The Washington herald., 1922-03-22

.0ay By eDdy
impressions:
bMG0eMsmhv,e
fIbaaItfa,I,lil(::::a

NEW YORK. March 21.-The tea
room in other days as a place of
amusement was the object Of polite
tittering. Now gay life in Its SUI
premest tempo is cached in these
thousand or so oolong parlors in the
Forties. A piece of chintz, a couple
of lanterns. Jap servant and 10!
rendezvous for fiappers. aYd cake
| eaters.
A few months back the tea pots
began to boil at o'clock. Now
they snap into full speed at 2. Even
the theaters are complaining that
much patronage is lost at matinees
because Polly has selected an ear
Her hour. Gentlemen unaccom-
panied by ladies are not permitted
in the exclusive places. En- passent.
new place of feminism.
The crowds are strictly New
Yorkish-boys with shellacked hair
and girls with patent leather knee
boots and the sprinkling of darbs
and cellar smellers A few permit
dancing but mostly the gaiety is
confined to flapper talk and flask
passing.
The chatter is sketchy. superb
cial and typical OF what New York
calls the Mad Youngsters. Their
patois is punctuated with such
words as "gerry- fiapper," "boffos,"
"clucks," "sub-chasers," "gofies,"
"kibisters" and all the strange
70 .,rfth
made and galoshes.
In this era OF unrestraint among
those of the spanking age. good
manners are forgot--a detriment.
The young bloods essay the roles of
cynics and the girls are surfeited
with a world WEAKNESS the sight of
which provokes a yawn. The whole
cosmic scheme, in their own lam
gauge, is "blaah." So they pan the
universe numerically.
A girl who doesn't smoke gets the
derisive boot and those who are I'M
acquainted with the muscular con-
volutions OF the shimmy are called
"ironsides." meaning that they are
so archaic as to wear corsets when
they go out to dance.
A chaperon is as mid-Victorian as
the hoop-skirt. The tea room
\
to show of. And they do 1t most
successfully.
Introducing New York's quickest
thinker. He went into the wash
room of one of the railroad term
inals, took a small bottle from his
hip. He had the bottle TO his lips
when a policeman looked in. SO he
tossed back his head and gargled
loudly.
This is the sort Of life in New
York which one rarely sees or hears
about. 1t concerns the simple dl-
versions OF the poor in their tene-
ments. The Saturday night dance
to the tune OF a mouth -organ, the
horseshoe pitching contests in
tenement backwards and the So
called "rackets"-at which only
soup and crackers are served to
guests. 1t represents the cheerful
spirit and the companionship
among the submerged tenth. James
L. Ford tells OF a working girl who
said with a radiant smile illuminat-
ing her face: I'VE have lots OF fun
down at our house pretty near
every night; papa isn't working
this winter, but he's fearful funny"
A new fad is evidently taking
hold OF the feminine portion of Riv-
erside Drive. Evry morning at s
o'clock a group Of knickerbocker
women carrying short sticks jog
along the bride path. AS the most
of them are rather stout il is pre-
sumed that they are taking this
means of reducing.
New Yorks ramshackle taxis
have long disgraced an otherwise
fair city. The drivers are Of the
bettle-browed type who talk out of
the sides Of their mouth-and take
no back talk. A fare hailed one
on Forty-second street the other
afternoon and It numbered up to-
the curb, coughed a couple of times
and expired. The fare waited ten
minutes and then said he would
have to get another cab.
"Yousell take dis one or I'll
slug you in de map" said the
driver. Then he looked the fare
over and somehow changed his
mind. He was gazing into the
placid countenance of Jack Demp-
sey.
Blind George. who now has his
newspaper hutch at Bryant Park
after being at Herald Square for
twenty years. Is lonesome. II miss
the familiar voices OF my old
friands" he told me