s ~ h i I h I I h I VoL. 1 No. 3 FEBRUARY 1937

CONTENTS

Stories s That Man Molokai Carl John Bostelmann 30 Leviathan Samuel Epstein 3S The Loveliest Funeral Maurice Rothman SS Remember? Albert Boyd Projects 2 Recreation Stanley Rydwin, Jr. 13 Age Carries On Benjamin Goldenberg 20 Building Americanism Edward F. Connelly 2s Prisons or Programs? Beryl '1/illiams 32 Swampland to Playground John H. Bou1'1le 44 Old Age Colony '1/illiam 'Westott S"9 Streamlining the Law Lqu• Sapperstein Articles 16 Steuben House Herbert T. Turner 17 Auld Acquaintance Cloudesley Johns 23 The Audience Read:s '1/ilfred C. H ec{ 28 The Bowering Statues Abe Kirchbaum 40 Archives and Orchids Burton Kline 47 Tour4 John Norman Art 9 Federal Art 39 Beauty Parlor Mildred Dabbin Cover Nathaniel Rubel Poetry IS Release Viola Hutchinson 19 All in a Nutshell John C. Zuleger 43 Mr. Petrie Rudolph E. Kornmann ss City Street Earl Lawson Sydllot

EDITORS

Albert Boyd Samuel Epstein • • h I g h I I g ht A MONTHLY .MAGAZINE

New Jersey Works Progress Administration

William H. J. Ely, State Administrator

hen a giant industry contemplates the establish­ W ment of a new unit, two elementals are dealt in pror11gately -- time and expense. The most careful plans are made, consultants and technicians are engaged, money is spent freely if its expenditure appears to the cor­ porate body to insure future profits. Not infrequently, several years pass before the new industrial off-shoot produces its first dollar of profit. Yfuen the nation's largest industry, the United States Governrnent,is forced by vital necessity and crystallized public opinion, to establish an emergency agency, it can permit itself none of the luxurious leisure of private business. It, too, is counting on an eventual profit -- the profit governments derive from a secure social structure, increasing tax returns, decent living stan­ dards and a well-housed and economically content elec­ torate. But the public demands immediate results. An administrative body must be assembled over night; oper­ ations must be far-flung but well coordinated and, above all, "production" must be instantaneous. And so it was with the Works Progress Administration. One hundred thousand men and women were removed from re­ lief in New Jersey within five months. Industry was stimulated by a vast buying program. Pay checks make huge inroads into the "dole". Now, through knowledg.e gained from experience, a sound "business" organization has evolved. "Economy" and "efficiency" are the watch­ words. Adninistrative costs have been pared to a mini­ mum and functions consolidated. The current Congression­ al Deficiency Bill establishes definite fund limitations within which we must function, and the Works Progress Administration in New Jersey faces the future with a feeling of confidence jus tified by a pardonable pride in its past achievement.

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Manuscripts by any New Jersey Works Progress Administration . employee should be submitted to Room 208 1060 Broad Street, Newark Recreation

Limbering up before a session in the art of self-defence Photos by Lundii

STANLEY RYDWIN, JR.

surprisingly large and encour­ One cannot without careful analy­ Aaging number of the population sis really appreciate the breadth of Hudson County is taking full ad­ and scope of the benefits being be­ vantage of its Recreation Projec.t' s stowed, through this Federal gift to facilities. Official figures show the county, upon the individual, that up to date an attendance ap­ upon the community and, because of proximating 306,000 of the county's its activities dealing with the de­ men, women and children has partici­ velopment of youth, upon the very pated in and been benefited by its essence of the future manhood and program of nearly 150 varied activi­ womanhood of the nation. ties. The participants are divided The Hudson County Division,treat­ into two separate classes, those un­ ing as it does for the most part der sixteen years of age and those with youth ranging in age from 12 to over sixteen years. 18 years, and being located in a Among the primary objectives of county made up of bustling indus­ the project is to help boys and trialism and crowded tenement dis­ girls of school age, as well as the tricts, naturally is interested in youthful employed or unemployed, in making better citizens of its boys constructive use of their "enforced and girls by means of both social leisure," or spare time. and educational measures.

'l February I9J7

Inasmuch as the term "delinquen­ ily bad influence on the others, im­ cy" is given foremost consideration mediate and particular attention is by the State WPA in its outline of diverted to him and every effort is correctional measur.es to be carried made to wipe away those self-styled out by municipalities, it might be humorous inclinations. well to treat at length on the prob­ He is less likely to disport him­ lem of "enforced leisure" and "de­ self in actions of this nature if he linquency" as it affects or might is occupied during his after-school affect the individual and the com­ hours in a game of baseball where munity (or county) • .Among the poor­ everybody has a real baseball glove er classes, which are a major por­ and uses big league bats and balls, tion of the county's population, or if he is learning to build a these two items as they pertain to model airplane or boat, or engaging the young are really akin to each in a marble tournament with a prize other. Delinquency is nothing else to the winner, or learning to play in this particular but a byproduct the harmonica with a chance of get­ of "enforced leisure" of which ting into a band, or indulging in the poor here have, or have had, many other of the project's activi­ plenty. ties outlined for his benefit. For instance, an offspring of The Division's directors and in­ foreign and more or less illiterate structors are working on the theory parents, and a product of this "mel­ that idleness brings mischief, and ting pot" area does whatever his mischief delinquency. '.lhey also be­ free, uneasy mind and alert body lieve that saving one boy from the dictate. And such freedom, uneasi­ pitfalls of his own youthful and ness, and alertness, uncontrolled misdirected energy is worth further­ and unrestrained by home environment ing the, benefits of a dozen more or outside sources, lead invariably fortunate ones whose characters are to a series of prankish and damaging being imbedded in them by proper actions which, if continued, bring parents and environment. The Divi­ on petty offenses against the com­ sion has succeeded admirably toward munity and generally end in a weekly bringing about at al~ost every such visit to the probation officer. attempt nothing but favorable and Of course, it should not be con­ happy results. strued that such juveniles or such Under the supervision of Allie conditions are as prevalent today as Ridgway, once leading contender for they used to be, or that the project the world featherweight champion­ is by any means a school for incor­ ship, amateur boxing has received rigibles. The various classes today wide encouragement. Numerous con­ are mostly filled with fine young tests were held in each municipality gentlemen who have learned, or been and the future Dempseys of the com­ taught more fully, the rules of munity invited to display their fis­ sportsmanship, fair play, team work, tic abilities. The neighbors flocked cooperation, and what they should to these tournaments as enthusias­ and should not do when they have a tically as if they had received moment to spare. Once in a while, passes to Madison Square Garden. however, one is brought forward who Both fighter and spectator learned is thought to be the type that has a new lessons in sportsmanship and the habit of making the rounds with his full advantages of physical fitness. "gang" on a series of ashcan dumping Those boys and girls who had engaged ventures, or turning over an unat­ in no definite sport were now anx­ tended pushcart just for the fun of ious to participate in some athleti~ being chased by "Pasquale," or play­ activity, after seeing the thrills ing in hide-and-seek games on top of of friendly competition and the mu­ tenement roofs. When such a one is tual respect the participants had discovered in the ranks, a temporar- for each other's physical prowess.

3 Highlight

After the local con- their progress in tests within the pageants, water car- county had been com- nivals, exhibitions plated, a final All- of the products of State tournament of particular hobbies, the winners was held and contests. at Braddock Arena in The project has Jersey City several been greatly aided months ago. Here 26 by cooperation in bouts, sanctioned by the local schools, the Amateur Athletic in churches, public Union,were witnessed buildings, indoor by more than three and outdoor swimming thousand interested pools, parks, and sports lovers. playgrounds in the Other sports hav- donation of f~cili- ing qualified in- ties. structors who derive Thus this long- a pleasure from ful- needed social bureau ly developing the is justifying its potentialities of existence as an aid their young charges to the schools and are: baseball, hand- the community in ball, basketball, general by develop- punchball, tennis, ing citizens who paddle-tennis, swim- will be able harmo- ming, roller skating, . . . niously to fit into horseshoe and quoit Aon exciting moment m a basketball game their environments pitching and track running. Pro- and pursue their everyday lives,hap- v1s1ons are also ma.de for those py and confident in themselves. They liking to play checkers, hike,fence, have been taught sportsmanship -- and ride a bicycle. and the person with a sense of Pursuing its purpose in develop- sportsmanship and fair play respects ing fully rounded individuals, the the law and the rights of others. Recreation Project endeavors to en- Without their daily studies being large upon the cultural and voca- sacrificed, the school boy and girl tional work now being done by the have learned a useful hobby that public schools, thus aiding a boy or will give them both pleasure and girl who has a talent for some another field from which to wrest a branch of manual training, but wishes living. The sufferers of an inferi- to take a general or college prepar- ority complex have mingled with the atory course, whose subjects would others and forgotten to be self-con- eliminate his continuing classes in scious. The unemployed men have wood carving. The project has ere- am.used themselves without spending ated classes for him and any other money which is badly needed at home, boy or girl who wishes to follow with the result that they will not some handicraft after school hours. brood as formerly or draw themselves The process is completed in its into a shell of self-pity and bit- cultivation of appreciative sense of terness. the arts through classes in folk Thomas Lynch, director of all dancing, music, drama.tics, choral Hudson County WPA Projects, and John singing, harmonica playing, and sun- McGann, supervisor of the Recreation dry types of dancing. On specially Project and former Villanova foot- arranged community nights the bene- ball star, have been successfully ficiaries of the various phases of helped in fulfilling their aims by a this community asset can demonstrate competent staff of 212 employees.

