New Britain herald., 1927-02-19
THE OBSERV YER
Makes Random Observations
On the City and Its People

she smiled prettily several times, SO
everybody thought she was asking
for money and smiled back-pain-
fully.
When she got through she went
out. Everybody applauded again.
Somebody remarked, Good Lord,
another drive
A committee chairman made a
report to which nobody listened.
He said something about dance.
A man who never even rented a
Tuxedo wanted to know If it were
formal.
/ Somebody tried to lead in singing.
The piano player still was absent.
The members sang halfway through
! and stopped. You're all off key"
said the song leader
The president introduced the
speaker. Nobody heard what he said.
The speaker started. Brother
Civic Clubbers. I am not speech
! maker, and I cannot make a
speech" Then he proceeded to go
ahead and make one. His subject
was Service"
/ He waved the flag, and permeated
the atmosphere with the essence OF
| eloquence. Every once in while he
stopped and told funny joke. Sew
eral members had not heard them
before. They applauded heartily.
| During the speech, the president
waved at group to stop talking.
A bell hop came in and yelled for
| a man on the opposite side of the
| room. An officer of the club went
around and collected fines from
everybody who didn't wear badge.
The speaker continued to speak.
| The president paid respectful atten-
ton. Sometimes even the secretary
stopped to listen.
The speaker finished with burst
of eloquence. He sat down. Every
body else stood up, they wanted to
go home.
The president made speech, to
the speaker. Only the speaker lis
tened "On behalf of the club, I
thank you for coming here and CIV
ing us this splendid address" he
said, 1--WE hope to have you with us
soon again"
Everybody said they thought the
speech was terrible, but they
couldn't tell until they read 1t in the
newspapers that night. The directors
met and, having no evening engage
ments for week, voted to hold a
banquet
Everybody else went home. The
meeting was over.
New Britain daily grows more
and more confused. The other after
noon we started to drive home. We
drove under a sand-blast operation.
where the particles of silica rained
upon the roof of the car, whirled
against the windshield. and swooped
through the open window to find
lodgment in our eyes. We drove
past new buildings In the process of
erection, where stagings had push
ed sidewalks into the street and
trucks lurked under the staging
ready to jump out whenever an
other car tried to pass. We drove
to a corner where a hydraulic drill
was ripping up the road and a po-
liceman deliberately told US to go to
the left of a go-to-the- right post. We
drove behind a trolley car the ridges
of ice along the cutters making
passing the trolley too dangerous,
and we profanely watched more dar-
ing motorists pass on the outside
and disappear ahead. We drove
but wherever we drove we met with
some disconcerting experience which
left us very much confused.
To escape this we decided to take
in a quiet party in the evening.
Surely there would be no confusion
there, No? Listen
Most unfortunately, there were
several numbers of entertainment"
scheduled at the party. One was Il
recitation. Tho declaimer strobe to
his post before the listeners and
made a valiant beginning. He waved
his arms, he shouted, he grew more
confident as he progressed. And
then he stopped, as suddenly as a
flivver which rams an express train.
His jaw hung agape. his eyes glazed
and crossed. and his hand waved in
aimless little circles. A kindly soul
who did not want to see the forget
full orator fail completely and who
happened to be holding the book
containing the piece now being re-
cited-or. rather, not recited-walk-
ed casually out around the dumb
founded one and Kissed the lost
words in his ear.
The speaking went on for line
or two, and then forgetfulness again
asserted itself. This time the kindly
soul spied a pin on the floor behind
the helplessly Laundering orator and
walked out to pick 1t up. his gut
tural prompting becoming audible
once more as he stopped. Again the |
speaker took up his recitation and
staggered through without further f!
vicarious memory.
Then came a vocal solo, with vic /
trola accompaniment. A girl stepped
out to sing, while the helpful indi- |
vidual put a record on the phono- |
graph and started the machine. The
girl opened her mouth, paused I'M
certainly, and closed it again. Finally |
she turned and spoke few words |
to the first aid expert. He turned !
over the record and began to play
the correct side.
AS the strains of the proper piece
sounded the girl faced us again and |
launched into her song at full voice. |
Everything seemed serene at last |
and confusion gone for a while. But |
somebody groaned.
She had begun the third verse.
If the requested cooperation on