The Washington herald., 1921-12-22
MTaTYRE DEPICTS
DEPISED DWARFS
TRAGIC EXISTENCE
Terrible Laughing Scorn
Grieves Colony of
Midgets.
By o. o. M'rNTYRE.


NEW YORK. Dec. 21.-on Central
Park West In the '70s is brown
stone house peopled by children who
never grew up. Nineteen midgets
live in the veritahle Dwarfland-
driven from q midget city near VI
emma by the fortunes Of war. Dap
per little COUNTS midget Is al
ways a count-and elfin countesses.
They appear In various New York
theaters and have hit upon this CO.
operative scheme of living. doing their
own work. None Is married. The
midget may wear the mask OF the
mime, but in off-stage moments, he Is
serious and sober-minded. He lives
in world apart. sitting black
thoughts OF what might have been.
! know a man who toured the
world with a troupe of midgets, He
was a gay. light-hearted fellow who
found Joy in everything. Yet he came
back broken and worn. He declared
life among the Liliputians had soured
him. THE most unhappy creatures
on the globe" he commented.
Not SO long ago a midget. dressed
In miniature of the prevailing mode,
came out Of a Broadway restaurant
In his tiny hand was a gold-headed
cane. and his overcoat collar and cuffs
were furred. He stood for a mo-
ment putting upon a cigar the size
Of his forearm.
A group Of men went by. They
stopped to gaze. One made a face
tious remark and a ripple Of laugh
ter followed. The midget's face went
white. He walked to a taxi and
motored home. An hour later he was
in the throes Of lethal potion. On
q table was a note: 81 can stand
It no longer-this terrible laughing
scorn.'
visited New York's midget-iand
with a feature writer on Sunday
newspap er-a fellow with a great
understanding heart. He talked with
one in particular. an Austrian IS
years old. The writer is deaf and the
lifted upon his lap. as his voice was
not strong.
And so there they sat-the wrin-
FANN iiNtit n "-Aoahe
misunderstanding Euripides and the
glories OF Greece One by one others
came timidly in and sat at their
feet. listening and now and then
applauding as the learned discussion
struck sparks of conversational bril-
liancy.
They have barred "Schulz" at the
MatrnnnIftan l. he A.
longer lead applause for songbirds.
He used to be a privileged character
as the leader OF the opera claque,
but now 1t has been ruled that he
must buy tickets for himself and
for the members of his hand-clap-
ping brigade. He used to be able
to get from twenty to thirty In to
lead the applause without any charge
for admission. To have to pay for
them ruins his profits and so an
other famous Broadway character is
relegated to the background.
A Broadway shoe shop advertises
Manly shoes for women" And a
few blocks north a cane store has
window filled with walking sticks
for women.
Walter Juan Davis, who passed on
a few weeks ago. was one Of New
Works most beloved newspaper men,
For the last ten years he wrote The
Town in Review" for the Morning
Telegraph under the title of Beau
Broadway" He was the author OF
that widely quoted bit of popular po-
etry starting when your heels hit
hard, and your head feels queer. and
your thoughts rise up like the froth
on beer" etc. However. most Of his
verse was serious. He foretold his
death from his sick-bed in a poem
he wrote TO his paper three days
before his demise. Davis and Bat
Masterson, another Telegraph war
horse, were friends and spent much
OF their early days along the old
Sante Fe trail fighting Indians.