4 That Man Molokai

A Chapter From THE ENORMOUS ScENE

CARL JOHN BOSTELMANN

e were chopping cotton on the soned by our prejudice and now in W Midway,five of us on the first agreement with us. "It'll likely experimental tract of twenty-five mean the worst he can find in the hundred acres. Five hundred to the gutters of Los Banos. Markham is man. The boss did not chop; he just about the poorest judge of sharpened the hoes, and was the workmen I know of. I'll take my oath busiest of the gang. We dulled the you boys is justified. No sense in edges faster than he could hone ma.kin' a lodgin' house of our little them. We were managing well until paradise here." the north alfalfa meadow needed cut­ "He's too impatient. If he'd give ting, then we felt we could handle us only half a chance,we could swing the emergency without neglecting the both jobs," Hank grieved. "Well, cotton, but the gang boss shook his let's hope for the v:orst and maybe head and the ranch foreman said no. we'll have the pleasure of a dis­ At this we were crestfallen. It appointment." meant new hands on the roster, and "New faces will ruin this scen­ we had kept the ranch almost to our­ eryl" Iodine Slim was caustic. selves for two weeks, and we liked "This here world gets more pol­ it. Recruits could ruin the peace luted every day," Montana agreed. and freedom we had established, would I echoed the protest, and grief di s pute our exclusive claim to the was unanimous. While we commisera­ apricot and fig trees and infringe ted, the hoes lay dull and the weeds upon our swirr.ming rights at the can­ grew. Then the boss tried to soothe al weir. It seemed like a desperate our kindred sorrow with philosophy. circumstance. "Maybe Markham don't want to take us We argued and pleaded our cause, from our important work here. Re­ pro11Us1ng foreman Markham we might member, we're pioneerin' a new crop even work nights to get the alfalfa in thls here cotton tract." in. But he laughed and slumped into "Too much cotton is grown now. his favorite curvature of the spine There's always a surplus. It piles behind the bent steering wheel of up in bales in warehouses, and the his battered thunder wagon. When the price hits bottom. We ought to let chariot screamed between the hog­ this stuff alone and get busy with pens, a dense cloud of alkali dust the alfalfa before he comes back," settled like a canopy over thewind­ Slim suggested. ing Delta road. But the boss knew our connnon We watched the departure and re­ weaknesses. He argued. "Quit the turned to the cotton fields, a mile 1.isputin'. This cotton choppin' is from the ranch house. We shared a easier than hayin'. Besides, there's large pessimism. no cha.ff to choke you, no quick "I wonder what bums he'll fetch ache to stab you between the shoul­ in," the boss drawled, already poi- ders. You can't get a foxtail in

5 Highlight

your ear in this tract. We'll stick The other eight had been picked to our cotton, where choppin' is up in a pool hall to harvest the down-stroke work. Hayin' is up­ alfalfa. Markham had spotted Molo­ stroke, against gravitz&" And we kai at the railroad station, sitting were licked to a frazzle. on a saddle-sized suitcase. He was Slim picked up the hoes and dis­ just in from Hawaii, he said, and tributed them among us. We went back had been working around horses since to the routine of cracking baked he was a kid. He had come up now to earth into alkali dust. see the States. Would we share our corner of the bunk-house~ The other * * * * boys were a bit mangy. He sat on our bench at the long Late in the afternoon the fore­ table at supper. We talked over the man returned with his bus-load of food. The Russian with the foxtail recruits. Skidding on flat tires in his beard seemed suspicious of through the yard, he j8JTII!led to a our conversation and moved farther stiff stop before the mess-house down the table. The recruits gulped door. Still an hour before supper­ the meat and vegetables mechanically bell, he dropped the new hands at on the other side of the stained the barred thr&shold to meditate. oilcloth, paying no heed to us. A They were a hungry bunch and looked cordiality was introduced into our it,crowding the steps and the narrow ranch life by this new herdsman. entry, waiting for the locked latch Supper was like a celebration. to be let down. As we smoked and laughed at the "Our foreman knows all the tricks table, long after the other men had of his trade," the boss drawled, quit the room, the flunkey lighted observing Markham's strategy," and a lamp for us and brought us a pot that's an old one. Feed first, of coffee. We were exuberant at this and then work hungry. But that mob extra consideration, and a strange will sure trample the flunkey when buoyancy moved in us. At last, rest­ he co~~s out to rattle the gong. less with excitement, we got up to We'll all be mourners at a Chinee go outside. None of us remembered funeral." what we had been talking about, but Hank was contemptuous. "They must it had been a thrilling session. smell through the door. Maybe they Molokai had the gift; he knew how to expect free whiskey with the beans. handle adventurous language. A cheap lot of bums. All of them "Remind me to tell you boys about hooligans." the basket jumpers of Molokai. The "Eight of them. Jim Tully fel­ swimmers dive from the cliffs in lows. I bet they're capable of some grass baskets. Think of thaul" he pretty nasty stunts. This place is said. ruined now. I wonder if he thinks So it was the outlander captured the alfalfa is worth the price." our imaginations at the very begin­ But no. There was another. The ning. We went down to the canal for foreman had brought in nine re­ a swim and a. smoke. cruits. We had not seen the one "Frolicking around in the ditch that mattered; he was down at the will seem pretty tame to you, I sup­ pwnp, washing! Ah, ~ fellow~ pose," Slim apologized. "The canal be good& isn't much,but it's the best we have We met him at the pump where he here, and we like it." stood with a towel over his wide We took clean clothes with us and shoulder, combing his wet dark hair. laid them out on the bridge. For an We greeted him and shared the cold hour we enjoyed our nakedness in the artesian water. He introduced him­ warm night, diving into the deep self. He was Molokai, the new herds­ pool, swimming against the stream, man. lounging on the bank in the dark-

6 February I9J7

ness.in this, our nightly recreation low. My father taught me." after a long day of heat and labor. Molokai stood up and started to I reminded.Molokai about the bas­ dress, putting on an outfit of faded ket jumpers. khaki, an old Army uniform. He was "You see, down there they weave built like a champion light-heavy­ large saucer-like baskets out of wei6ht, about six feet tall and a r eeds, about the si ze of t he flower hundred and seventy pounds of good garden in the ranchyard, about f i f ­ muscle a.nd si new, with the face and teen-foot diameter for the biggest I figure of Adonis, brown as an I ndian, ever saw and about six or seven feet with a close-cropped head of black across for the smallest. Six-foot hair. He was about thirty years ones can hold a couple of men., with old. Standing., sitting, lacing his the large ones carrying half a doz­ shoes, power seemed to flow through en. They make them flat and light, him. Here was a man.I yet strong enough to stand the load "Tell me, are you a native Ha­ and the impact. waiian? You look as if you have "Basket jumping is a combination been in a lot of sun, but you look of tobogganing and parachute jump­ like a Yankee, even so," Slim ven­ ing, I guess. I've never ridden a tured with friendly curiosity. toboggan sled or jumped with a para­ "I was born in San Francisco, but chute, but I have used a basket off I went down to the islands when I the cliffs of Molokai. It is a was a kid., and I've just come up weird sensation,coming down the air., from Honolulu. But this basket game. half floating and half fall1::ie; from. It would be terribly dangerous if it the cliff brink to the water. But were not for the veterans to show is it sportl" the novices how it is done. Well ·rre were speechless for a while, handled, it is quite safe, yet as hardly knowin.c; whether we were sup­ thrilling., breath-taking and svrl.ft posed to laugh or believe him. But as anything could be. A well-made we did neither. basket lasts a long time, while a "'Uh.at keeps the baskets upright poor one is unsafe for even one and prevents the divers from being jump. hurled out? How high are t he cliffs., 11 In the fast drop,and j ust before how deep i s t he water? Who invented the basket strikes the water, the t he stunt? Wasn't it a kind of sui­ trick is to dive out of the basket ci de? How many trips down could a into the water. Then swim ashore basket last? How was it we had never with the floating basket in tow, and heard of it before?" These were our climb up a trail back to the top of answer. the cliff for another vault into "It is precisely as I describe space. The sport is little known it. The baskets are woven so very outside the leper islands." carefully., that their balance is We took a roundabout way home, perfect. Of course, riding requires stoppine; to fill our pockets with a certain skill. The jumpers sense ripe apricots in t:ie orchard. Brie;ht just the right move to make at the moonli~ht now flooded the fields right moment in the descent. The like a luminous rain, fringin.:; the cliffs are quite high., hundreds of horizon of hills to the west. The feet, but the depth of the water Sierras to the east were blanketed does not matter so long as the land­ in the darkness of night distance. ings are shallow. It is only the The stars were brilliant, and Molokai top of the water, the surface., that looked up at them wit11 an expression matters. thttt indicated that he knew some­ "No one knows who invented the thing about them. In fact. he im­ game, who was the first man to take pressed us as a man who knew some­ the dive off the cliffs of Molokai. thing about everythinE;• But he must have been a daring fel- "Is there anything in astronomy

