Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-07-24
THE LIZARD AND
HIS LIZ
By FREDERIC !. HASKIN

WASHINGTON, D. c., July e.
This is a semi-Scientific monograph
on specimen of humanity so far
little known to science. We refer to
the curb lizard, a species which in
usually favorable conditions, as the
atmosphere around here seems to
stimulate it's 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, dance nZZie-beach lizards,
| and, as in this story, the curb lizard.
1.-THE curb lizard is indigenous to
the pavements. around drug stores.
1t eats anything, expensive things
preferred. Its widespread occur
renee at this time is due, in part at
| least, to the housing shortage which
has robbed the youth of our cities
of it's parlor sofa rights. In the
been rented, sofa and all, to the
highest bidder, and in the resulting
confusion boys and girls betook
! themselves to the parks and streets
| to swell the crowd of lizards and
J liZzies.
/ The curb lizard, you understand,
ranges from seventeen to twenty-one
years, a period of life when a quiet
evening in his own room with a
good book is not the boys idea of
| pastime. A little later he will set
tie 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 pleas
ure finds the most enjoyment on a
street corner watching the DANES go
| by"
The Several Tribes
m
| 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 tE
Dirty Spoon, Canal Lizards, Moon
gazers, and the Porkers.
The Cake Eaters naturally came to
| be so-called because they were SO
adept at stocking up on cake and
other eats, at dances. They are proud
of their reputation for extraordinary
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 a local playground. Here they
hang out-we use the lizard language
occasionally in this monograph be-
lieving that our felloW-semi-sc ien-
lists will be sufficiently acquainted
with it-and while propping them
selves against convenient tree the
Sand Box Boys lamp the llzZles who
skirt it past them.
The Porkers are the most true-to-
type of the numerous branches OF
the curb lizard family so far d1scoV-
cred in these parts. There are about
tive element is the sidewalk on F
street, Washingtons Fifth avenue.
Here at any time small groups of
them may be found gracefully draped
over a trash box or around lamp
post.
startling 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 nigh
est type of Porker is surrounded by
the following assortment of outer
long as it is too big or too little
The bow should flop aimlessly at
the back The coat is very short
WASTED. Brown is the favorlte color,
with checks a close second only
one button must be fastened to give
the proper half-dressed look. Trous-
ers are of the blunderbuss pattern,
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; VeniIy
and not utility is the one plausible
explanation.
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 trife more conspicuous
than the now obsolete gunboats. The
costume is completed by cigarette,
a poker face expression, and, now and
then, a moustache that seems TO pc
struggling desperately with pad
start
Some of the most esthetic curb liz
ards augment their manly beauty by
carefully applied rouge and powder.
We have it from a young woman &C
uuaintance that she knows 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 curD llzardS
is always strange, and they them
selves are aware of this. Yet they
wear their exotic haberdashery with
bravado and manage to look as IT
they felt perfectly natural. They
realize that the public at large does
not understand their attitude toward
clothes. From their explanations we
doubt if they understand it them
selves.