Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1942-02-05
MONTGOMERY
Nl SIDELlCHTS
By ELSIE WHITE HAINEs

So you were surprised to hear Of
a crowded church in Reno-there
are fifteen-not all crowded, how
ever. Years ago young Presby-
terrain minister, with vision. bought
piece of land near the Truckee
River, and raised raspberries fol-
ten years before he could build his
church, SO the story goes.
A "homey" church, with beauti-
fully furnished rooms for the vari-
Gus activities that keep his large
congregation interested. Brewster
Adams, now a man with greying
hair is nationally known as man
who dares to say what he thinks.
I was there in "off season" but sat
in a chair placed in an aisle. He
has son, by the way who is one
of Reno's popular lawyers.
The Rev. Mr.. Adams has the
quiet personality, and the force TO
put over his ideas-he does not
rant about gambling, drink OF
divorce-he believes each man should
be his own master-his own Judge,
which is the philosopy of all Reno,
where it, indeed, seems true "that
no one cares what you do" Dress
is as informal as is the mode of
living, anything from Stacks to
evening clothes.
You can have laughter or tears,
a gay life or serious one-you may
attend Women's Clubs, concerts,
take short course at the Univer-
sity of Nevada-or you may frivol
away the nights and sleep all day,
no one will notice. Women alone
or in groups walk around unmo-
Tested, at any hour.
Not being there for the "cure"
as it is called, / sat on the side
lines and looked and listened. Thru
the Business and Professional
Woman's Club / met Miss Hays,
Home Demonstration Agent, Mrs.
Bovett, of the Farm Bureau, a
newspaper woman, named Haines,
by queer coincidence, dealer in
antiques, and a woman rancher,
who raises Arabian horses.
Over the bridge table there was
opportunity to meet other residents
as well as the transients from all
states in the union, who made up
the population of the "guest house"
where we stayed.
Men are in the minority in Reno,
among the ones we knew were q
diver who had helped mine the
Pacific Coast, recovering from the
"bends" and getting rid of a wife
at the same time-a civil engineer
from Chicago Norwegian build
ing contractor, with an interesting
back ground, and the local repre-
sentative of A. F. of L., a master
hand at repartee.
The consensus of opinion among
the many with whom talked was
that the parents of yesterday are
more to blame for the divorce stu
alton than are the men and women
of today. When mothers start
spanking little Mary and dad once
more leads Johnnie to the wood
shed the condition will improve.
Even the women agreed that if
women working after marriage
became more interested in home
there would be fewer divorces, and
also agreed that men held on to
marriage more tenaciously than the
women even tho they perhaps
"played around more"
There are bars every where in
Nevada, but drinking seemed more
shocking on the trains to and from
the West-the women who sat in
the Riverside bar, the Trocadero,
CIR the Fortune Club looked just
like the women seen in a Wash
ington cocktail bar-not hard to
tell the habitues.
The gambling clubs seemed not
so deplorable as the slot machines,
that seemingly irresistible urge to
"pull the handle"-they are in
every building - grocery, drug
store, what have you.
Seeing a poorly dressed woman
carrying baby, shop in a chain
store-receive her change-look at
it-look at slot machine-drop
in a dime, pull the handle and walk
OUT without the money she had
walked blocks to save, was appal-
ling, but a part of the life in
Nevada.
After all, tho we all hate to
acknowledge it we have just as
great an evil here in the numbers
game" under cover of course.
Yes, you have guessed tive