7 Highlight

beside mat':lematics?" Slim asked him. his manner seemed a little impertin­ "Is there any real scientific basis ent. With a handful of bread and for astrology? I sometimes wonder beans, he pointed toward the door. if one can plot the future in what Foreman Markham stood silent a­ he can read in the stars." gainst the opening, his arms folded "I wish I knew," Molokai said al­ across his chest, surveying the most desperately. "I'd like to know wolves in the mess room. a thing or two about the future. "Hey, boss," Slim called to him. There's no telling, I guess. But "Where's that man Molokai?" this moonlight, after the swim, is "Oh, him?" Markham responded. surely S\Vell. It was on a night 'tv'fhy, they took him back." like this, along a lonely stretch ••• "Back? Back where?" oh, well, what of it&" "Sure, back to the place where he We felt very close to him. He belonged. I had a feelin' about was our type of fellow. Hank and that fellow when we met in town. Montana tagged at his heels, talking These boys I picked up in the pool about him. Slim and I competed hall are a good bunch. We' re hand­ to direct the conversation. We all lin1 that alfalfa fine. But this felt an instinctive friendliness, fellow callin1 himself Molokai, when the true spirit of fraternity in I met him I wasn't sure of him, and this man. I didn't want to take him on. But At the bunkhouse we broke the he convinced me. A smooth talker." usual night custom by lighting a "Well, what about it?" I chal­ lamp. We usually undressed in the lenged him. "V'lhere is he?" dark without talk, so as not to dis­ "The police from Merced picked turb the old men who went to cots him up on the hog drive. They had early. This night we were indiffer­ tracked him here to the ranch, but ent to their comfort. Going to bed, almost missed him because we were I noticed Molokai sorting his bag­ out at four in the mornin'. He tried gage, and I was astonished to see a to run away in the dark. But it revolver in his hand. The reflection seems he'd left his gun in the bunk­ of the bright metal in the lamplight house, so he surrendered when they arrested my eye. covered him. Too bad for him, of "I doubt if you'll have any use course, but I'm glad to know I won't for a six gun on Midway," I comment­ be harborin' any dangerous bums on ed casually. "Things are pretty Midway. They took him back to pris­ ta.me here." on. That fellow was a two-termer, His laughter was startled. He an escape. Loose from the rock-pile. had been caught off guard, for some He's gone back to Folsom for a long reason. He offered no explanation spell." for the weapon. We were stunned. We couldn't be­ lieve it. "Oh, it's true enough. I saw the * * * * credentials on it. They had hand­ All day in the cotton fields we cuffs on him. He's got a lot of talked about him. Already the in­ years in the quarry, bustin' stone, trusion of the other rookies had before he goes back home to Color­ lapsed out of notice. Coming in for ado." supper, we seemed more eager than "Colorado? Why, he told us he usual, anticipating another cordial was from the islands." session with the fellow from the "Sure, he told you. He'd have islands. told you anything. He had us all But the place we had made ror him fooled, why, he even had me fooled at the table was not occupied. The for a while. Ime._; ine that, having Russian with the foxtail in his me fooled! He was a bad one, sure beard moved back to his old seat,and enough."

8 Federal Art

Photos by Rubel

Mural of Legendary Fi~ures and Fairy Tales by Leopold Matzal, 882 South 19th Street, Newark, N. J., at Branch Brook School for Crippled Children, Ridge Street, Newark, N. J.

Studied for eight years at the Imperial Academy, Vienna and three years in Munich and Karlsruhe, Germany. Many of his paintings are shown in European museu..ms, and his murals are on the walls of the Labor Library and the Army Museurn.. in Vienna. Mr. Matzal has been a resident of this country since 1921, exhibiting in the National Academy and with the American Federation of Art in various museums throughout the country, receiving prizes, cash and medals. He has painted portraits of many prominent people, among them Vice Chancellor Fallon and Supreme Court Judge Minturn which now hang in the State House at Trenton. Many of his murals decorate the walls of private residences, restaurants and churches. He was for a number of years a member of the Salmagundi Club. The mural reproduced above was painted by Mr. Matzal for the Children's Li­ brary in the Branch Brook School for Crippled Children, Newark, N. J. The mo­ del of the room showing the mural is now on exhibition at the Federal Art Gallery Exhib:i t in the Raymond-Commerce Building, Newark, N. J.

9 Highlight

Church, Hanover, N.J. - Joseph T. Toomey

he Works Progress Administra­ allocated. Several reproductions Ttion Federal Art Project Gallery from the exhibit appear here, others opened with a State exhibit in the will be shown in a future issue. Raymond-Commerce Building, Nmvark on The exhibit will continue through January 4th. February. There were over 65 entries in­ cluding oil paintingf?, water colors, Joseph T. Toomey lithographs, sculpture and mural 382 Lakeview Avenue sketches created by artists on the Florham. Park, New Jersey Project throughout the State. The Gallery has a threefolc pur­ tudied at the Rhode Isls.nd pose, first to acquaint the public SSchool of Design under William with the work of the project, second Cushing Loring, also at the National to afford them an opportunity to en­ Academy, the Art Students League of joy the works of art and third to New York and with J. Walter Biggs. make it possible for the heads of He has exhibited at the Artists public institutions to see and ac­ Guild of New York, the Morton Gal­ quire these works which may be al­ lery, New York, the Montclair Art located to them for the payment of Museum, a three man show at SUT!lr.lit, the cost of materials. the Morristown Art Associated, Over seven hundred people availed Chatham, and at the Newark Art Club. themselves of the opportunity to see This painting is now on exhibit at the exhibit and 20 pai n~·ine; s were the Federal Art Gallery in Newark.

IO February r937

relief panels for the Pennsylva­ nia Buildin~ at the Sesquicenten­ nial exposition in Philadelphia. This statue of "Peter Pan" was made for the Haddonfield Hic;h School, Haddonfield, New Jersey and is on exhibition a.t the Fed­ eral Art Gallery, Newark.

Still Life - Ly Harding

tudied in Paris, Bruxelles,Darm­ S ste.dt and Ue;v- York. Has ex­ hibited at the Neumann Galleries, the Caz-Delbo, Rockefeller Center, Weyhe, Macy's, Up-town, Lambertson Brownell, the Montclair Art Museum, and the :Montross Gallery, New York. Her work shovrs individuality and facility. Her color is clear and the brushwork free and stron~. showing a strong inclination to the "modern". Her work is now on exhibit at the Federal Art Gallery, Newe.rk.

John Bateman 308 Linden Avenue Haddonfield, New Jersey

tudied at the School of Indus­ Strial Art at the Pennsylvani~ Academy and at the Calarassi Academy in Paris. Was made a member of the National Society oC Sculptors in 1912. Designed the Soldiers Memorial Fountain at Doylestown,Pennsylva.nia. He designed three historical bas- Peter Pan - John Bateman

I I Highlight

Still Life

George Manuilov, 88 Plane Street, Newark, New Jersey

Graduated from the Royal Gymnasium, Ristov, Russia. Attended the Moscow Art Academy until the outbreak of the World War. He was expelled from Russia after the revolution as a White Russian. He spent some years in extensive travel throughout Europe, studying and painting. He has painted murals for many private homes and assisted in painting the mural in the Essex Mountain Sanatorium, Verona. His work is now on exhibition at the Federal Art Gallery in Newark.

1 2 Age Carries On

I Try to Write a Sob Story

BENJAMIN GOLDENBERG Photo by Rubel

here seemed to be a great deal and I finally agreed. Tof apparatus just for taking a After the usual talkative and de­ picture. The field inspector car­ sultory lunch I bussed to Dick's ried two reflector lamps and a col­ office. The field inspector was to lapsible hood. Nat had an immense drive me to Montclair. Nat would go wood-encased camera. I struggled along to take some pictures. with a tripod under one arm, four I was a little early, and Dick plates,and a rubberized black cloth. showed me around the offices, very We managed three narrow landings efficiently furnished. A few minutes without my swinging the tripod into before two, the time of the appoint­ anything. The room we entered was ment, the inspector came in, rather very long, its high ceiling support­ husky, but attractive. She was quite ed by pillars, one side and end full friendly. Ri6ht after,the introduc­ or windows which almost made the tions Nat, in shirtsleeves, hair in burning lights unnecessary. Five eyes and apple in mouth, stuck his rows of sewing machines, operated torso into the door, assimilRted the mostly by absorbed Negresses, filled situation, finished the apple and the hall with an infinite fleet of went off for his coats. nmvsreel airplanes, zooming by one He was back in a few minutes, afttr another. ruminating another apple. There was That morning, intruding upon a some discussion as to whether we few other complications, Dick had should use one car or two, centering come into the office with the devas­ about the multiplicity of the photo­ tating news that his district story graphic equipment. We finally de­ wasn't ready. He had a lead for one, cided to go in Nat's car. This he didn't have time to write it him­ necessita~ed moving a lot of junk, self, and had no one available on but there was finally room for me in his staff that day. He wanted to the back seat. On the way out Bloom­ know if I would fill in, and Al field Avenue we had an altogether asked me whether I would go. apochryphal conversation about one "It's at the sewing room in Mont­ of the new picture mags. clair --" When we entered the sewing room "Whatl Another sewing project?" nearly every woman stopped working "oh, but this is different. The and started talking. We heard after­ story isn't the sewing room, it's ward that one of the ladies ran and this woman --" As Dick went on I be­ hid, fearing to be included in a came no more enthusiastic. I tried photograph. The place was now a to get out of it, by pleading ina­ beehive rather than an airdrome. We bility to do justice to the · facts, were met by the pleasant forelady, another article to be done, a mass Mrs. Edith L. Bowes,who had obvious­ of proofs to check -- but that gap ly been expecting us. She led us in the layout had to be filled,soon, across the end of the room to a

IJ Highlight

nook, lit by two large windows, just make it heartbreaking, and I didn't about big enough to contain two quite know how to go about it. sewing ma.chines. "This is a. young man from the Behind the first, facing the rest Writers' Project," said the inspec­ of the hall, sat a small thin woman tor, "who would like to ask you some with glasses, her f .ace deeply lined, questions." skin and hair both bleached by age. "Go a.head and ask your ques­ Against the wall leaned a pair of tions." I was to remenilier this re­ crutches. mark. She repeated it twice during After introductions Nat got right our interview when I didn't know how to work. He shooed the other worker to go on.

