The Washington herald., 1921-07-26
|NeAporkCity
|Da!B|yID'!ay4 ,


fashions its own morals. L.iaisons,
shocking in other neighborhoods.
go unnoticed. The White Ways
dazzling lights have given Broad
way blind spot" for tawdry
amours, An early morning fire
brought a score OF frowzied heads
to windows on, either side Of Forty
first street. A man and woman
leaned out one window. Across the
street another woman waved a
greeting to the man-hef own hus-
band. They had separated a year
ago.
Recently a famous beauty of
Broadway was reported dying in
Paris. Along a Forty-second street
curb I saw the man she had re-
Gently divorced talking with the
man who now holds FIRST place in
her affections. happen to know
they sent her a joint cable of con-
dolence. Marriage becomes in the
final analysis a matter of tolerance.
There are no easy condolences.
Broadway's wives and husbands are
generally self-supporting. Any
number of marriages are contracted
to further professional ambitions.
Husbands do not hurry home for
fear of being scolded. They may
not come home for many days and
when they do the greeting is as
casual as II they had been away
only for an hour. Wives have
learned the futility of questioning.
You see them in the eating places
around Times Square, dining to-
gether but splitting the check
even to the amount OF the walters
tip. There are no quarrels and
jealous RACES SO common among
those who indulge in Illicit affairs
along Broadway. 1t Is a cool and
calculating toleration-so studiously
commercial that 1t chills the imag-
ination.
They are not unions of happiness,
nor do they claim to be. They can
not be explained except as an eco
nomic necessity. Perhaps 1t is
lonliness and the desire to have a
place called home. When they sep
arate-and separations is almost
always certain-they pass out of
each others lives without recrimin-
alton and bitter words.
Broadway wives and husbands,
too, scoff at the idea OF married
couples being in love. 1t isn't the
fashion on Broadway and Broadway
is the only world they know. A
cool, calculating orbit, indeed.
They were thrown together by
Fate acting as a head waiter in q
restaurant in Columbus Circle. Be
ing strangers they waited awhile
and then talked of the weather.
business conditions and the like.
Such meetings many times strike
sparks of romance and I confess to
| eavesdropping.
1t was not q hirtatious conver-
sation at all. At length she ven-
tured to ask him his business.
You'll laugh" he said, but I am
a manufacturer of bird cages" She
didn't laugh. She seemed relieved
for she replied: Mine Is much more
out of the ordinary. / travel and
sell burial slippers"
When l left they were making
great progress. o. Henry could nm
ish II.
New York is on the neck of the
soda water profiteer. In the Bronx
the children are parading and be-
cause a city office holder owns a
big soda water establishment 1t has
become a political issue and he
faces defeat at the next election.
Eighty-five big drug store fountains
have gone back to prewar prices
but that Is a small number COM
paratively. Hicks on Fifth avenue
THE most exclusive soda watei
dealer-still charges SO cents and
the majority of other avenue foun.
tains are charging 25 cents. The
glasses at Hicks are most generous
however. and the place is very in
viting.
Mrs. Leslie Carter has returned
from France and has opened up q
permanent home at Montclair, N
J. She is to appear on Broadway ir
a play this fall. Mrs. Carter wa:
once the toast of the Rialto and hei
temperance will be watched will
interest.