Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1936-12-24

Observations here and there: A
Times Square window cleaner,
working a dozen stories above the
street, dropping his wiping cloth
and making grab for it
Cold chills A window full
of 13-cent neckties With ready
tied bows at nine cents I'd
pay lot more to be able to get
that same effect with evening ties
No matter how hard work,
they always come out lop-sided
A big lobster waving Ian
guild claw at a pretty girl peering
into a restaurant window The
old roue! Bootblacks battling
over a choice position in front of
an Eighth avenue vacant store
room :. Forty-third street blocked
with big BUSES bound here and
there Taxicab drivers en-
gagged in horn practice AS
if they could blow them out of
the way A bearded old sand
witch man, clad in choice assert
ment of rags, advertising beauty
shop.
Wall street: A messenger boy
with a handful of yellow envelopes,
whistling and smoking a cigaret at
the same time as he strolls along
leisurely A young man with
a black grip chained to his wrist
and policeman on the other
end of the chain The scars
in the side of the Morgan build
ing The last mementoes of
the great Wall street explosion
Guards stopping and questioning
those who would crash the gates
of the Stock Exchange A top
hated broker with a red carna-
ton in his buttonhole The dig
nified spire of Trinity George
Washington atop pedestal in front
of the old sub-treasury A
street preacher imploring passers-
by to turn to God Great tenn
Piles of Mammon housing thousands
of workers and the dingy piers
of the East river.
Meditations: Wonder what be-
came of those tokens the INTERIOR
ough Transit company had made
when it anticipated an increase in
subway fares to seven cents?
Why the engineers who designed the
Forty-Second street station of the
municipal subway, allowed only one
small entrance and exit on either
side of Eighth avenue? Why
New York taxicab drivers won't
open or close doors for their pas
sengers? Why some box of
flee men regard themselves as SUI
perior to those who pay their sala-
ries by buying seats? :. Why New
Workers will risk death by crossing
streets against traffic and then
spend ten minutes looking at men
drilling asphalt? Why bank tell
ers don't go cuckoo counting money
all day?
Sidewalk cafes adding a Paris
touch to the old town and Civ
ing patrons SCOT and grit along with
food and drink . . A commuter
struggling through Forty-second
street traffic with big coil of gar
den hose over his shoulder
Bryant Park torn up again :.
That seems to be its natural state
>. Once it was reservoir
A young man "clocking' pedestri-
ans as they pass an empty store
room Making a count for some
one contemplating opening a bust
ness there Helen Hayes, who
in little more than a month, will
cease being Queen Victoria
For the summer only, however.
Tourists staring at downtown sky
Scrapers Their clothes pro-
claim that they came from Europe
Americans probably look just
as funny to them The glisten-
ing fireboats moored at Pier A
They look as if they were straining
at their moorings in their eagerness
to 60 into action H.. The sun shin
ing on the red buildings of Ellis
island Don't hear so much
about that gateway nowadays
Idlers leaning against the sea wall
ratings at the Battery Coast
guard cutters resting at piers
and the funny little ferry that runs
over to Governors island.
Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to
me that New York changes it's char
acter with the change of seasons.
In winter, it's cold, hard, artificial.
In summer, it's hot, tired and in
clined to be curt. In autumn, it's
rebellious, those who have been
away to the shore or mountains re-
Senting return to steel and concrete
and those who have been forced to
stay here through the heated term,
resenting months of Imprisonment
in apartments and tenements. In
spring, it's like lot of prisoners
released without parole or proba-
ton and inclined to be bit bolster
GUS over their luck. Right now, it
seems to be an overgrown village,
friendly and with leisure to cape at