Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-09-22

~ hot summer days in New York, the
most popular outdoor sport is bus
riding. The wealthy minority have their golf
and their tennis and their private motor
cars, but the great mass get their outdoor
exercise and recreation through the bus.
bus ride during the crowded hours Of
the evening may include running, balancing
and deep breathing, while it never fails to
provide a regular osteopathic massage. Once
in his faVorite seat on the upper deck of the
huge, ungainly vehicle, the bus rider is jerk
ed gently but firmly back and forth from side
to side until every tiny bone in his spinal
column has come into violent contact with
circulation and arousihg his liver to protest
ing action. But by far the most strenuous
part of the sport consists in catching the
bus.
Although the Fifth Avenue Bus company
is building buses as fast as it can and re-
rently turned out four new ones in one week,
and while every available bus, whether it be
aged, sick, decrepit, afflicted with palsy or
not, is being operated, still there are not
nearly enough buses to accommodate the
tremendous summer crowd. Thus, while the
sport of bus riding is at the height of it's
popularity the competition among bus rid
ers is fierce and even frenZied.
In winter when there are large chunks OF
ice in the Hudson and Riverside Drive is
draped in silver instead of green, the BUSES
the mere stretching forth of hand. Few
people care to sit on the upper deck and
freeze to death. But in the summer open
season they are often wild and must be ap-
preached with strategy and caution.
Suppose, for instance, you select a nice
hot Sunday night for your bus ride. You
want to go up Riverside Drive, of course
and so does everybody else. All the Nos.
and buses headed in that direction are
filled. The only thing for you to do, there
foro &c TO %o1zo IOrr pfouy hIIc mir oil hn
way to the end of the line at Washington
Square and then hold tightly to your seat
while it turns around and goes back uptown.
Ambushing Bus
With this clever idea in view, you stand
on the corner of-say Forty-fourth street
and Fifth avenue, beside the giant street
clock on the lookout for an untitled bus seat.
After Is minutes of watchful waiting such a
phenomenon is seen approaching at rapid
gait. Just as you are preparing to signal for
it to stop, however, the huge red eye in the
traffic tower at Forty-second street changes
to green, and the bus comes to a sudden
standstill at the corner above at Forty-fifth
street. Fearing that the one lone seat will
be grabbed by some one else, you dash madly
up to Forty-fifth street, only to see the
huge green eye in the traffic tower change
back to red and 1.-THE bus start forward again
just as you are in the middle of the block.
While such experiences are hard on the
disposition and may help to explain why New
even so this undignifed pursuit of bus is
far better than taking a chance at one of
the bus terminals. Here long, weary lines
of bus riders are parked behind rope and
an iron sign stating that such-and-such bus
stops there. AS each bus draws up, the
crowd surges forward, showing, jostling and
carrying it's front ranks before it as strong
wave sweeps a surf bather to the shore
Clothing is torn, children bruised and many
new patients are created for the city chlrop-
Odists. At last, however, you find yourself
mounting the first two steps of the bus, as
cending the small, iron circular staircase
which leads to the upper deck and sinking
Imply into vacant seat The whole pro-
cess is purely involuntary.
Once the bus gets on it's way all is serene
while the bus riders recover their BREATH
nurse their wounds and gradually revive in
the fresh air. The men light their pipes and
cigars and, if it is evening, the girls light
their cigarettes. Hats are removed by both
sexes, and the children are made comfort
able in case they wish to take a nap. Spoon
ing, especially on the last two seats of the
bus, used to be extremely popular, but it
seems to have been abandoned recently since
one Of the city fathers declared that he
thought it was perfectly proper. Zone of
the best places in New York to spoon were
his words.
Flirting, though, is greatly on the increase
among the afternoon bus riders. Between
four and six o'clock when the crowds are
greatest, the buses proceed at snail's pace
through the congested traffic on Fifth ave-
nue., and it often SO happens that an upper
deck containing several young ladies stops
directly opposite a car below, containing
several young men. Under such propitious
circumstances an exchange of smiles helps
to while away the time. You often hear n
flapper remark, Say, girls, I got three
smiles from that chap in the brown felt