Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-11-10

~ "FIOWerlaN0." 1t was one OF those
resorts where, for an entrance Fee you may pur-
chase strip of tickets; six for IS cents. Each
one of these entities you to partner for one
dance number. There were about Is girls and
six or seven men employed in the same capacity
Is Ruth. They were professional partners
Ruth Adlons fervor for the dance was some
thing that seemed to surpass her own vitality.
She tireless Fragile, to what seeemd
breaking point nervous, slender, and of wax
like pallor, her feet even on those rare occa-
sions when she sat on the sidelnes when q
partner had not claimed her with his ticket,
teetered. The rhythm Of the jazz music seemed
to run through her veins, and to keep her con-
Stantly excited. She was one Of the best Gf
not the best) dancers at Flowerland
The system there was on a commission basis.
Your income consisted of percentage on the
number of tickets you collected during an eve
ming. Ruth earned more than any girl on the
staff. She had her regular customers and while
among them were many who excited her risi-
bility, her aversion even her repulsion, in the
main Ruth enjoyed her work. She could truth
fully say of herself that she never tired dancing
ONE of the nine youths employed in a similar
capacity at Flowerland was in love with
Ruth. His name was Christian Cowen. Ruth
used to tease him about this name of his, it
seemed so incongruous, considering the environ
ment And so it was. AS matter Of fact.
Christian was the son of Methodist minister
in a small Southern town. He had drifted East
ward, chiefly to escape his fathers nsistence
that he follow In the ministerial footsteps. He
too was frail fellow distinctly of social class
above that of his colleagues, yet strangely at
home in the gay, relaxed, whirling world that
was Flowerland.
ment could have turned out girl unworldly
as Ruth Adlon. Her partners were just so many
customers to her. At the close of her work-a-
day. or rather her work-a-night, she forgot them
as promptly as q salesman forgets the string of
people to whom he has sold coffee over the
counter during an afternoon. In fact, it might
be said of Ruth Adlon that she was a girls girl.
She enjoyed the gossip among them. She liked
TO walk home with one for a companion. It was
seldom that she consented to an outside engage
ment with one of the partners she met n
Flowerland Not that she had any scruples
about the life of the dance hall, but Ruth was
not interested. In the midst of one of the most
exciting artificial and even meanacing environ
ments in the world, Ruth danced along in
way that was almost naive.
That is why her affair with Christian Cowen,
when 1t came, was one that from the very first
started in to be of more serious moment than is
usually the case in such an environment
They fell in love and Immediately their
solemn young eyes fastened upon the goal OF
marriage. Ruth entertained no illusions about
the ampltlOnS OF the poCenClantleS OF CnrlSClan
To her he was merely darling boy who needed
her And Ruth needed him. On the initial
equipment of loving one another deeply, and
about SITS between them, they were married,
and continued their joint work at Flowerland
for several months.
IN the 16 months of their marriage, these two
little dancing people, curiously dependent
upon one another in the vast amusement world
in which they whirled, had feathered their tiny
nest of an uptown fiat and settled down to a
happiness that was drenching and all-sufhcient,
except for enc fly in a smooth ointment
Christian, who loved his dancing wife with
all the tenacious capacity of the frail was
branded in his makeup with a broad streak of
jealousy. Because she was so delectab!e to him.