Mrs. Evelyn Bridges, at 68, employs a skill gained during half a century

out of the cubbyhole, moved another "Your full name is --?" to make room for his camera, and "Evelyn Bridges." stationed the two of us with the "How old are you?" lighted lamps, one on each side. All "Sixty-eight." this time we were getting a. lot of "Married?" attention from the rest of the room; "My husband's been dead twenty they were apparently expecting to years." have their pictures ta.ken also. "Oh. Where were you born?" The subject was very willing and "Louisburg, North Carolina. But posed perfectly; the photographing I lived mostly in Durham till I came took only a few mi nutes. Then it north." was my turn, and I was a little em­ She answered very promptly and barrassed. Before we left Dick had alertly -- none of the drawl that told me to write a sob story and one might expect from her place of February I9J7

birth. would keep working as long as she "How long ago was that?" could. "I was a.bout sixteen." Questioning the forelady, I found "Vlhat sort of work have you usu­ that this was project No. 3-365, ally done?" with 69 workers and 50 machines, all "Mostly sewing and housekeeping." electric but one. The exception was I hesitated a. little. "Do you for J1;:rs. Bridges, who was so used to mind telling me how you lost your the pedal type that she preferred lee;?" it. The project produced about 3,000 She didn't mind at all. It had pieces a month -- household arti­ been broken a.bout thirty-five years cles, inner and outer garments -- and ago, blood poison had set in, and it had recently been sending clothes had had to be amputated. to the flood victims. She had worked on the sewing pro­ After promising Mrs. Bridges a ject over five years, under munici­ print of one of the photographs, and pal, state, ERA and ~TA administra­ ma.king sure we had all the appara­ tion. Because of her skill and ex­ tus, we left. Well, Dick had said perience she did a.11 the finishing, to write a sob story,a hea.rtbrea.ker, tailoring and samples. She declared and I didn't quite know how. As a that she could make a. man's suit a.s matter of fact I didn't see any well as any tailor. She hadn't story at all. Here were the simple missed a. day's work since starting. facts, and all I intended doing was I ha.d already run out of ques­ presenting them as they were -- no tions twice and much of this infor­ tricks, no embellishments. And all mation was gratuitcus. While the I could think of besides was a. re­ others were occupied Mrs. Bridges mark I had heard the same week, told ~e about her son, 42 and unem­ about people patching an obvious ployed, his right hand paralyzed by imperfection here and there; and I a stroke. Could he be assigned to a wondered whether this was any less WPA project? I didn't think so, not cruel than a one-horse shay that as long as she remo.ined on the sew­ disintegrated all at once. ing project. She declared that she

RELEASE Viola Hutchinson

You e.re not free that cleave the high blue air, For all your might~r wings, your valiant flight That parts the velvet curtains of the night And mounts the sky upon a moonbe8l!l stair. The heart of steel that pours with thunderous sound Into your frar.1e its svrift and terrible power -­ Child of man's brain, slave of his little hour -­ Can pll.mge you shrieking, mangled to the ground. You are not free -- not as a bird is free That trusts his lonely, silent wings to God, And lays his chartless course without a rod, Seeking no haven but a swaying tree: Nor free as I, for whom these prison bars Are but a frame that holds a heaven of stars. Highlight

Photo by Rubel

Steuben House HEBERT T. TURNER

hree ti mes the State of New Jersey tried to give General Baron Von Steu­ Tben, Revolutionary War hero, a home within its borders. Three months following the final and successful attempt the Baron, chronically short of funds, sold the estate without ever having lived on the property. In 1751 brothers John and Peter Zabriskie, millers, built their home in North Hackensack, now Uew Bridge, on the banks of the river, overlooking their mill pond. They made it a double house, to accommodate both of their families, and along the front, or south side they built a. long low porch from which they gained a magnificent vista dovm the river. The house is strictly Dutch Colonial in character, but in many respects it differs sharply frorn the accepted traditions. The ceilings are unusually low, and the first floor is just barely above the ground level. Contrary to the usual treatment, the eaves project considerably at the gable ends, and the gables themselves are filled in with brick instead of shingle. The stonework is cut and trimmed, and laid in coursed bond, yet the surfaces of the stone are left rough, a feature not found in the more typical houses of the period. The twin front doors have transom lights with Georgian mullions, an odd if not entirely unique feature. John and Peter placed a square plaque in the west wall, carved with a symbol of their mill wheel and giving their names and the date of erection. During the Revolution the brothers Zabriskie made the sad mistake of placing their sympathies with the Tories, which afforded the authorities of the day a convenient opportunity to confiscate it. This they did, and after diverse and sundry manipulations, finally deeded it outright to Von Steuben, who in turn sold it back to the Zabriskie brothers. The hodse is once again owned by the State, this time by right of purchase, though made through condemnation proceedings, and is occupied by a caretaker and open to the public.

16 Auld Acquaintance

Jack London, Oyster Pirate and Duck Hunter

CLOUDESLEY JOHNS

ack London was looking forward questions. ·where had he been all J to a landing at Benicia as we these years? \That had he been doing? cruised through the rivers, •sloughs Was he really the Jack London that and straits about San Francisco bay wrote pieces in the San Francisco on his 36-foot sloop, the Spray, in Exnminer? (Jack had sold a few the fall of 1905. The reason was signed stories to newspapers). One that he had heard that three or four of his old companions had thought he surviving members of the old oyster was smart enough, while the other pirate crew with which he had been two couldn't quite believe it. Jack associated as a boy of 16 were liv­ leaned over to me and murmured: ing in an ark on the outskirts of "Cloudesley, such is fame!" the little California town. Others It then was two years since The were in state prison, one had been Call of the Wild had held first hanged and three shot to death by place of the "six best sellers" for officers. more than half a year, and seven In speaking of that association other books of his had attracted Jack had told me: "I regret none of widespread attention. But books did it. There were purple passages of not find their way into that colony life. But I realized the inevitable of arks. downward drift, so took a job. It At Walnut Grove on the Sacramento was killing, degrading work for al­ River, in the course of the same most no pay; and out there in foggy cruise, we found a jeering letter mornings on the bay I could average from our friend George Sterling;, the a hundred and twenty-five dollars a poet, suggesting that it was kind week. I escaped temptation by going heartedness that prevented us from to sea." "killing the dear 11 ttle ducks" we On narrow, elevated board path­ had promised to send him. Hunting ways through nearly half a mile of had not been good, and we had shot tule swamps, past ark after ark, no more than we could eat ourselves. mostly dilapidated structures, we Jack had an idea, and waved his hand made our way, asking here and there toward a flock of chattering mud for directions. At last we found the hens near the shore.With a 22 rifle, men Jack sought, three of them. They the report of which did not scare lived by ferrying travelers across the birds, we potted a dozen, sewed Carquinez Strait, hunting ducks and them neatly into a sack and ex­ petty thievery from anchored un­ pressed it to George. The joke guarded vessels. They recognized turned out to be better -- or worse Jack instantly,after fourteen years, -- than we had planned. Our un­ with shouts and wild whoops of de­ suspecting friend sent the sack, un­ light. "Prince of the oyster pi­ opened, to the Gas Kitchen, Oakland's rates l" they greeted him with his most popular restaurant, with direc­ old nickname. Then a barrage of tions to prepare a feast for a party

17 Highlight

of six, and sent invitations before I think Van dramatized his exit he received a message from the scan­ from Standard Oil a little, but I dalized Gas Kitchen manager to the was content that he had left. Our effect that he hesitated to ask his acquaintance continued until his all chefs to cook mud hens, and was Mr. too early death, and I had the sat­ Sterling really serious. George took isfaction of seeinG him become a it gamely. There was a wild duck favorite writer for the world's most dinner, but it cost the credulous popular weekly magazine. poet rather more than he had expec­ One of the most brilliant writers ted. I have known was Rose Strunsky, who One of my most intimate friends, once at the request of the Century an electrical inventor with the uni­ Company produced copy for a life of versal type of mind, one day told me Lincoln in, I think, something like of a discovery he had made, a po­ six weeks. It was a thick, heavy tential literary light employed as volume, but in the writing there was an assistant bookkeeper by the Stan­ nothing heavy, nor any suggestion of dard Oil Company of Los Angeles. I haste. There mD.y have been some must meet him,must read his stories, favorable prejudice in rrry mind, al­ Ed told me. I protested, refused, though I was always notoriously se­ implored, declaring that one of my verely critical of the work of my especial dislikes was reading sto­ friends, but no other life of Lin­ ries by young bookkeepers. Let the coln that I have seen was so easy to editors do that. They get paid for read nor gave such a clear impres­ it. I couldn't escape. Then, such sion of that extraordinary man. a surprisel There was crudeness in Rose Strunsky's sister, Anna(Mrs. the work, but there were the makings William English Walling), also was a of a style which must compel popu­ woman of rare charm and a writer of larity. I urged the youth with all exceptional ability. She was best my eloquence to chuck his fool book­ known as co-autnor with Jack London keeping job and write. No, he was of The Kempton-Wace Letters. Before engaged to be married, and had to leaving Oakland in October with Jack have hi~ job. I told him to get a for the 1905 cruise I had promised job on a newspaper, and offered to Anna Strunsky I would call upon her take him to newspaper editor friends at the Strunsky home in San Francis­ of mine. He couldn't be budged. I co, and had been unable to do so. To didn't really blame him. She was a make amends I had written from the lovely girl. Soon afterward I went Spray that on a definite date about to New York, to improve the minds of mid-December I would see her, think­ magazine editors with whom I had had ing the sloop would be back in Oak­ some satisfactory dealings, but not land Estuary some days before that. enough. Returning to Los Angeles Rough sailing, contrary winds and after three years I asked Ed about other handicaps delayed us. The the young writing bookkeeper. night before my appointment, in a "He's sports editor of the Exam­ gale, the Spray had picked up a iner," he told me. heavy anchor and gone tearing down At the offices of the Los Angeles Mare Island Strait in the grip of Examiner I, for the second time, met tide and wind, and Jack .and I were C. E. Van Loan, and asked how he busy boys for some hours, and then, finally had come to take my advice. at dawn, we were on our way again. "I kept thinking about it," he I kept my appointment without a said, "and one day the head book­ great deal of enthusiasm, in spite keeper caught me doing that and of the charm of my hostess, for I nothing else. He started to bawl me felt half dead from weariness and out, so I threw an ink bottle at him lack of sleep. Anna told me of a and left. Went straight to the Her­ book she had begun, and incautiously ald and got a job. Now here I am." I asked her to read what she had

