ tie above which no shirt collar was
visible. Socrates used to travel the
streets of Athens dFaped in a table
| spread, Diogenes wore a barrel and
our ancient, revered and honorable
father Adam went attired in fig leaf
| And yet all these individuals made
their imprint on the sands of time"
They Attract Attention.
The Porkers, whose decorations are
certainly Il far stretch from Diogenes
! 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.