The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-01-15
OLY|NP us VIEWS.
LIT TIE OLD
T.
NEW YORK
Panorama Of Humor, Satire,
Grief, Tragedy, Passes Under
Eyes Of the Gods.
By WARD GREENE,
r,os...n..,1iAnn Nro,ua car..ana

~ u.
| NEW YORK. Jan. 15.-Pale sun
cracks the harbor fog, strikes for
a shimmering second the tower Of
the Woolworth blilding and turns
Manhattan's snowy skyline into
brightest crystal. It is Monday
morning in New York-on Olympus
the gods grab front row seats and
Jove, turning to Juno. says
kid, where are the opera glasses?
/ can't miss this show"
I don't blame Jove. If ] were
q god on Olympus, I would spend
NV leisure watching the nights and
days In Little Old New York. They
form a never-ending spectacle Of
romance, grief, adventure, folly
passion, fun and heartbreak. And
today Is typical day.
There is hurnor in II. A million
peoples went to work disturbed be-
cause theyN wear white collars.
New York's laundrymen threaten
strike. BY next Monday the white
collar class may be desperate and
dirty. But on the East Side, where
10. 900 wash lines nutter their ban
ners from tenement balconies, there
e serenity and q smile.
There Is satire in It. Ivy Elm
stein and Moe Smith. demon dry
lleuths. began the day with booze
raid in the forties. "Great work.
said their chief as he gazed on the
fifty.uuart haul. At that moment,
off the Jersey coast, the fog
thickened and scores Of speed boats
dashed shoreward from the rum
fleet with 10000 cases Of Bermuda's
best.
There is grief in 1t. Out at the
Bronx Park Geological Gardens,
huddled in the dark corner OF her
cage, Susette. the chimpanzee.
clutched to her breast the baby
that died six weaks ago. Its body
Is mummified. Neither her angry
mate nor her keepers can tear Il
from her fighting arms. Does
Darwin's ghost stand beside that
cage and chortle across the country
to William Jennings Bryan?
There is tragedy in It. IN the
rnusty chapel of an Amsterdam
avenue undertaken lies q boys body
In a cheap wooden caslet. A
suicide at twentv-four! And all be
cause. when the stock market
in wall Street leaned to his te1e-
phone and spoke the one word
''buyl' Linseed rose points that
morning, and ten miles away at an
uptown ticker, this $30.a-week
''plunger'' staggered back from the
tape, went siclEly white and found
the courage to die.
There Is luxury: at one art gallery
this noon an unnamed bidder paid
$500 for Chineses lacquer box
his pleasure fancied.
There is poverty; East side push.
cart peddlers are bootlegging coal
at a penny a lump. The fuel ad.
ministrator is strict, but-cold, like
thirst, laughs at the laws.
Romance is IN the day with a
fashionable wedding at st. Thomas
on Fifth avenue and with every
shy couple before the marriage
license clerk in the dingy municipal
building. Bitterness stalks In the
court where q white-haired Judge
hears a prima donna's philippe
against the actor-hero Of her shat
tered love dream: tragedy al
Bellevue Hospital where Harold Van
Alsteine, actor, means the name OF
the sweetheart he killed before he
drove the bullet in his own side.
Out of The ruck, as Jove's binocu
| lars SPOT them. spring these figures
Of Little Old New York-each gilt
| tering his tiny moment on that
crystal skyline-milIiona clerks
rum runners, prima donnas, ped
dlers, bankers, shopkeepers, stars
and stenographer but one
of the six millions in the drama Of
this typical New York day.
I can imagine Jove at sunset
lowering his glasses, turning t.
JCrc. can interesting day-what?'
remarks Juno. Says Jove: EN- cal
it a dayp' -
The god sweeps the far horizon
for a last look, glimpses the glow
! beginning over Times Square, fol
lows the crowds diving into tub,
and taxi, notes the kiss here anC
the tear there.
"Shall we stay to the night show
dear?" suggests Juno.
mot me" says Jove. '"Why, thi.
is a continuous performance, Kid!'
Lutherans Elect Otto Mees.