The Washington times., 1933-02-08

S"~N~ Va "UAAAS III NOAu IA
down in our country we'd hol
The ideal"
The little old lady stood at Fiji
teenth Street and Fifth Avenue,
shaking with indignation. I had
stopped to wait for crosStown traf-
fic when without word from me
the woman came up and started
her harangue.
Men and Women Turn
Her criticism was the first had
heard personally directed at me.
I had received all kinds of stareS
from men and women on my walk
up from RuSseks at Thirty-sixth
Street, but no one had actually
done anything out of the way.
That is, if you don't include the
winks from two gay old men who
passed near the library.
Rather than argue with the
woman I hurried on. After all,
women had been wearing skirts
for centuries and a radical de-
parture from them must be i'm
proper to the puritanical. I
looked back and saw the old lady
with group around her; she was
still talking and pointing in my
direction.
I sauntered up Fifth Avenue to
Fifty-seventh Street. Men and
women turned. The men whistled
and made laughing comments.
Most Of the young women smiled.
It is strange the difference in
the psychology of people, that is,
in relation to neighborhoods.
From Thirty-sixth Street to
Forty-second, the men and women
frankly stared, made comments,
and gathered around me like I
was some strange exhibit.
From the library up, nobody
excepting the old woman, paid
much attention to me. Not
enough, anyway, to annoy me.
From about Fiftieth to Fifty-sev-
enth Streets, met with a lovely
well-mannered aloofnesS on the
part of the passersby. Well-groomed
and walking without haste they
passed me without paying obvious
attention to me.
The women in the shops of
Fifty-seventh Street treated me
with extreme tact and made no
comment on my appearance.
Praised by ShOpkeeper
One woman, in a gown shop
though, came over to me and
said:
81 think you are admirable.
You look splendid in them.
You're helping break down an
Outmoded tradition"
I thanked her and left the shop
much perked up. After all the
stares and the ribald remarks of
the younger men had annoyed me
some.
The funniest thing happened
as I was nearing Broadway. I
was crossing the street against
traffic when a taxicab whirled by
me. I leaped back in time, barely
being missed by the cab which
skidded on the ice as the driver
put on his brakes.
"You-," the cab driver
yelled, II Oughta get out and
punch you right in your eye."
Driver Dumbfounded
Suddenly he saw my face and
his eyes opened wide; his cab
swerved toward the curb. The
last I saw of him he was driving
around the corner with a dumb
founded look on his face.
My walk down Broadway in the
afternoon was adventurous, in
deed!
The so-called White Way is
vulgarly outspoken. 1t was like
walking across a runway at side
show. Faces stared at me and
little groups of people trailed
after me expressing their opinion
in no uncertain terms. The young
mems remarks bordered on the
lewd. The older men looked on
me with cold eyes.
Crowd Quickly Gathers
One man said:
"She must be pretty bad off
If she has to wear her old
mans pants"
At Longacre Square, suddenly
found myself in the middle of a
large crowd. How it materialized
Is beyond me. All know Is that
I stopped to look at some ties