Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-06-05
Greenwich Village
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

New York, June 2.~-An inconvenient
thing about living in New York is that,
sooner or later, everybody you have ever
met comes here and expects you person
ely to conduct them through Greenwich
Village
They will attempt anything else alone,
sinple-handed, but when it comes TO tour
ing Bohemia, they want n guide who
knows the ropes In vain You may pro-
test that there are no ropes 10 know; that
sll the village thrills disappeared with the
enforcement of prohibition, and that now
nothing is left but soggy food and stale
atmosphere Mt high prices. Your friends
from home know better
IL is useless 10 try To convince them that
they nre laboring under q popular de-
lusion in stipposing that there ~ real Wild
eyed genius wandering about Washington
Square for any cnslfnl tourist TO marvel at.
'rhey only smile pityingly and murmur
something about people growing old, and
so. of course, YOU have 10 capitulate and
take them down TO West Fourth street,
Just TO show you are young and sprightly,
whether YOU look il or not And the worst
of il is. you know by bitter experience
that it takes young and sprlghtly diges-
ton to get bv with the dinners served by
tbs village Bohemians.
Bitter experience we repeat, because
nearly every resident of New York has
suffered from Village fever ut s0Tne time
in his life. The visitor always gets Il when
he first arrives here. He is fascinated by
the tales he has heard Of the picturesque,
care-freo existence to be enjoyed in the
vicinity of Washington Square and u
usually takes just about month Of bad
food and plumbing To make the would-be
II 4 Al. .fFh hsc sIFa.zr kFr
he puts the few dollars he has left IN
secure. bourgeois bank, and moves up
town.
NEw GREENWICH VILLAGE.
- --y-
Greenwich Village. once inhabited by
many art celebrities, as well as by mem
bers of the best old New York families, u
now completely over-run by commercial
artists and by intellectual hoboes, who
think that because they know Cezanne
or n Corot when they see II that they
| should be pensioned by the rest Of IN
| recognizing mankind. OF these latter,
many are obviously psychopathic cases.
A one old frame-maker of the village puts
| it ~ OH want TO have a nut-cracker nancy
| when you meet them.
The hotels. apartment houses and
| boarding houses in the vicinity of the
f9flUHrP arr no tVitAft Ifatibfltff1A tf sFttAFa
| Cling painters and poets, but by prosper
Gus designers or millinery. women 3
wear. popular song writer's and successful
| business women. Brokers, ! NJ. s.. A.
secretaries and insurance clerks occupy
most OF the rooms on the north side Of the
square These newcomers, while IN
| terested in maintaining the artistic atmos-
sphere Of his quaint, old section Of New
York, have practically succeeded in ruin
| ing il by causing q tremendous imitation IN
values In these days Of the village ;
prosperity. you may pay as much Tor
room with one gas Jet and fireplace by
Wny af heat as you do for two rooms con-
tanning all the modern convenlences N the
neighborhood of Columbia University
Thus, the majority of the old lnhabl-
| tants have been forced to move of, no
| longer being able 10 afford the rarIhed
atmosphere The popular conception That
/ artists and writers are a dreamy visionary
| lot who care nothing for worldly goods and
! are easily imposed upon IS one 81 the most
absurd ialiacies ever created. A. matter
| of face. they bathc just As regularly as
ANYBODY else, and they usually possess
| shrewd business Judgment IN managing
their own affairs 1t was group oi
artists who started the first successful
cooperative housing scheme in New
/ York, and II was a group oi artists Who
| first conceived the economical scheme 81
| hiring cooks on the cooperative plan
/ that i. one cook for two or three studios.
- when prices started gong up IN the
/ village. the artists and writers oi real
merit were the first 10 leave Nlth the
| exception OF few notabies who are lett .
| including Harry Kemp. Philip Aoetler
Art Moss and Theodore Dresser.
| most ot the old residents have follow
ed the suit IT Joseph HergeShlmer
and moved to quiet Bohemlas Oi their
own Ike Chester Pa
The rabble that have invaded this
district III the last I'VE years haze no
more - do with a legitimate Bonenia OF
art. science, letters or thought than next
year ; prunes have 70 do with this year 5
| booze. declared one Of the old residents
| who Is nov contemplating moving, the
other tlaV. They are recruited from the
Sums Of literature and arr and the garbage
pals Of Bohemia They are not even good
sports They spend their lives whining for
quarters and handouts. And the worst q
| II Is. they give the rest Of the country, md
| even New York. the impression that they
are the real art atmosphere Of the village.
r vas IN one Of the village caG Is that
| he thus uaburdencd himself ealtlonIng
! the writer not to mention As name as he
might be Waylald and tapped on ne skull
/ BY one ri the victims 81 has trade We
! turned triulnDhantly to our companion, a
| Young man from the Middle West who
| had insisted upon our escortlng hm 10
| the village: but ms gaze was tiNed upon q
| man who WAS entering the low, yellow
painted door The man 5 head was large
! and pccullarly-shaped, his hair dropped
over his soft. worn collar. and has clothes
were faded and Shapeless. HIS eyes trav-
! eled vacantlv over the crude wooden
chairs and tables of the room all occupied
hy uptown tourists and served by a wom-
an in a brilliant orange SIN oek. At last
he saw the vacant seat n our table, and
| dropped wearily into il. putting faded
| manuscript ease on the floor by ms char,
| aud immediately assuming n pose ot Ut
| ter detection, his long. pointed chm rest
ing on q Tat. skinny wrist In tins posi-
| ton he surveyed us mourntaly
Nh | SEE that YOU arc strangers II
our midst, are YOU not he SAID sadly
| Tho painter whose grandmother haO
| been a belle IN tho village nudged Us
under the table MAY not extend you
| ~ elcome9 see, We have sweet patatoe,
this evening how refreshing after s
| fatlgulng day with one pencil L
wonder ii YOU would be- interested i'll this
little work of mine while waiting for youI
dessert
lie drew from his faded manuscript
case few sheets containing weird pen
and INK drawings and text in mimeograph
form At tho top of the first page was thu