The Washington herald., 1922-08-15
Edna Ferber's "Impres-
sions" of Old World
Are Negative.
IMMIGRATION LAW
PROTECTS AMERICA
Genuine" Jewels Abundant
In All Portions of
Continent.
By EDNA FERBER,
Noted Short STORY writer.

PARIS. Aug. 14.-There is q
mysterious. baffling and widespread
idea among the laity- that II ont's
sob Is that of writing fiction one
travels in Europe (or anywhere
else) for the purpose Of obtaining
a stock of unassorted odds and
ends known as Impressions" At
least they seem to be known to
everyone but writers as impress
sions.
Sometimes these things are called
local color. What these things are.
or how one Is supposed to go about
getting them, Is something that has
never been made clear to one writ
Ing person at least. Everyone else
seems to be familiar with the mean
ing of these words because every
one else says to a writer who hap
pened to be n Kar.sbad for the
cure, or in Paris for some clothes.
or in Florence because it's glori-
Gus, or in London to see some plays:
"Ah, over here getting impress
sionsr'
Or Here for the inspiration.
what?" Or IL one happens to be
feeling savage. merely, NO"
What Are Impressionss
Still I suppose that by impressions
are meant those things that stick
in the mind after this whole busi-
ness of travelling abroad has been
boiled down to a set OF well-formed
memories. SO, then, IL it's impress
sions they want here are a few
things that, after six months OF
1922 Europe, will stand out hard
and clear in my memory long, long
after I've forgotten the sunset on
Lake Como, the color Of the sea
at Nice, the way the baroness SHIN
mied at Karlsbad, and the grandeur
of Pilatus snow covered in May.
Impression one. The shocking
and tragic stockings of the dress
makers mannequins in the Berlin.
Vienna and Munich establishments.
The models furnish their own shoes
and stockings The gowns in which
they paraded for the benefit of the
prospective purchaser were charm
ing and artfully draped things,
smuggled through from Paris or
copied from Paris models In these
the girls, too thin and too pale even
for these days of slim pallor. un-
dulated up and down. And beneath
the silk hem of the gown one al
ways saw stockings so pitifully
darned. so patched. so caught, so
mended that to look at them was to
see in one binding revelation the
whole story of this sick and suf-
fering Europe. If you could look
at those painful stockings without
wanting to avert your eyes in a sort
of shame. you could buy the dress
above at a real bargain.
Cost. Less I'm Chicago.
Impression two. A bottle of
French perfume on the Rue de la
Paix. Paris. costs r1o-e than the
same perfume bought on Michigan
Boulevard. Chicago.
Impression three. If II weren't
for the 8 per cent immigration law
in force in the United States. Eu-
rope. en- masse. would descend on
US like a cloud of locCsts. The
earth. the sky. and the waters be-
meath the earth would be black
with them. Every waiter. clerk,
chambermaid. bath attendant, taxi
driver. bootblack. engineer. dress
maker. embroiderer accountant,
teacher, unmarried woman. unmar-
ried man, confides to you a wish to
come to America
Impression four. The day of
cheap living for the tourist in
France. Germany. Austria, or Italy
Is over. The American tourist in
Europe is the comic come-on with
the hay whiskers. the linen duster
and the cowhide boots. and he in
variably loses in the game of find
ing the pea under the walnut shell.
Impression five. There are more
pearl necklaces (real) and squar.
cut emerald rings (genuine) in 1922
Europe than there ought to be in
any civilized world. and they are
almost all worn by A Americans. The
Ritz Hotel IN Paris is Shiny with
sQuare-cut emeralds. II were one
of those Czecho-Slovak women with
shawl over my head selling cher
rfes outside Pupp's Hotel in Karls-
bad for about is kronen a day, and
had to watch a procession of
gorgeously simple white gowns,
pearl necklaces and emeralds stroll
by hour by hour. think I'd under
stand why SO much of Europe Is
going what they call ''bolu."
Beer In Germany Bad.
impression SIX. The beer In Ger
many Is actually bad. The end of
the world
Impression seven. walking one
entire morning In June, 1922, in the
streets of Paris without hearing a
word OF French spoken
Impression eight. Finding Italy
suddenly become a prosperous and
thrivingly commercial country, with
its sleeves rolled up and its eye
shrewd. much as France appeared
before 1914. Also that the present
population OF Italy exceeds that Of
France for the first time in 1 don't
remember how many years.
Impression nine. Vienna the
beautiful and abused, dying with
laugh on its lips.
Impression ten. The headwaiter
IN Berlin who forgot he was a head
waiter and said, Damn you all.
well show you yet. You wait"
Impression eleven. The line of
women standing without food, from
8 in the afternoon until in the
morning to get a piece of meat
few marks cheaper in the open
market in Munich.
Impression twelve. Ny growing
thankfulness for having been born
in Kalamazoo. Mich. thus enabling
me to carry q passport which per-
mits me to live In a milk-and-honey
land called the United States Of
America
(cepyrisht, issa.)