The Washington herald., 1920-12-25
New York City
Day by Day
By o. o. MCINTYRE.

NEW YORK, Dec. 2i-From the
Times Building looking north into
the dazzling gulch of roaring
Broadway at midnight there are
sounds ami sights that are be-
wildering and leave an indelible
impression. Night has become
brighter than day aided by the glow
from the athletic chewing gum
kids. the leaping kitten, the auto
races and q thousand other electric
signs.
The heavy electric voltage seems
to surcharge the people with new
life-for Broadway Is the widest
awake at the stroke of twelve. A
hundred pianos are tangling in the
box-like music shops. There is a
sparkle in every eye and the
crowds mill and tostle about with
rare good nature.
1t is the hour when Broadway
shows OF. Half of the crowds are
strangers who wonder how New
Workers keep up the terrible pace,
ers are peacefully slumbering in
homes on quiet streets. The all
night photo shops have lines wait
ing-and the faces under the heavy
mercury lights are sea green and
grinning.
The loungers are packed under
the hotel canopies-many of them
in quest of a Great Adventure. The
night-birds are in gay plumage.
They beckon with artful twists OF
the head and flashes of smiles. Al
ways at night there weaves in and
out the twitching. hollow eyed fell
low with his coat collar turned up
land his cap pulled down. He is
| searching for a dope peddler.
The lobbies of the shady hotels
are darkened. Their guests do not
care for the garish display of lights
of the usual lobby. Women. who
have not removed the makeup of
the chorus, slip in and out of the
lunchrooms with buckets of steam
ing coffee. 1t is their hour Of re-
taxation and the theatrical boarding
houses hum with Eaiety.
The patient, tired woman is still
selling the Birth Control Magazine.
She has the face of an aristocrat.
And she pays no attention to the
coarse jokes of the passing thronC
The first editions are cried by the
old men who cannot compete
against the youthful day hustler
The price Is doubled at midnight.
In an hour the crowds will have
drifted away but II is fast ana
furious hour of excitement while ii
lasts.
Two fires in the threatrical board
ing houses have contributed Incl
dents to the mirth OF a nation. In
one a young woman discovered
when she had been rescued that her
little white pet pig was not saved
so she rushed back aud saved it
lust like that. At another. a ma
tronly woman rushed to the street
to discover that she was clad only
in the sheet from her bed which
she had thrown around her hastily.
She rushed back frantically to
clothe herself but in her excitement
merely put on a hat and rushed
back again in the sheet-carrylns
in one hand a powder puff.
Down with Narcissus! New York
elevators are too busy for him. the
superintendent of the Bank of Com
merce Building has taken all the
mirrors from the lifts. Service mas
been improved-which means hast
ened 10 per cent-by making 1t i'm
possible for vain men to block the
passageway by looking at them
selves. The next ban on the mirror
is to be made in the subway slot
machines. 1t is said the vain men
and women who stand In front OF
these little mirrors have actuaily
kept away thousands OF pennies
from customers who wanted TO oug'
Mildred Post is an actress VINO
loves books. 1t is a lean winter
and she, like many others, is out OF
a lob. Now she is q clerk in one OF
the large bookstores on lower Firth
avenue.