The Washington herald., 1921-06-02
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NEW YORK. June I-Afternoon
tea-drinkinB orgies In private
apartments offer q cacse-up study
Of ths odd characters who make up
the but1erfJ LIE IN Manhattan Tea,
heavily spsoed With rum. has = rare
potency and natural fnhibitions are
quickly shed Back Of the easy
going camraderie shines tho red
forked tongue Of scandal
The bondoir gossip. the divorces
Of the moment. the lampconing of
wives and An The sal.cious vhfs-
pertnEs usually confined TO the
backxtzirs among servants run the
gauntlet Social run runners tell
how theJ sim cnry the flask yacu-
Gus youths who run to tho molar
Upe OF beanty-squirrel teeth and
adenuid sIpression-dick q wicked
Cigarette and shoot q snappy cuff-
An the silly afiectations are on
display The girl who is SO pain
Ny vord+nghts on eItiction by
Ny wordEhghts on extinction by
boredom by knocking the canaille-
She is paying her maid Marie rs
week Buffers are getting i'm
pudent and carriage footmen
sIoven- The fact that she has never
been in England nor far away from
her birthplace, Hoboken. is known
by all but they are tolerant-until
she departs And then she gets
hers o. my dears, you should hear
it!
Always there Is the movie hero.
He was starred in one film which
had a resounding flop, but he is un-
dismayed and speaks cynically of
'one Of those Chaplin things" His
escort is usually the gushing movie
mad flapper who holds lip stick in
one hand and a cigarette in the
other.
Every tea orgy. too. has its hars,
ened and fashionable sensualist. who
brings along brazenly his paramour
of the moment. Tongues are still
when they are announced and eye
brows lifted. but when they enter
one might think they were a reign
ing prince and princess.
She makes a dive for the ciga-
rette tray, throws back her sable
collars to reveal her pearls and
diamonds. He has an uncanny way
Of siding up closely to the bottle
Of Scotch. She calls him by his
first name and explains that they
can only stay a moment for they
have six OF eight dawnces to do
before they go to the Sixty club,
which opens at midnight.
There is talk Of shooting lodges,
Siding to the hounds, country places,
the Riveria- Monte Carlo and st.
Moritz-sketchy superficial four
flushing drivel. They hold their
liquor well and the tea orgy is
really preliminary to the nightly
drinking bout. After attending one
of these affairs the normal human
being sighs for a porch rocker on
Main street-a breath of air from
the pine forest or, better still. a
. bath.
Some day soon 1 hope to dash
over to Paris just to get enough
French to be able to order a meal
in New York. The difficult thing
is that the menus do not mean any
thing. For instance one may see
"Selle de pre- Sale, Fontaine," "Fon-
taine" may be the name of a pet cat
or dog owned by the French chef.
And he taCks it on, perhaps with a
chuckle. After looking them over
carefully ] generally order a min
ute steak or large chops, and then
look about and see the most engas~
ing looking food on other peoples
plates-meat garnished with vege-
tables Of the season and delicious
side dishes. 1t is the same way with
desserts. Something that sounds
like it might have been fashioned
with the dainty tips of an angels
wings is merely cornstarch pud-
ding that we used to get at the de-
port short-order restaurant for 10
cents a saucer.
New York fortune-tellers who
hold forth in the Chinese chop suey
district along Eighth avenue now
exact a 10 per cent war tax from
their customers. There is no pro-
Vision in the income tax for it, but
a bill is to be introduced charging
for