Evening star., 1923-06-03

by. At that point the crowds,
coming and going, had recovered from
the ecstatic jolt handed them by the
gold-starred roof and were reveling
in the novelty of walking all over
the street without fear of juggernau-
tical results. AS the couple watched,
| the woman said to the man:
"The big asphalt Is making first ac-
uuaintance with a class of natives
who never show up at inaugurals and
the like"
The man, being a stranger. asked
why. And the woman, being garru-
lous. meandered on-as garruious
women will:
"At all previous celebrations the
populace has been a sunocating jam
of nudges, elbows and e1acuiaIons
penned up on rope-limited pavemenes,
| while the street was pandemonium
of automobiles, making 1t a hair
breadth escape for every pedestrian
| who had to cross to get street car
Never before. at such times, have
seen a sight like this-go-carts and
rolling chairs, crutches and feeble
dear ones who have to be engineered
| by the tenderness Of strong young
| arms Look at the bits OF chlloren
and the babies in arms-all Of them
safe to enjoy the splendor of this
| golden night.
What strikes me as it's greatest
| feature Is the family-like sociability
| and self-respect of the men and Wom-
en- and the variation of class. Wouidnt
| it be good idea if your city fathers
were to give regular, informal dances
to the music of amplifiers? 1t would
make a dandy playground on the
! greatest ballroom in the world"
| : 1t seemed pretty good sugges-
| tion, but the woman was otherwise
nterested-mostly in comments made
| by people passing within the roped
| aisle at the foot of the stand-be-
/ ginning with Sue and her Aunt
| Lizzie:
in here. It's got to be a habit with
me to look out for automobiles and
| don't want to get out of training.
F. But. Aunt Lizzie, everybody is
| outside-these ropes are just for
IT know 1t, but-say, honey. you
| get out there with the girls and I'll
| keep right along inside and you can
| pick me uo somewhere.
Susie obeyed and Aunt Lizzie kept
| inside the rope. She was fear-bound.
| A chummy couple-the woman's s
| black dress set off with garnet
coat over his arm-were interested
| In the financial end of the illum-
| ination.
my land. Joe, these lights must
burn a lot Of money! only used the
| hall bulb last month and it cost a
dollar. It's a good thing Uncle Sam
| owns the Treasury-why, it must
| cost him hundred dollars night"
| Sixty thousand dollars"-and the
man accented his information with
1 chuckle of humorous derision streak
ed with the sort Of affection that
! makes the world go round.
| Another man and woman. stroll
| ing inside the rope line. had paused
! thrills from the chains os golden fire
! sparked with green and ruby jewels.
| 1t was the opinion Of both that it's
! equal for beauty had never been seen
before on this earth-an impression
| amended by the man, whose eyes
above the canopy of fire:
| THE moon looks pretty good to
me-"
| What the thousands talked about
as they strolled in couples. groups
and family parties on the gray
| breast of the Avenue is. of course.
| another story. a S Homer said before
| Kipling and, doubtless, Adam first of
| all, but this is what the woman re-
1 marked to the man beside her on the
| stand:
THE most wonderful thing to me
| about this illumination is that 1t
L
| people. and to so many. many baby
| burdened mothers the privilege of
! enjoying It's beauty.
| * X !.
lCATS have their critics, but most
~ humans warm to the tricksy play
| fulness of a kitten. And when a
| florist exhibited number of the
| small things in his window the other
! day naturally people paused to watch
| them. The reception kept up until
| the sun retired to give the dusk its
turn. and after that some stars and
a moon came out and pretty girl
| happened along. At that time the
| few others before the window in
! cluded an oldish gentleman whose in
| terest was of such enjoyable intent
ness that he outstayed relays of
| sightseers to watch the kittens, and
the girl fingered on to watch him.
| After he had kept his post until
| common sense must have told him it
| was time to move on. he went off
| into tree shadows where the moon
| couldn't get at him, and the girl was
| starting on. when: Back came the
oldish gentleman: went in the shop,
| bought a flower, slipped it in his coat
| and then began to watch the kittens
| from the inside. And the pretty girl,
| who was likewise clever. said to her
I escort-being young, as well as pretty
! and clever, she naturally had to have
one:
| He just went in and bought that
| flower 80 that he could touch those
kittens-funny, wasn't it?"
Had she extended her investigation
to the point of asking for his reason
the oldish gentleman might have told
her that when the ice-age period OF
| loneliness comes to a life bereft of
| loved ones, a man-meanfng also a
| woman-may hunger for the compan-
ionship of anything that Is alive
| and not cruel.
i/ITTENS naturally lead to cats
N and of all the forlorn cats, from
| fairyland to Poe-allowing also for
| the historic stray that helped to make
| Dick Wilmington lord mayor of Lon
don Town-there never could have
| the NANCY, yellow-furred thing that
| a fat foreigner swung by the tail be-
fore his food shop the other morning.
Hunger and theft represented the
cause and effect of the free show. for,
of course, the usual street crowd
frineed around. The man, having
whirligigged the cat until it formed
| a succession of yellow circles. gave
an extra swing for good measure and
| pitched it toward the gutter. The
cat fell in dazed heap on the bricks,
and the fat avenger, inspired by good
| company, made hop. skip and jump
effort to crush the thing before it
| could escape. He missed out.
| A young fellow, whose good suit
and fresh linen betokened pros
| perity that allows for books and
I travel, led in a chuckle of derision,
and as no sport could be expected 10
stand for a caIl-down from his peers,