ALL AT SEA

Evening Star, Issue 19658, 10 September 1927, Page 13

ALL AT SEA

THE CHRONICLES OF AN AMATEUR SAILOR BROADWAY LIGHTS AMD OTHER THINGS [W ritten by for the 1 Evening ' Star.’] , Strictly speaking, the title of this series of articles should bo changed temporarily to ‘ All Ashore,’ Behold Borcival M'Namara, William Pym, and myself with our feet resting on the mantelpiece of a cheap but comfortable brace of rooms in a Bronx flat. So far all has gone well with us. We have changed our surnames, attempted to cultivate a Western States drawl, and are to all intents and purposes bona tide American citizens. As the Canadian Boomer sailed from New York three days ago we have been out and about, giving the city a thorough “ once over.’'

As visiting westerners wc have had a right royal time at tho hands of the New Yorkers, who have shown us their town in a manner indicating that hospitality is one of their principal characteristic traits. To one good host who placed his car at our disposal we disclosed our identities, for wo felt that our hidc-aud-seek masquerade was beginning to creep over the border lino of good form. Wo were glad that-wo trusted in his sense of sportsmanship. Ho thought the matter a huge joke', and, if possible, gave us a better time than ever And I noticed particularly that ho had a great thirst for information about Australia and New Zealand, a subject on which tho average American has not been very well educated. Well, 1 am afraid it would require a fairly bulky volume to give in narrative form a description of our doings in New York, of our scnrryiugs hither, thither, and back again by means of the famous overhead ami underground railways, and of our visits to theatreland. A 'few personal impressions of the city and its people should suffice. There is a distinct old world touch about some parts of New York. For Brooklyn, with its cobbled streets and brick buildings of only a few stories, seems more old-fashioned than many European towns. The same applies to the Bronx, Hoboken, and certain localities in New Jersey. But eniergo from tho subway at, Brooklyn Bridge and cast a searching eye around and aloft. It is then that the majesty of the New York skyscrapers can he realised. Wall street is tho narrowest and deepest architectural canyon imaginable. Up and up tower those symmetrical cliffs until tho sky looks like a thin, blue ribbon. During business hours tho streets of this zone are practically deserted: a fitting tribute to tho keenness of the American financial mind.

If you take a peep inside any of the big buildings you find them neatly if not luxuriously appointed. Tho commodious elevators are part and parcel of the average New Yorker’s daily life, a source of wonder to the inquisitive and of terror to tho timid.

You wish a thrill, perhaps? Very good. Step into one of the Wqolworth express elevators, and ask for the top iloor. The lift boy, laconically relishing a wad of Mr Wrigley’s famous product, starts something, and suddenly you feel your whole being slip bootwards. Yon can’t get out now because tho various floors are falling away from you at bewildering speed. Clang! You’re at the top. (let out and find a seat in the restaurant where other sightseers arc fortifying themselves for a look over the city. Then step across to ono of the big windows looking south. You now have tho most interesting part of New York at your feet.

You can see Broadway running away beneath you at right incline. Note the traffic, tho two streams of motor vehicles rushing up and down its length without the least sign of a break. Now and then these turbid streams will bo stilled, and counter streams will run across. These are sweeping along Fifth Avenue, Sixth Avenue, and tho rest of them. 1 •

Now take a glance over tlio Hudson. You arc looking down upon a kind of aquatic circus ■ with giant liners,, tramps, pilot ships, tugs, ferry boats, and rubbish barges as the performers. In the middle of them, holding the whip, as it were, is the famous Statue of Liberty. Next, let mo plunge you into a late night on Broadway, The first idea that strikes the casual visitor is that it is not'really night time at all, and that the sun, having fallen out of the heavens at the close of day, has split up into millions of small pieces. Of these pieces an odd million or so apparently have become attached to the buildings lining New York’s “ Great White Way.” On becoming accustomed to the glare, the visitor can interpret the various sun-spots to his satisfaction. The theatres shriek aloud the names of their star performers; restaurants, cigar and drug stores positively flame their attractions; and drapery stores vie with one another in-the brilliance of tboir sky signs. On one mobile sky-piece an invalid swallows Dr Buncombe's pills with monotonous regularity and consistent appreciation; on another Guzzler’s, coffee is poured in a rich brown stream into a waiting pot at quarterminute intervals. Every commercial attraction seems to he blazoned forth in every color of the rainbow— if wc except good old Johnnie Walker, his si-ters and brothers, y Undoubtedly Now York is a great place in which to live; it also is a great place in which to die. Dying, like everything else in America, is made easy. An infallible recipe for suicide is to step a yard off the pavement in Broadway before ibe traffic has been field up. In a twinkling an ambulance will have the remains at a morgue. The New York morgues arc, 1 believe, very comfortable. The automobile Ira flic through Times square and other centres is particularly alarming, and, owing to the fact that the various taxi companies paint their machines in colors as distinctive as football clubs’ jerseys, the whole effect is bewildering. How the drivers keep their bonds and pedestrians their feet is one of the world’s wonders. But, chiefly through the expert police control, accidents arc reasonably few in proportion to the number of citizens and in consideration of their 'temperaments. In artificial light the American women are beautiful beyond belief, but when seen in their thousands about town, looking morn or less alike, the tbpugbt strikes one that beauty specialists should try for individual results. Still, in the. art of dressing and “mak-ing-up” American women are better versed than our New Zealand girls. In a beauty competition without trimmings, I am sure our girls would hold their own. I state this as a. fact. It is not a tardy effort at diplomacy. '>• I have previously touched upon the New Yorker’s sense of hospitality. This point is worthy of emphasis. The New Yorker, whether he be Big P. Vandermeuve of Long Island or Soapy Joe Muggins of the Bowery, is the soul of hospitality. With him charity begins at homo and abroad with the same open-handedness. It just depends who happens to be on the spot first. If a park derelict rises from bis bench in Madison square, folds up his newspaper bedding, and sallies forth to seek his breakfast ho knows his appetite will soon lie satisfied'. A halfhalt iii‘.flout of a more prosperous fellow citizen, a mumbled,- “Slip us a dime, Jack,” and maybe a whole dollar changes pockets. Of course, when

the autumn leaves begin to fall and •when Jack Frost hands out his visiting card many of the more hardened “hums” prefer to pick a. pocket or break a window, thus obtaining for themselves winter lodgings in Sing Sing, tiie great penitentiary np the .Hudson. This docs away with the daily boredom of standing for hours in the mnks of the “bread lino.” Prohibition? Well, we weren’t really in New York long enough to form any definite opinion of our own. 'We collected a variety of views from the many people wc met. Some there were who declared the Volstead Act to .ho a distinct boon as far as the working man was concerned; others declared that Prohibition led to vice of more sinister aspect. And we were given practical evidence of the. many “ under-the-table” methods of circulating liquor. False petrol tanks, hollow cigars, and dummy egg shels are only a few of the devices helping the public to defeat the law. The wealthy New Yorker now refers to his bootlegger as ho would to his tailor or his hatter. One thing is certain: it is that the majority do not favor the return of ■ the old hard-drinking saloon; instead of either extreme they would welcome an adoption of the Continental system of selling wine and ale openly in cafes. To continue the narrative. M‘Narnara, Pym, and T are going forth tomorrow to seek jobs in the oity. As wo sit-in our “digs” I wonder what the day will bring forth. Truth to tell, I feel just a hit home sick for the Canadian TJonmer. for Alplion.se, and many others New York is all. very wonderful, of course. (To bo continued.).