The Washington herald., 1920-01-18
NEW YORK CITY
By o. o. McNTYRe

on a wild orgy of extravagant
spending. Broadway gasped when
1t leaked out that the late Diamond
Jim Grady several years ago spep;
$50 for a dinner for two in swell
hotel. That Is old stun now. II Is
being done nightly.
Back. in the past that seems re-
mote one Coal OIL Johnny" was
the synonym for all that was ex-
travagant In spending. Johnny and
his few paltry hundred thousands
cast into the golden flood now mum
dating New York shops would create
about as much Of a splash as q peb-
bile dropped into the middle of the
Atlantic.
People used to live happily ever
after on what some persons are
now paying out for little tokens OF
esteem. jewelers.. furriers, cloth
iers and automobiliers admit glibiy
that the last thing examined by the
modern purchaser Is the price tag.
The men satisfying the public
frantic hunger for luxuries want the
costly appetites to be satisfied quiet
ly with no more noise than the
scraping OF a pen across the loving
face of a check. The rich and poor
seem to be meeting in the big shops,
the war having been the financial
maker of them all. Fifth avenue Is
as crowded with the ultimate con-
sumers as Avenue A. Graduations
Int :
Quinze chaises-longues are favorite
household sports.
The managers of the stores of the
vanishing dollars can only elevate
the edges of shoulders to the tops Of
orgy. They like II, but II puzzles
them. They sprinkle trick French
phrases through voluhle English as
they tell of endless buying.
On Fifty-seventh street and on Firth
avenue are situated a number OF
stores which would be called lady
outfitters" ON Grand street. Being
where they are they are called
"Maisons."
In one store the other day a woman
looked over a light chinchilla wrap
this week. It looked superb. The
woman was not an Annette Keller
mann. The proprietor was worried.
at will cost you SIS. 100. madame.
the owner said, but, ah, II you
could but
"Wrap 1t up" the lady's escort said.
a bit impatiently. because 1t seems
that he had theaIer tickets and they
were late five minutes as 1t was. I'M
pofted cars at $1,000 will not be pro-
durable i'm a week. the agent says.
P,rfumery at SIS an ounce Is being
sold by the quarts. Cakes of soap are
sold on Fifth avenue for $50 cake.
shoes at SO a pair are being made
day and night by select shops.
Where do they get the money!
don't know. Nobody seems to know
but il doesn't matter. they get it and
they spend 1t.
Southwark. no, Humanity. it seems,
like youth will have its fling: and II
Americans cannot have 1t in New
York they go to Havana. Every
boat is loaded down with Care-tree
New Workers on pleasure Dent
Little New York. IL would appear,
i. only parched tongue OF land
hanging from the dried mouth oil
Yonkers. Beyond Sandy Hook lies
the three-mile limit, where one
may get hiCh-seas over on the
good ship Liberty, and beyond the
good ship Liberty lies Havana. the
new capital Of New Work CITY
Every newspaper and magazine is
sending writer to write about
things as they are In Eavana-w1th
the lid off Havana. as Ben de
Casseres says. is not place. II !:
an instinct. 1t is not the capitai
OF Cuba: it is the Hesperides OF the
New Freedom. For what VIM "
profit a man II he gain the wealth
of all the Tonopahs and klondikes
If he lose his life by a swiG OF
wood alcohol and il he has got Ia
cat sinkers at two n. m. And in
the meantime Jacks is closed. Rec
tors is ltfeless after 10. Broad
way is a country road after the
theatcrs disgorge their hordes. But
the apartments are filled with gay
parties lasting until dawn. The
only new profession on broadway
is Bookkeeping.
Fifth avenue in tho SOS. at the
hour when fashionable folk arc
thinking OF dining. \ limousine
are" I'D AT lIt TIC ~" "
occupants alighted at the moment
when the front door of the brown
stone mansion swung open auto
matically. -
Two youngsters, dragging home
a load of firewood. stood transfixed
at the glimpse they were having
of high society" Up the steps
assembled the lady. in a coat of err
mine. her train of silver and black
brocadc, sweeping after her. Be
hind her walked her escort, in
evening clothes, high hat, gold
topped cane. But most impressive
of all was the peep the boys got
of two liveried footmen, standing
stiffly at attention in the brilliant
ly lighted hall. And then the door
into paradise was shut.
Say. Jim. it's real. We seen it
at the movies that way. but ! know
it's real. Did you see them fellers
in britches? Say, let's hurry home
and tell ma and the kids. Gee,
amt it grand to live like that"
Pettyman as head of the Horace
Mann School to accept a position
in the business world, typifies the
drift of the ablest minds out of-the
teaching profession. DIR. Pettyman
says that nothing less than 200 or
800 per cent increase will meet the
situation for teachers.
DAYS OF ROMANCE.
BY EDMUND VANCE COOKE.
(Note to Readers.-Dear Folks:
have a vague suspicion that these