The New York herald., 1921-06-19
He Finds the Metrop-
oils Does Fairly Well
in Wickedness but
Thinks Smaller Cities
on the Whole Sin
More Gloriously
BY DAN CAREY.

~ uR belief in mental suggestion Is
growing stronger every day. There
~ are too many evidences of it to per-
nit us longer to doubt We are continually
suggesting things to write about to others
In most marvellous manner. No sooner do
we get thought and tuck it away carefully
in our favorite brain cell for safe keeping
than some literary burglar jimmes through
the front door of our brain ana Steais our
precious thought.
Take the case of Greenwich Village in
New York for instance More than six
weeks ago we had determined to expose
Greenwich Village and hold up it's iniquities
10 the public gaze and one evening we even
made a special visit to the place to secure
our knowledge at first hand Now the whole
thing has been printed and we are even in
formed that Hizzoner the Mayor himself is
now following in footsteps and treading
the paths we have already trod.
1t is unnecessary for any one to undergo
the boredom of personally visiting the tea
rooms of Greenwich Village. We are pre-
pared to furnish the evidence. In the first
place these tea rooms really exist There is
no doubt about it at all. They may serve
tea. but we did not see any one drinking it.
Those we stealthily watched were drinking
coffee, and as an added bit of deviltry sew
eral of them failed to put cream in it. All
the while they were drinking this coffee the
wretched patrons of the places we observed
were consuming quantities of chocolate cake
and cocoanut pie, and indulgng in such
ribald language as isn't this the very best
cake you ever tasted?" or in such abandoned
phrases as another piece of pie. please: |
can't resist it,"
And this was carried on in the most
shameless manner late IL o'clock in the
evening.
And then they have paintings on the walls,
representing cats dogs, horses and birds
which look as if they had been painted with
shoe brush a whiskbroom When we
were asked to admire these paintings it was
too much so hastily eating our third slice of
chocolate cake we covered our face to avoid
recognition and returned to our hotel
We had not intended to speak so freely of
our sortie into the village. but since thinking
the matter over we have determined in the
interests of good morals to thus publicly
give testimony of the hideous things we saw
with eyes.
The truth of the matter is that New York
thinks Greenwich Village is a terrible place
or pretends to think it, because NeY York
itself is so terribly humdrum and good. You
know the better we are the more easily we
are shocked. That's New Yorks trouble
Now we hail from one of the smaller cities,
and In small cities and in the country dis
tricts when we sin we sin gloriously and
there is absolutely no room for argument as
to whether a sin has been committed. OF
course. you know the kind of sins have
i'm mind. They are those that a few years
ago. before the United States was turned
into reform school, were considered per-
fectly proper, legitimate pastimes and the
bulwarks of our personal liberties.
That was before the time when we adopt
ed as our national motto: Don't do as do !:
do as / say" and before we began passing
laws to prevent others from doing things
that we intended to keep right on doing our
selves because we thought they ought to
quit. but not u.s. OF course it must be ad-
mitted that New York leads the whole coun-
try in such minor peccadilos sstrangling