The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1932-01-28
IN THE WORLD
THAT WAS
;'FLOWERLAND';
By FANNIE HURST
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IRON the time Ruth Adlon was
n fifteen, and had "quit school," as
l. the saying goes among the Ruth
Adlons, she had been an "instruc-
tor" in a dance hall known as "Flow-
erland." 1t was one Of those resorts
where, for an entrance fee, you may
purchase a strip Of tickets; six for
twenty-five cents. Each one Of these
entities you to a partner for one
dance number. There were about
fifteen girls and six or seven men
employed in the same capacity as
Ruth. They were professional part
ners.
Ruth Adlon's fervor for the dance
was something that seemed to sur
pass her own vitality. She was tire
less. Fragile, to what seemed break
ing point, nervous, slender, and Of a
wax-like pallor, her feet, even on
those rare occasions when she sat on
the sidelines, when a 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 constantly excited. She was one
of the best (if not the best) dancers
at Flowerland.
The system there was on COM
mission basis. Your income consisted
of a 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 Gus
toners, and while among them were
many who excited her visibility, her
aversion or even her repulsion, in the
main Ruth enjoyed her work. She
could truthfully say Of herself that
she never tired dancing.
One of the 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 homogeneous, considering the en-
vironment. And so it was. AS mat
ter Of fact, Christian was the son Of
a Methodist minister in small South
ern town. He had drifted eastward,
chiefly to escape his fathers insist
ence that he follow In the ministerial
footsteps. He too was frail fellow,
distinctly of a social class above that
of his colleagues, yet strangely at
home in the gay, relaxed, whirling
world that was Flowerland.
It was extraordinary that such an
environment could have turned out a
girl as 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 a salesman
forgets the string of people to whom
he had sold coffee over the counter
during an afternoon. In fact, 1t 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. 1t was
seldom that she consented to an out
side engagement with one of the
partners she met in 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
menacing environments in the world.
Ruth danced along in a way that was
almost naive.
That is why her affair with Chris
tan Cowen, when It came. was one
that from the very first started in to
be of more serious moment than Is
usually the case in such an environ
ment
They fell in love and Immediately
their solemn young eyes fastened upon
the goal of marriage. Ruth enter
tanned no illusions about the ambi-
lions or the potentialities Of Christian.
To her he was merely darling boy
who needed her. And Ruth needed
him, On the initial equipment of low
ing one another deeply, and about one
hundred and seventy-five dollars be-
tween them, they were married, and
continued their joint work at Flower
land until four months before Ruth
was going to have her child.
In the sixteen months Of their mar
rage, these two little dancing people.
so curiously dependent upon one an
other 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-sufiicient. except for
one 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 broad streak Of jealousy. Be
cause she was so delectable to him, It
was inconceivable that she could be
anything else to the hundreds who
were fortunate to hold her in the
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