New-York tribune., 1921-03-06

LILO COuHCcI VI dliIlOSt every Cduuy
store or toy shop in New York
wrapped up in small envelope. This
article of trade has so expanded un-
der the demand Of childish aero
nauts, who are content to stand on
the ground or look out window to
see the objects of their delight float
through the air, as to create a pros
rerous business. There is talk Of a
parachute trust. Pretty soon we
may hear the Wall Street gossipers
say, ~ hear Parachute is going up"
Or coming down, as the case may be.
Toymakers estimate that since
these aerial baubles have broken out
like an epidemic about half million
! Of them have come to an untimely
end by becoming entangled in tele-
graph wires, fire escapes, cornices
Of buildings, church steeples ct
cetera. However that may be, the
proper graveyard for a parachute
is up in the air, and up in the air
they invariably go. If they meet
with disaster it means only mo-
mentary regret and the extraction
of another nickel from the parental
Golfers.
Perhaps you live in some section
where parachutes have not yet
broken out, though that would be
hard to believe. You then have only
tc journey to Washington Heights,
Brooklyn, the Bronx, the East Side
or any other section where children
abound, particularly boys, and you
will have visual evidence of the ac-
iivity of the parachute market
Over on the East Side,- where there
are said to be more boys to the
square inch than any other place on
earth, clotheslines, wires and other
distractions to aerial navigation
are literally draped with torn tissues
and tangled strings. The more boys
the more parachutes, naturally.
Take a look down one of these
labyrinthine vistas, with the push
carts along the curbs, the crowds in
the streets and on the sidewalks, and
you will see in the strip of blue over
head, gently descending like little
fairies, dozens of these tissue paper
toys which are giving wholesome de-
light not only to the little tots in the
street looking up, but to the young
sters perched on some corner of a
fire escape looking down. You may
not hear "Skin-nay." over here on
the East Side, but you will hear
something very like it.
"Look out below!" comes from
above. The warning, however, is
not intended to ward off any danger,
but really to attract attention.
The ruse is successful, for from
the whirlpool Of humanity scores Of
faces, young and old, look up. Al
most imperceptibly this particular
parachute watts downward, but it
has precarious way of going side
wise, on account of it's being slightly
lopsided or sideswiped by a wind.
From side to side it wavers until.
horrorsl it floats right into a tele-
graph wire, and there it meets dis
aster. "Ahl" says the crowd and
"Oh, gee!" says the little aeronaut.
There is pretended wailing among
all the. youngsters, as if a great
calamity had occurred.
But red-headed Billy Smokers.
with his tongue lolling out Of his
mouth, is tickled to death. He is
standing in the middle Of the street
with new parachute just bought
from the nearest shop, and he is
glad that his competitors contriv
ance has gone to wreck, for now he
can have a chance to enthrall the
public gaze.
He disappears up a dark hallway
and presently emerges-on the edge
OF the roof! Some yells to imagi-
nary friends in the street below are
used as feint to get people to look
up. Billy thrusts trembling little
arm over the edge Of the roof and.
certain that the parachute has as
much air under it as is possible, let's
go Of his nickel investment. Whoop-
IA! 1t is a grand success. Every
body sees it, and it is going straight
to the ground without encounterine
any wires, straight to the ground.
where Billy, open-mouthed and
flushed with success. reappears to
recapture his prize and take it up
for another trip. For the para
chute that is not wrecked TODAY
lives to be wrecked some other dav.
Up around Washington Heights
or in the Bronx much the same