The Washington herald., 1921-07-15

Whiio strohinB around New York I:
day for a sonnet! Puffs of clouds.
Egg beaten white. California sun
shine and the chirp of robins. NV
garter has slipped down Ngain. A
black cat dozing on a little white
comm In an undertaker's' shop.
There they so! Lionel. Ethel and
Jack. Amt they grand?
Cocktail shakers in every window.
A pompous capitalist. inter-
viewed him once. The only man
ever saw strut sitting down in q
swivel chair. Louis Untermeyer, A
3eweler in Newark and a poet In
New York. A porch draped with
Ivy. And a hammock, A morbid
little blind street. Dock loiterers.
Pimply young men. Faces that are
hard, matter-of-fac and cruel.
Across the way the old groggery
where stupified men were shang-
haied. Now 1t Is paint shop. Pull
man porters awaiting their next
call. Wholesale linen stores. They
look old fashioned. And the sales
men are old and dignified. The rag
gle dazzle of Forty-second street.
A thrice married leading lady. A
Bonn under each arm. And an ex-
preston of bland naivete.
A motor truck piled high with
crates of bawling calves. Such
sights whet my resolve to become a
vegetarian. But imagine eating
parsnips for breakfast. Ten theatri-
cal costumers in one building. Fo-
lorn patriarchs carrying the ban
ner. Most of them too old to work.
like to watch the groups reading
the signs in front of an employment
agency. There must be romance In
going to a strange Job.
German acrobats in tights getting
a breath of air on a theater fire
escape. Free violet ray treatments
at drug store window. You touch
a certain SPOT and blue flames dart
out. Wonder IL 1t will improve a
feeble memory. I'm getting SO /
even forget my monthly bills.
Imaginative and grotesque sculpture
now the craze. Some foreigner with
a name like a sneeze comes over
here. Throws a hunk OF clay out a
window. Picks IT Up carefully and
invites all the art critics to call.
The next day hes, famous.
Mickey Arnstein. sentenced, to
serve two years in a Federal prison.
is said to have lost his usual savoir
faire. Mickey was the gay guipster
after ne was caught He led the
police merry chase and he and his
fellows fashioned many a bright
wheeze at their expense. Now he is
said to be biting his nails. tugging
nervously at his silken mustache
and he hasn't real wise-cracking
remark left in his system.
Much has been written about the
cunning of the subway pickpocket
But the best Illustration OF their
art Is noted in the report a subway
passenger made at a police station.
His wrist watch was stolen OF his
wrist.
In the chain cigar stores in New
York the clerks invariably an
nounce the size of any bill given TO
them for a purchase before deposit
ing IL in the cash register for
change. The other day / asked one
clerk why this was done. The ex-
PLANTATION was simple. For many
years clerks were flimflammed
after handing back proper change.
by customers declaring the bill pre-
sented was larger than il was
Many times II was innocently a mis-
take, but the majority of times II
was petty grating. The clerks
now have to stand such losses and
so after receiving a bill, they look
at it, announce its denomination be-
fore ringing up the cash purchase.
1t stopped the im-flamming, but
the crooks will start something
new.
The Follies features an American
version of the French song. Mon
Homme," with an elaborate Urban
setting of Brooklyn Bridge. Urban
has given to the big bridge the
eerie atmosphere of the old ten
twent-and thirt when Old Mag, the
toothless hag. cackfed over the
corpse of Jean Hathaway. the
smooth city chap. The song regis
ters the hit of the evening.