18 February I9J7

written. She had a wonderfully soft, I spoke, politely, and the stranger melodious and soothing voice. I and I drifted into an animated con­ heard her begin reading, and then versation. The man was brilliant, awoke to see her dark eyes fixed up­ sparkling. I was sorry to have to on me reproachfully. An apology go into the theatre, and at that I would have seemed absurd. I laughed, missed part of the first act. explained and was forgiven; but Anna "Who was that fellow Wilson you Strunsky refused to read any 0 more to introduced me to last night?" I me that evening. asked Mac next day. Charles Warren Stoddard, Poet of He grinned impishly. "The man the South Seas, was about thirty you've been wanting so long to meet, years older than I. Our acquain­ Harry Leon Wilson," he replied. The tance began when I was no more than name Wilson, alone, h•d not clicked four years old,and continued through in my mind. his life, by correspondence when we My next, and last, meeting with could not meet. Charlie had the Harry Leon Wilson was at the Press timid, shrinking temperament of a Club in New York, where he had come sensitive child, yet he went through to try to persuade Don Marquis to many extraordinary adventures before devote himself entirely to the writ­ finding peace and comfort as profes­ ing of poetry. Instead, Don went in sor of English in the Catholic Uni­ for play writing and produced the versity at Washington, D. c. Broadway success, The Old Soak. I My old friend and associate (I went to the Plymouth Theatre opening was editorial writer and drama crit­ night, and met the author in the ic on a paper of which he was city lobby. editor) w. o. McGeehan had a friend "Clouds," he said, "if I see you whom I greatly admired, but never sneaking out at the end of the first had met. This friend did not like act I'll shoot you." San Francisco and kept away from it I did not go out. The play would as much as possible. One night I have held me if it had been by a saw Mac in front of a theatre, talk­ stranger. ing to a heavy set man whose appear­ Of iny many writer fl'iends more ance did not su 1~gest any li tera.ry or than half are no longer living, artistic ability. Mac said briefly, except in the memory of those of "Mr. Wilson, Mr. Johns, 11 and faded us who had the privilege of their away. Thought I to myself, Mac's friendship. And that memory is a wished some bore on me and escaped. precious possession to me.

ALL IN A NUTSHELL John C. Zuleger

I held an acorn in my hand, a gift Of dream and prophecy closed in a kernel Of quiet n~gic; glorious and vernal, I felt the grandeur of a forest lift In green horizons, climbing without rift.

A seed of oakl ·wnat miracles must be ~·i aitinr; to stun my senses with new wonder ::':r: a reor.1ent of muted summer thunder m earth leaps skyward for my eyes to see , promised beo.uty in the growing treel Highlight

Construding tennis courts at the Trenton Central High School Building Americanism

EDWARD F. CONNELLY

pending a total of $394,726.28, track programs, and all meets were Sof which the Federal Government held on such tracks as could be contributed $354,585.38, the City of built by zealous athletically in­ Trenton has modernized its outdoor clined followers of the sport. The recreational facilities, while the city has no stadium as yet, but Trenton Board of Education has been through the aid of the WPA it has able to offer to the growing boy and two modern tracks and the Trenton girl a complete athletic plant on Central High School has a field for the premise that as the playing all sports. The first step has been fields of Eton provided a strong taken in providing an outdoor ath­ manhood for the English,so the play­ letic plant to which the residents ing fields of America will make a point with pride and where students valuable contribution to the build­ find healthful exercise and amuse­ ing of a sturdy,reliant Americanism. ment. The rest of the steps can be For many years Trenton has been taken in the future, since provision lacking in what might be called has been made for expansion as the sport luxuries. Of course the City needs warrant and the funds are Fathers have looked after youth and available. in the past have provided play­ Not only has the city and the grounds and equipment so that grow­ Trenton Board of Education benefited ing boys and girls might have some through these wise expenditures of place to play. But the city never the Government, but some hundreds of had a stadium or a modern field for men have been given work in a period

20 February I9J7

of economic distress. As the fruits entirely coI11pleted. An idea of the of WPA projects, Cadwa.lader Park, vast amount of labor involved may be Trenton's largest recreational cen­ gained from the following figures: ter, now has a complete layout for Excavation for the playing field, track events in addition to the 1170 cubic yards; excavation on ten­ baseball and football field and ten­ nis courts, 2,880 yards; macadam nis courts; the High School has an sub-base for tennis courts, 5,750 athletic field, with tentative plans square yards; excavation and hauling for a small concrete stadium; and for grading,71 000 cubic yardsJ stone four playgrounds have been improved and cinders for track, 2,340 square so that in the springtime the resi­ yards; asphalt topping for tennis dents of the city, as well as the courts, 5,750 square yards; topsoil children, will be able to enjoy out­ spread and seeded, 8,000 square door sport under proper supervision. yards; cinders, 390 cubic yards; Cadwalader Park, in the western stone dust, 714 tons; li inch stone, section of the city, is a most spa­ 1,990 tons; and 2! inch stone, 585 cious and beautiful park,where green tons. lawns and shade trees provide an The improvements at this center ideal setting for the family picnic also included regrading and land­ or outing. Nruned for Thomas Cadwa­ scaping the area adjacent to Park­ lader, chief burgess of Trenton in siae Avenue so as to eliminate a 1746, the park covers an area of 100 steep slope. The leveled field is acres with the main athletic field to be used for playground purposes. bordering on West State Street op­ For years the students at Trenton posite Junior High School No. 3. Central High, with a beautiful and The field, in addition to catering modern high school and plenty of va­ to the needs of the residents of the cant space in the rear of the build­ western section, also provides an ing, had to content themselves with outdoor athletic plant for about a make-shift baseball and football 1,500 boys and girls who attend the field because the city did not have school and who now have a place to the funds to provide modern facili­ stage athletic meets. ties. A number of years ago the This WPA project has so far pro­ late William J. Bickett, then super­ vided a well-drained baseball and intendent of schools,had plans drawn soccer field and a five-laps-to-the­ for a stadium which would include a mile running track with a 220-yard track,but the time was not opportune straightaway. In addition nine ten­ and he died without seeing his hopes nis courts have been covered with realized. When the announcement was asphalt so that weather will not in­ ma.de that the Government would aid terfere with the play of the tennis in the construction of worthy pro­ enthusiasts. In the past the clay jects, the plans for a track and surfaced courts were not available football field were presented and after a heavy rain and at the height approved, as were tentative plans of the season had been closed for for a small concrete stadium to be days at a time. This is not the built when more funds were avail­ case now, for the courts are always able. ready for play except in snowy wea­ Modeled after the Yale Bowl, it ther. contains a football field with a For this improvement the Govern­ quarter-mile track; high jump, broad ment contributed $67,362 and the jump and pole vault pi ts, handball City of Trenton $12,412, a total of courts and 15 asphalt tennis courts. $79,774. The work was started in The cost of the project was $101,- October 1935 and provided jobs for 404. 70, of which amount the Govern­ workers all through the past winter ment contributed $76,033.70. An av­ and suJlllller, while there is still erage of 61 men was employed when work to be done before the job is the project was at its height and

21 Highlight

the specifications called for the $5.264, while at the playground cen­ laying of 2.206 lineal feet of pipe ter near the Sewage Disposal plant for drainage on the athletic field; along the river a baseball diamond 5.600 cubic yards of topsoil had to and four clay surface tennis courts be out. loaded and hauled and 12.500 were built. The Government paid the square yards of topsoil had to be entire cost of the work, $80.404.50. spread, rolled and seeded. Materials And so after many years the city used included 3.190 tons of broken is at last able to offer modern fa­ stone, 551 cubic yards of cinders cilities for the lovers of outdoor and 1,760 lineal feet of chain link sports. It is a far cry from the fence. early days in Trenton when athletes

