The Washington herald., 1920-12-21
New York City
Day by Day
ny o. o. MeINrYRE.

NEW YORK. Dec zOs-Luncneon
hour In New York used to be at
noon. Now It Is o'clock. and by
the time ode has worried through
lunch 1t Is time for tea. and with
dinner at ., life becomes one gas
tronomic gorge altar another. In
fact, many sit at their luncheon
tables until II Is time for tea to be
served.
The large number of men who
dswdle over food all afternoon Is
astonishing. The tearooms are hlled
Tall. rsw-boned fellows who wear
soft. colored collars. loose fitting
clothes and wrist watches, and have
q Pronounced Piccadilly drawl. Snap
py young men with mustaches that
require tender nurturing every mo-
ment. Men about town Husbands
who should be elsewhere, and the
professional tea hounds.
They dance very little these days.
Most of the time they sit at the
darkened tables and smoke. The
women Of the tearooms arg smoth-
cred in furs and very naughty.
Haughtiness Is a relic Of an earlier
New York, and Is supposed to denote
class. One might have been naughty
when New York was sparsely set
tied and receive certain attention,
but not in these days when an Astor,
Vanderbilt or Gould may walk or
ride miles without a single glance
from the proletariat.
II takes q Charlie Chaplin, a gun
toting divorcee, or a girl in short
skirts and half stockings really to
make New York pause in its mad
fSsh for nowhere. But the women
"a The tearoom can be naughty with
she walters and bus boys and get a
certain amount Of satisfaction. Look
ing bored and naughty is a studied
achievement. Nevertheless the
young girl, bubbling with enthusi-
asn, finding thrills in simple things.
usually has the largest following,
and they follow longer.
In the boxes at the Metropolitan
an actual rite among the women is
to look out over the audience with
. seeing-nothing gaze and then
stifie a yawn behind an ostrich
plume fan Those who have brushed
up on society's boredom say the
whole thing is done, of course, to
display the costliness of the fan.
People rarely laugh in the tea
rooms They frown upon such sim
pie vulgarity. The zippy thing In
tea circles is to look terrificalIy
angle and light one cigarette from
the stub Of another.
The street beggar's limit used to
b. q dime. But the 1890 minimum
Is IS cents In the past few weeks
more "moochers" have been seen in
New York than were seen all last
year. A dime will not buy a Bowery
fiop these days, and a nickel no
longer purchases coffee and" even
on Avenue A The police say the
street beggG will not work, but
the fact that During the help scare
ity times a year ago very few were
seen, indicated that a lot Of beggars
will work when they get a chance.
My temper always reaches the
boiling point when I am far from
the scene. Then is when bright lines
Of retort come to the surface Con-
sequently / doff my sS.60-plus war
tax-hat to the serene automobilist
who, was driving down Fifth avenue
in the heavy dinner hour traffic He
started to cut around a corner into
a side street The traffic cop rushed
at him with the fury of q wounded
bull He could be heard two blocks
away easily. The automobilist
stopped his car carefully, then
stepped to the street. His voice was
calm But there was a deadly
earnestness behind IL. Because the
city dresses you up in blue suit
with brass buttons" he said. sit does
not give you the authority to be in
sulting. I accidentally violated
trafiic law, and I am willing to pay
the penalty. but am not willing to
suffer any humiliation at the hands
OF an uncouth. coarse roughneck.
Take my car number and address,
bot don't dare to speak to me like
that again or I'll knock you DOWN"
The proceeding of txking the name
and number was done-with only a
few words spoken, and then very
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