The Washington herald., 1920-04-22
New York City
B, o. o. Mcintyre

New York. April 21.-In the froth
of the bubble OF White Way life
some queer occupationai groupings
are presented. There II the sap
worker" Loose Tipped young men
who always wear shiny serge suits.
derby hats and roll their own ciEa-
rettes belong to the sap workefI"
Some of them are assistants to
stage jugglers decoy passengers
In the sightseeing buses. gambling
and stuss house iookouts sand mes
sengers for shady transactions Of
the Tenderloin.s
! The sap worker" Is a subser-
Went weakling who seems as grate--
full for any stray Job as a hungry
dog is for chunk OF juicy meat.
He never works more, than week
at, anyone job and, usually. he IT, q
slave Of the needle or poppy. M4nyl
sap workers" stand out in frontldf
the Metropolitan during the opera
season, hoping to run errands for
women who have left their lorg-
nettes or opera glasses at home. u
| Around the cheaper cafes there
is always a type known as 'spdit
men," When diners are through
and longing for, some sort OF
amusement the split men," usually
well dressed, suggest that they go
to certain dance hall or to a cer-
tain cabaret or take a taxi-driver.
They will accompany them and then
get their commission from the own
ers of the places or taxis to which
they guide their victims. Splitting
the spoils, as 1t were.
All the theater Hobbies have their
quota of. quick gypers." The quick
gyper" is an artist in approaching a
victim. He will Immediately call
him by name. which he knows is.
wrong. The victim is then told a
hard-luck story SO fast and furious
ly that he Is swept off his feet and
before he knows it he is handing
out coin or a bill All the quick
gyper" needs is the victims atten-
ton. I have fallen for this old trick
three times myself and each time
the stories were so amazingly pa
thetic that l was stunned until /
got few blocks away and realized
l had been gyped.
But one of the most amazing
tricks was pulled the other night
In big Broadway restaurant.
Just inside the door a man in a
| gold-braided cap approached, took
three fur coats. gave them a check
and not until they got to the real
hat check stand around the corner
! did they realize they had been
tricked But the tricksters were
gone-and SO were the fur coats.
I
l have failed to find a person in
all New York who realizes that this
is the maple syrup season. 1t seems
10 mean nothing in their hectic
lives that out somewhere in this
iand maple sugar camps are alive
with activity. There are thousanas
OF New YORK boys who have nevSf
had the thrill of visiting one III
these camps-drinking out of a
rusty dipper and eating a cake of
real dark brown maple sugar, The
only thing that is appealing to me
about "the great out of doors
where the real people live" as the
novelists and movies put it, is a
maple sugar camp. Y
| Fifth avenue has just had "A
week" of its own and it bedecked
itself accordingly. The celebration
was to show New Yorkers what a
gem they have in the street and e
mould sentiment for a continual
union of commercial art and civic
enterprise in improving it, Fifth
avenue was once plain street but
II has f1owered into the finest thor
oughfare of its kind in the world.
| Coed judges rate 1t above Regent
street. the Rue de la Paix and the
best avenues of Buenos Aires or
Vienna. During the war the ave.
nue. reached its apotheosis. Be-
( tagged and illuminated il impress,
ed poets and painters from all over
the world. There is one thing that
can be done to make Fifth avenue
/ better. That is to stop in some
way the people who ride on the TOP
of the Fifth avenue buses and point
out the Metropolitan Tower as the
WOOlWOrth Building"