A high school athletic meet made possible by the WPA

At the Chestnut Park playground performed on quickly prepared tracks four asphalt tennis courts and a wa­ or on the ovals at the old Pennsyl­ ding pool were constructed, the Gov­ vania Car Shop field or at Hill's ernment spending $33.087.47 and the Grove. later known as Hetzel Field. city $5,505.90. At the stadium play­ to the grounds now available for use ground two asphalt tennis courts, a of the city's youth. Whether the volleyball and a handball court and development of the boys and girls a soft-ball diamond were built. the will be any better remains to be Goverrunent contributing $82.578.87 seen, but at least Trenton, through and the city $4,000. Four asphalt the WPA, can point with pride to tennis courts and a soft-ball dia­ athletic fields where courage. self­ mond were built at the Lamberton reliance, fair play and the competi­ Bluff Park, for which the Government tive spirit can be inculcated. provided $15.118.34 and the city

22 The Audience Reacts

Results of an Audience Survey by the National Play Bureau

WILFRED C. HECK

s suggested by Mr. Simon in his 32 Professionals Aarticle last month, the only way 7 Arts in which a subsidized theatre can 3 Trades find out if it is of any value to a 8 Business co:mrr.uni ty is to discover the reac­ 15 Office Workers tions and ideas of its audiences. 32 Ifiscellaneous, incl·1din.:; the One way is t he trial and error sys­ 14 stupport:mi ty is a minor, even though tioned. an important, consideration. The The general classifications num­ publicity attending the showing of bered: Lewis's story may have been the rea­ In Mo:atclair -- son why this was a first attendance

23 Highlight

even for those to whom theatre-going at a low price and makes it possible is a habit, since some of them sug­ for more people to go to the thea­ gested that Federal productions be tre;" 7 qualified their endorsement more widely advertised. by certain conditions or restric­ Those who believe that the thea­ tions; 5 considered its cultural, tre is merely an elevated sort of educational, and creative value; sublimation or entertainment will be while one thought "this Government agreeably surprised at the type of should keep out of private busi­ play which theatre-goers prefer. Out ness." of 50 in Montcla'ir who answered the or 59 who anS'\vered, 56 approved question, 33 enjoyed drama dealing an admission price, of whom 36 were with current issues such as the one satisfied with present rates, while they were seeing. In Newark the pro­ 10 favored a movie rate. portion was even greater, 26 out of Additional comments on this prob­ 34. A more specific inquiry on the lem were: kind liked revealed, in Montclair, "To cover expenses." the following preferences: "A bit lower than commercial The­ 14 Social Problems atre prices." 10 Drama "Charge enough to rrake the public 7 A Variety appreciate its tremendous value." Other types, such as historical, The situation, as summarized by melodrama, farce, biographical, mys­ the report, seems to be: tery and classical, received one, "l. The answers indicate an al­ tvro or three votes each. The replies most unanimous approval of the pro­ and remarks as a whole showed that duction. most of the audience wanted dramatic "2. The majority of the patrons presentation of modern problems. were seein~ their first Federal Further comments on the script, Theatre play and all sections of the direction, acting and technicalities reports reflect their approval of were predominantly favorable, aside the project. The almost unanimous from a little dissatisfaction with vote for a permanent Federal Thea­ slowness in scene changing and one tre, the reasons given for this ap­ or two minor lacks of perfection in proval, the preferences expressed presentation. for plays rather than movies, and Probably the most important part the large majority who want a neigh­ of the experiment was the reaction borhood or community theatre all in­ to the question whether there should dicate that Federal Theatre is fill­ be a permanent Federal Theatre. Of ing a real need in New Jersey. If the 148 who answered,141 were favor­ attendance at Federal Theatre plays able to the proposition. Of these a has been small, therefore, it is not majority also wanted a neighborhood because the people will not support conununity theatre, which ordinarily a low price theatre,but because they would not be profitable to private do not know about it. enterprise. Of 27 who expatiated on "3. Both reports re:veal an unmis­ their answer, 14 approved because takable preference for current issue "it provides good Legitimate Theatre and social plays."

COVER: NATHANIEL RUBEL

The statue of Abraham Lincoln in memory of his comrades of American front of the Court House at Newark Legion Post No. 11. President Theo­ is the work of Gutzon Borglum, na­ dore Roosevelt spoke at the dedi­ tionally known sculptor. The cost cation ceremony on Decoration Day, was donated by Amos H. Van Horn, in 1911. Prisons or Programs?

A Recreation Department Successfully Cures and Prevents Delinquency

BERYL WILLIAMS Photos by Rubel

bout a year ago the staff of the recognized but too little had been A WPA Recreation Department of done, he felt, to stem the flow of District Four, headed by Assistant youthful offenders through their State Supervisor Joseph Sieber and doors. Theoretically prisoners are with the approval of State Super­ led to self-evaluation in terms of visor Wayne T. Cox, volunteered their social needs, through supervised in­ services to the city recorder for struotion and directed activities. the inauguration of a new system of In reality individual differences handling delinquent youth in Perth have precluded any wide margin of Amboy. The resultant program has success, and terms of imprisonment gone on steadily since then. It has have all too often resulted in an meant an increase in clerical detail increase of the characteristics cau­ for the office staff and frequent sing them. evenings sacrificed from personal Any plan that would help these pleasures by all the workers, but boys, the recorder believed, must they agree with the citizens of take into consideration conditions Perth Amboy that it has been worth­ at home and leisure time associa­ while. tions -- the two fundamental bases Recorder Louis F. Sellyei gave of delinquent behavior -.!and would birth to the original idea, which is therefore require the assistance of unique in the State as far as the persons trained in handling young participation of WPA is concerned. men. County probation officers could When he first came to the bench of not be called in, since their juris­ the local police court he was ap­ diction ceases when boys reach the palled by the numbers of young men age of 16. Recorder Sellyei appealed between the ages of 16 and 21 who to Mr. Sieber. were brought before him on charges Thus began, without cost to the ranging from crap shooting to grand city, a system for dealing with larceny. Some were first offenders, young criminals who,if given another others had been sentenced previously chance, might become valuable citi­ to the State Home for Boys at James­ zens. The WPA staff brought enthusi­ burg or had served time in the Coun­ asm and training to their task, and ty workhouse. so successful have they been that He realized, as do most modern Perth Amboy's civic leaders have be­ students of sociology, that a method gun an agitation to supply the pro­ more beneficial to offenders and to ject with the facilities and equip­ societ~y as a whole ought to be sub­ ment it has so far managed to do stituted for the system of indis­ without. criminate sentencing which court Mr. Sieber irmnediately worked out congestion had previously compelled. a program to which he devoted his The fallacies of so-called correc­ person.al attention during the entire tional institutions have long been year. He received no compensation Highlight

they report twice each week for the basketball games of the city league, unless they neeq the time for school work. Saturday mornings are also devoted to games in a. gyrrmasium. The unemployed report to the gym­ nasium each morning to play basket­ ball or read in an improvised li­ brary over the gym. In the evening those who desire may attend night school and others report for g;e.mes. Those employed during the day ~ay also attend night school or, if they show no tendency toward study, may ta.lee part in the games. One evening a week Sieber devotes to interviews. A member of the staff devoted his entire time to investigating employ­ Getting into trouble ment possibilities for the boys, and of the sixty-five with whom they have had dealing during the year, for the overtime work it entailed. eight of the twenty-seven unemployed Every effort was ma.de to discover, were placed in private employment first of all, whether or not the and fifteen sent to CCC camps. culprit was a victim of some physio­ In many instances where the boys logical or psychological abnormality were out of work and in need of which rendered him in need of medi­ clothes or necessities Sieber or the cal attention. If so he was referred recorder found money in their own to the proper authorities or insti­ pockets to offer them. tutions. Then, in those cases where All those connected with the work only surplus energy or susceptibil­ have derived great satisfaction from ity to suggestion had first led the the fact that while twenty-three of way into unlawful pursuits,individu­ the probationers had previous rec­ ally planned aotivities were sched­ ords before they were placed on pro­ uled for each boy. Care was taken bation, only two "repeated" while on to suit the programs to particular probation or after their probations tastes and adaptabilities, but once were completed. a probationer was assigned to a def­ One of the cases which might be inite routine he was required to called typical if each of these boys follow it regularly. did not have their particular and These programs include a variety individual problems was that of of things, depending upon the one of George P. He had been arrested three three classes into which a boy fits times, once for stealing coal, once -- those attending; school, those for stealing copper from moving working, and those not attending freight cars, and once for assault­ school and without employment -- as ing a.n officer. He had served one well as upon his natural inclina­ term in the county workhouse. tions and mental equipment. George at first resisted proba­ Boys in school report to Sieber tion, but constant supervision and every afternoon at 3 o'clock, bring­ guidance changed this viewpoint. He ing; their textbooks with them. They was given physical, psychological work on their studies until 5 o'­ and psychiatric examinations which clock, and when tutoring; or help is revealed the following_: needed members of Sieber's staff are Physically he suffered from hy­ there to give it. In the evening pertrophied tonsils, and ~ overac- ~· ; -. ·/ ..... \ ' ,-..... ,.. ·"' ·:\i. ,.,. ..'' .. ,~.• ' .. :'... )~ ~ ·• •·• · ~ !'- ·.. • \.' February I937

