The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-09-28

New York City, Sept 2e.--l1nr-
ing the hot summer days Ia rev
York, the most popular odtaooL
snort is bus riding. The wealthy
minority have their golf ana their
tennis and their private motor cars
but the great mass get their OUT
door exercise and recreation
through the bus.
A bus ride during the crowded
hours of the evening may include
running, balancing and deep
breathing, while il never falls To
! provide a regular osteopathic mes
sage. Once in his favorite seat on
the upper deck of the huge, ungaln-
ly vehicle, the bus rider Is Jerked
gently but firmly back and forth
from side to side until every tiny
! bone in his spinal column has come
/ into violent contact with the back
of the seat, thus stimulating MS
, circulation and arousing his liver
! to protesting action But by lar
/ 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 recently turned out
| four new ones in one week, and
I while every available bus, whether
! if be aged, sick, decrepit, afflicted
/ with palsy or not, is being operated,
still there are not nearly enough
/ buses to accommodate the, ire
mendous summer crowd. Thus,
while the sport of bus riding is at
the height of it's popularity the com
| petition among bus riders IS herce
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 are
| tame creatures and may be cap
tured with the mere stretching forth
OF a 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 approached with strategy
and caution.
/ Suppose, for instance, you select
a nice hot Sunday night for your
bus ride. You want to go up River
side Drive, of course-and so does
everybody else All the Nos. and
| 5 buses headed in that direction
are filled. The only thing for you to
do, therefore, is to take down
town bus, ride all the 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
| Ambusting a Bus.
| With this clever idea in view,
you stand on the corner of-say
Forty-fourth street and Fifth ave
nue., beside the giant street clock
on the lookout for an untitled bus
seat After Is minutes of Watchfui
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-f1fth
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
4
start forward again just as you are
in the middle of the block.
While such experiences are hard
on the disposition and may help tC
explain why New Workers have q
reputation for being churlish, even
so this undignifed pursuit OF 4
bus is far better than taking a
chance at one of the bus terminals
Here long, weary lines of BUS rid
ers are parked behind a rope and
an iron sign stating that such-and-
| such a bus stops there AS each
bus draws up, the crowd surges
forward, showing, jOstling and
carrying it's front ranks before II
as a strong wave sweeps a surf
bather to the shore. Clothing is
torn, children bruised and many
new patients are created for the
city's chiropodists. At last, how
ever, 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 3 va
cant seat The whole process is
purely involuntary.
Once the bus gets on its way, al
is serene while the bus riders re
cover their breath, nurse theil
wounds and gradually revive in the
fresh air The men light their pipes
and cigars and, If it is evening, tbs
girls light their cigarets. Hats arr
removed by both sexes, and the
children are made comfortable il
case they wish to take a nap
Spooning, especially on the last TIVE
seats Of the bus, used to be ex
tremely popular, but it seems Il
have been abandoned recently sine;
oneSof the city fathers declared tina