Smyrna times., 1933-01-04
SOME SIDE LIGHTS
OF NEW YORK CITY
Told BY Walter Trumbull in
His Own Immical Way
of DOings in City
INTERESTING SKETCHES

The Explorers club has moved
into its new quarters on Central
Park West. The walls of these big
rooms, with their rough plaster and
beamed ceilings, enclose as many
records of adventure and as much
of the spirit Of romance as any en-
closure on this spinning globe. Here
you meet men who have sailed the
seven seas, travelled the five conti-
nentS. They know places, which to
the rest of us are just names, as
well as we know the block on which
we live, or our own front yard. And
here they have brought trophies of
their wanderings. Spears and blow
pipes, bows and axes lean in cor
ners. Great horned and antlered
heads thrust themselves from
wooden plaques. Queer knives rest
on tables and stands. Photographs
show the dark depths of jungles, il
limitable stretches of desert, or the
blanched barrens of ice hummocked
loneliness Of polar regions.
In cabinets along the walls are
souvenirs of the trail breakers, the
pioneers. A rifle, perhaps; sex
tant; a diary; ships log. And
in cases stand shoulder to shoulder
the books they have written, testi-
mony of trial and hardship, of vic
tory wrested from the forces of ma
ture, of knowledge gained through
courage or plodding and persistent
toll.
But there is no hardship here:
only companionship and tales of
strange places and peoples mixed
with comment on New York politics
and current novels and Broadway
plays. And above the hum of talk
or the sound Of laughter, you may
hear the shrill whistling of the At
rican parrot, or a rustling of a news
paper, as some man who may have
come from 5000 miles and a year
away searches for the excitement
to be found in the account of box
ing match or a football game. It's
a great place, this Explorers club.
a couple Of young men decided
that it would be fun to go fishing.
They hired a small boat with an en-
gine in it, went off the coast and
ran into a school Of fish. They
caught so many that the boat was
full of them. When they got ashore,
they tried to give most of the fish
TO the boats owner, but he was not
in the fish business and demanded
that they get them out of his boat.
He did consent to get them some
guany sacks. These they filed with
fish and then the question Of trans
portation arose. No taxi man
could be found who was willing to
carry the load. They didn't think
it right to waste SO much potential
food, so they hired a man who came
by driving a small truck.
Then the question was where to
go from there One Of them had an
idea. He told the driver to proceed
TO the nearest police station and,
having arrived. dragged one OF the
bags inside. The sergeant at the
desk was highly suspicious. He
smelled something.
"What have you got in that sack?"
he demanded harshly.
'Fish,'' said the young man.
"Get them out Of here" ordered
the sergeant.
4'But want to give them away"
pleaded the young man. The ser
geant didn't want any part Of them,
but he finally called up some insti-
tutions and found an orphans home
which consented to receive pres
ent. 1t is to be hoped the orphans
liked the fish.
The new film, madison Square
Garden" is showing In New York.
II has a lot Of old-time champions
IN it, a lot Of good actors, and a
number Of sports reporters. The
sports reporters we're in Los An
geles. covering the Olympic games.
The movie people persuaded them
10 come over to the Hollywood lot
at nine o'clock one morning and
then didn't start shooting the pic
ture until after noon. That did not
make much Of a hit with the boys
who were not used to being out
quite that late.
@. 1892. Bell syndicate.-wNU Service.