tive heart. He had an inferior mentality with a median test age of about 13 yea.rs; neither marked abilities nor disa­ bilities and a manner uncertain and apprehensive. He was s.eventeen yea.rs of age and had left school while in the eighth grade. Home conditions were found to be the worst of any boy on proba­ tion, with a mother mentally help­ less and three brothers confined to state mental hospitals. The boy's childhood had been colored by the taunts of his playmates, also of low economic status, who assured him that his entire family was insane and g;ave him the nickname "Nutty". The exa.niiner advised that he be permitted to remain on probation, Keeping out of trouble but removed from his present asso­ ciates and interested in a job or in some new forms of recreation. with the boy. reported that because The boy's story of his arrests of his inferior mentality he was was coherent and relevant. He said easily led by others end frequently that his first window-breaking had found himself in situations with been accidental,a.nd that as a result w~ich he could not cope. He recom­ he had been placed on probation. mended supervised recreation end a Some time later he had been the wit­ job. ness to a theft of copper from Sieber immediately contacted CCC freiEht cars, and the boys involved authorities end obtained permission had offered him a dollar if he did for George to be sent to a camp. The not "squeal". He said he accepted boy's regular correspondence with because it seemed an easy way to Sieber after he was installed there make money. .11.t that time Geore;e was indicated that he was perfectly con­ arrested and sentenced to thirty tent end had become greatly interes­ days in the workhouse. ted in the study of plant disease. After his release he was again When he returned home for a few days near the railroad tracks and when a prior to his reinlistment it was suspicious officer accosted him he evident that he had responded favor­ became panicky, he declared, and ably to camp life. Physically he made an effort to break away; he in­ had put on weight end mentally he sisted he had had no idea of assaul­ seemed to have completely lost his ting the policeman. defense complex. He admitted that his parents had George well represents the result at various times sent him out to of such treatment as this project steal coal, when they had no fuel at has constantly furnished.His healthy home. Since he had left school he body and active contented mind are had had only one job, and had spent in marked contrast to his condition most of his time near the rjver upon release from the Work House. seekin~ driftwood for fuel. He said No one knows -- but Sieber and his he liked to work with wood and hoped staff like to guess how much some day to become a carpenter; he greater the contrast would be be­ also expressed an ambition to join tween George a$ he is. and George .. as the CCC. he might be, had he been sente~ced ~~·'•usu., favorably impressed to prison. 27 The Bowering Statues

George and Martha Still Watch Life Go By in Paterson

ABE KIRCHBAUM

antalizing to the imagination Majestic in bearing, although of T and marked by an eif7lteenth cen­ slight size, the statue rer resenting tury appearance of exact and proper America's first president sternly decorum, two curious, metal-wrought stares into space, robed in a flow­ figures representing George and Mar­ ing govm, its one arm restinc in a tha Washington stand on the side sash and its other clutching n docu­ porch of a quaint two-story frame ment inscribed with the date, 1776. dwelling on the corner of Ward and Martha Washington stands calmly on Hamilton Streets,in Paterson, silent the other end of the porch, her guardians for more than 150 years of tresses dovm, arms folded and chin an iron-bound copy of the Declara­ proudly tilted in the air. tion of Independence. Since 1884 The house itself ,of old-fashioned they have been at their present lo­ var~ety frequently seen in this vi­ cation, diagonally opposite the old cinity, is believed to have been post-office, and they a.re supposed built a little more than eighty to have been in existence for one years ago. John Bowering purchased hundred years prior to that. the house, when it was comparatively The minute statues, about three new, only e. short time before the feet in height,as well as the house, builder died. A tinsmith and met~l came into the possession of their cornice artisan of no mean ability, present owner, Miss Annie Sisco, Bowering employed his talents in upon the death of her uncle, John ma.king his home one of the finest Bowering, onetime Paterson plumber, looking in the city. in 1884. Before this time the fig­ An old iron fence, of intricate ures graced the entrance of the design, extends 36 feet E-long Hamil ­ plumbing establishment kept by Bow­ ton Street, directly in front of the ering on Broadway, near Washington porch on which stand the two iron­ Street. The exact age of the statues molC.ed statues, as if' guardinc; tl:em is not known, but from early recol­ age.inst the outside world and pro­ lections of her uncle's remarks Miss tecting the secret of their incep­ Sisco believes them to be a century tion. An ancient En£;1ish elm tree and a half old. also stands at the side of the Indisputably fine specimens of house, reminiscent of the days when workmaDship, the statues appear to the entire plot was a part of the have been cast with great care and Colt Este.te. skill. Not a single sign of disin­ The house contains four rooms on tegration is visible,even today, and the first floor and five rooms on the figures still attract the daily the second floor. !Vlany of the ori;­ attention of hundreds of passers-by inal furnishings are still used. going to and from the County court­ The bedroom furniture is 65 yeH.rs house and the Central High School old. Made of soliC. walnut woocl, the builQings nearby. bed itself stands appr~:x;imately..,. ten • _, ; !t, A ~l~ ~t '{ •,.. ). '• , ... ,. \...... ,.. ' ' \ . ... f'eet high and is trimmed with ebony carvings and French walnut panels. The dresser is eleven f'eet high and of the same design. Both articles are in splendid condition. In the parlor on the first floor is a solid rosewood piano, supposedly about 80 years old and retaining much of its old-time lustre. An article of particular interest is the long, flat English-ma.de table which is one of the most cherished possessions of the house's occupant. When her uncle purchased the house from its builder, it was agreed that

"My George . . .

Photos by Rubel . . . and Martha" he pay $100 to obtain the table with other furnishings. From time to time antique dealers have tried to purchase some of the rare curios owned by Miss Sisco, es­ pecially the two small statues of George and Martha Washington, whose origin remains veiled in mystery. Miss Sisco, however, refuses to part with "my George and Martha". as she whimsically calls the two iron­ cast figures. "If anything happens to me," she says smilingly, "I want them placed in an historical institution." Leviathan

a story

SAMUEL EPSTEIN

t was good to be home again. Three my oigarettes. Have you any?" He I months of South America made New must certainly be in a bad way, I York's pavements look good enough to reflected. Dennis was a promoter. kiss. Even the curses of the truck The type that promotes anything. He drivers were music in my ears. I used to say that his passion tor stood on West Street and looked in a promoting began while he was in very supercilious manner at the ship school. It seems he had teachers that had just brought me home. who were vicious anti-promoters -­ I pulled out my watch. Two thir­ at least as far as he was concerned. ty. The problem that faced me was Most or his schemes were good. whether I should report to the man­ Some were so good that he took vaca­ aging editor or take the afternoon tions when they were completed. and evening off to look the town There are some who say that he had over. to take vacations. I was taking one more look at the "Promoting seems to have reached harbor and mentally thumbing my nose an impasse,• I said a.a we sat on a at my ship when I felt a tap on my packing case and smoked. "What's shoulder. I turned around. the trouble?" "Dennis McGinty," I exclaimed. He sighed. "Ever since I organ­ "The very same," he answered. ized that Chinese Laundrymen's Pro­ We pumped each other's hands for tective Association I've been dogged a minute while I looked him over by hard luck. Do you remember that?" from top to bottom. He was a little I nodded. Dennis had discovered man, lean and wiry. A pinched face that his laundryman charged him ten and flashing eyes gave him an ap­ cents for reversing a frayed collar. pearance of shrewdness that could Dennis didn•t mind the ten cent have been substantiated by all who charge, but the thought struck him knew him. He wore a derby hat and a that the more frayed collars there form-fitting suit, neither of which were the more ten cents there would looked new. His shoes, usually pol­ be. He formed his association, w~ioh ished to the point or brilliance, for three or the ten oents would were scuffed and dull. I let go his rray collars scientifically. hand. At the peak ot the industry Den­ "How goes it with you Dennis?" I nis had his men fraying 15,000 col­ asked. lars a week. His payroll amounted "Lousy." He shook his head sad­ to $200 per week,leaving Dennis $250 ly. "And you?" for himself. rr it weren•t for the "I don•t know. I've been away curiosity on the part of the custom­ for three months covering one or ers as to how their shirts wore out those revolutions in South America." so rast Dennis might even noir be Dennis tapped his pockets experi­ sitting in the lap of luxury. The mentally. "I seem to have forgotten customers never did find out. They

30. February I9J7

just stopped using Chinese laun­ to the Leviathan. "That boat needs dries. Dennis found it advisable to about 50,000 horsepower to drive her retire for a time. He had come out thirty knots. Drive her at ten and of hiding a month before I left for you can do it with a thousand." South America. "I don't know much about marine "You mean to tell me that for engineering, but maybe it's all four months you've done nothing?" I right. t1 asked. "All you have to do is rig up a He nodded gloomily. "I tried sev­ treadmill, t1 he said. "Rig up a eral times, but no soap. Last month treadmill and charge 3 1 000 people I had what promised to be the best $500 each to walk across the ocean. promotion I ever pulled off, but it I'd work them in eight-hour shifts." went sour." I must have looked dazed. 1twhat happened?" "Don't you get it?" he snorted. He pointed across the river. "See "It 1 s simple. The treadmill turns across there? That's the Leviathan. the propellors. The people walk. Rusting away." In about five weeks they're across I said nothing. and then for another $500 they walk "I was sitting here one day," he back again. A round trip grosses went on. "Thinking what a. shame it three million." was to let a fine ship rot away and "Do you mean to tell me that thinking maybe I could promote a people would pay you $500 for the night club on her. It's too big for privilege of pushing themselves a- a night club though. Anyway I was cross the water?" sitting here and a piece of newspa­ "Vvhat do you mean pushing them­ per blows across ~ feet. Having selves across the ocean. They're nothing better to do I picked it up walking across. They get plenty of and read the story of this here hik­ spinach. No smoking and no drinking. ing derby they're having." Ain't that worth $500?" "Hiking derby?" I queried. "You're crazy," was all I could "I forgot you were away. You know say. this big muscle man Howard Brown." "Crazy ~ eye. Two weeks after Dennis sighed enviously. ''What a the first announcement I had 1000 business ha has. He's got camps all applications." over the country where he charges 'ti.\'hat happened? Couldn't you hire people $20 a week to eat spinach and the boat?" stop smoking. "That was easy." ''Well anyway he's behind this "Couldn't you rig up a tread- derby. He's writing editorials about mill?" how healthy it is to walk. I'm sit­ "I'll tell you what happened. tine; here without a dime and wishing This guy Brown gets jealous. Look I could walk across the ocean or at this." something when an idea hi ts me. Why He pulled a newspaper from his not walk across the ocean?" pocket. Plastered a.cross the front ''Walk across the ocean?" I asked. page was a scarehead: "How's anyone going to walk across BROWN FINDS WALKING INJURIOUS the ocean?" TO HEALT:! "That's where my idea comes in." PEOPLE SHOULD LIE DOWN AND Dennis said. REST TO BE HEALTHY "See that ship?" He pointed again Swampland to Playground

Transforming a Dump Into a Landscape

JOHN H. BOURNE

ne of the four most extensive Today it is scarcely less i.mbeau­ Oand ambitious YfPA projects auth­ tiful, but far more interesting. At orized for New Jersey is under way the close of the year 1700 men, from alon~ Cooper River in Camden County. laborers to architects and engin­ At the close of 1936 Cooper River eers, were at work on the project, Parkway was almost three percent with more to be added early in the completed, with about two years of current year. work ahead. Parts of the park and Work on this project was begun equipment will be open for the wel­ March 2. 1936, but only in prelimin­ fare and pleasure of the public long ary activities. It was not until before completion of the entire pro­ December 5th, when a huge hydraulic ject. The total cost will exceed dredge, capable of moving from 48 to $6 1 000 1 000. According to sponsors, 125 cubic yards of solid earth an engineers, architects and others en­ hour, was installed, that action be­ listed in the magnificent enter­ gan in a really big way. Previously prise, it will look more like a hun­ dykes had been constructed, separa­ dred million when completed. Be­ ting sections of mud flats and swamp sides adding an extraordinarily at­ land from the area the river is to tractive unit to South Jersey's re­ occupy when the great i.mdertaking is creational centers, it will undoubt­ complete. In erecting these dykes edly serve to increase the value of eight powerful cranes, with fifty­ adjacent property by millions of foot booms and five-eighths yard dollars. buckets, are used. Their accomplish­ The contrast between the area as ments were supplemented by laborers it was, now is, and as it is to be, supplied with 1194 shovels and 400 challenges hmnan imagination. wheelbarrows as the moving of more For centuries the stream which than 4.000,000 cubic feet of earth now is being so completely trans­ was begun. In addition to this, in formed and beautified \VS.S knovm as preparation of the area for the con­ Coopers Creek, named for one of the struction of paved highways, build­ earliest settlers in the present ings, bridges, tennis courts and area of Grunden City. Recently it other means of serving and pleasing was dignified by the designation of the public of South Jersey, there "river, 11 but with that the dignify­ are 2270 piles, 30 and 50 feet in ing of the watercourse ended for the length, to be driven. time being. Dirty, misshapen,utter­ The working force at the begin­ ly ugly, it crawled its way e:mong ning of the current year, i.mder the tidal swamps and almost liquid mud direction of Townsend B. Rowand, flats, foul with slimy waste and de­ general superintendent, included 985 caying vegetation, while its banks laborers, 174 intennediate workers. became dumping grounds, increasing 123 skilled workers, 68 office work­ the dismal character of the scene. ers and 13 professionals. Among February I9J7

Dredging and excavation at Cooper River, Camden them were landscape architects, min­ side of the river, on ground created ing engineers, hoisting engineers, by earth dredged from the swamps, carpenters, bricklayers, riggers, will be drives, paths and recrea­ electricians, steamfitters, plumbers tional facilities of many sorts. and tree surgeons. There were four Beneath the made ground will be a supervisors and 43 foremen. drainage system, of terracotta pipe Included in the early stages of of various sizes, so perfect that the project is a large nursery where tennis courts, baseball fields and trees, shrubs and plants in great most other sections of the area variety are being brought toward should be dry within an hour a~er perfection for transplanting in many the heaviest rainstorm. parts of the six-mile area of Cooper As the work continues, the swamp River Parkway from South Connecting land at the lower end will give way Road in Grunden City to the Mountwell to a beautiful lake. Into this lake Swimming Pool in Haddonfield. none of the heavily polluted waters All along., the six miles,on either .of the Delaware River, which now

Laying the base for Cooper River Parkway

33 Highlight

Turning swampland into dry, level ground flood the entire region at high include eighteen tennis courts, bri­ tide, ever will be permitted to dle paths, a model yacht basin 250 flow. A reinforced concrete dam by 850 feet, and club houses. will take care of that, keeping the Two main paved highways, South waters above it clean and smooth. Park Boulevard and North Park Boule­ This dam is a project in itself. It vard, will run the length of the is so designed that the water eleva­ parkway on either side of the river, tion behind it will be lower than connected by several artistic brid­ the normal high tides of the Dela­ ges and underpasses. Beauty in all ware River. There is no record of a its appropriate forms will be pro­ dam of such design, although the vided, making the region a veritable principle employed is an old and modern fairyland. tried one. The structure will be Plans for providing this magnifi­ approxilllately 450 feet long, and as cent playground for the people of it is being built in the swamp, it South Jersey were formed early in will be supported entirely on pil­ 1935, following the practical com­ ing. Never will the lake and river pletion of adjoining park projects, become stagnated, for though it will including the huge swimming pool be­ be what is known as still water the tween Farnham Park and Cooper River natural runoff or ground water fur­ and Pyne Poynt Park in Camden City. nished by the 30-mile watershed will There was some opposition,but final­ supply sufficient fresh water. Flood ly, August 29, 1935, the Camden water will not go over the dam, but Co\ll'lty Board of Freeholders appro­ through it by way of gates which priated $461,600, the amount re­ will close automatically as the tide quired in order to obtain the origi­ rises against the lower wall. This nal Federal appropriation of $4,- will eliminate flood conditions in 457 ,499. the improved area. The three projects with which the A rowing course of the finest Cooper River Parkway ranks are the type is among the features of the Newark Airport, the bulkheads and Parkway., and here., possibly next dam at Atlantic City, a.nd work on year, important boat races will take the Interstate Park along the Pali­ place. Other recreational features sades.

34 The Loveliest Funeral

a story

MAURICE ROTHMAN

erhaps if ! had not felt so smug most wonderful father." P in IlrJ' knbwledge of children, I "I know, Mary. Now please tell would not have asked Mary to stay me how much he makes a week." after school that afternoon. I knew "Why -- why --" that she was in desperate trouble "Come, Mary, you have an idea, and I wanted to help her. I felt haven't you?" that I could. "A hundred and fifty dollars." "Mary," I said, making my tone The words tumbled out fast. sound casual and busying myself with "Oh he doesn't make so much." some papers, "how many dresses have "Yes he does, Miss Halpern -- and you?" don't call me a liar." "Sixty-five," she answered glib­ I put IlrJ' a.rm around her then, and ly, "and with those at my grandma's, pulled her close to me. I knew that I have a. hundred." she used to like me. But now I felt "Yes, I heard that." I looked up a strong resistance in her attitude. at her. She was thirteen and quite "I want to help you, Mary. I want short for her age. Big dark eyes terribly to help you. You are old were set in a. thin face. enough to understand everything I "They all talk a.bout me. I know tell you. And I am old enough to they do, Miss Halpern. I didn't know know that if you don't stop exagger­ you'd heard though." No tears. Big ating (mind I'm not calling you a dark eyes, hard and recalcitrant, liar), something very terrible is looking at me levelly. going to happen to you. They all "How much do you get for pocket talk about you. They form little money every week?" groups and talk about you. You don't "Four dollars and twenty-five like that, do you? Please don't in­ cents. 11 terrupt me. Now if you keep up your It was all so ludicrous. Her exaggerations -- and everybody can cotton dress looked like it was easily see through them -- you'll be years old and had cost no more than isolated, persecuted by the rest of seventy-five cents when new. It was the children. You'll be miserable. easy to visualize her background. Now, why do you do it?" Family on relief and in desperate "I don't lie." Her tone hard and straits; faces mirroring vast black low pitched. voids of hopelessness. Father tramp­ "Then why, in heaven's name, do ing the streets -- you wear this cheap little cotton "What does your father do, Mary?" dress if you have --" "He's an artist." Her eyes opened "The others are all silk and I wide, shining with pride. "Sometimes don't want to wear them to school." he paints pictures on furniture." It was rehearsed and utterly ludi­ "You love your father,don't you?" crous. Did she expect me to believe "Oh yes, Miss Halpern. He's the her? I must make it clear that she

35 was a perfectly normal child as far mouth. I salved my conscience with as her studies were concerned,stand­ the thought that I had done it for ing just a measure above the aver­ Mary. I had to have a weapon. I age. I then explained to her that pitted my experience, my knowledge, millions of people were unemployed, my maturity against her frailty end millions were on relief. I told her pitiful obviousness -- and lost. I that there was not an iota of dis­ wished then that I could give her grace attached to being on relief. up, forget about her,but I couldn't. To make my point stronger end break I was being challenged from a dif­ through her armor, I told her that ferent angle; the discipline of the the government owed her family re­ class was being disrupted. Once, lief. But goi~around making up when I asked a pupil what she was fantastic stories was disgraceful. giggling about, she stood up and "Now, Mary, please tell me the said,"Mary says that her maid always truth and I'll think so much more of makes her cforls for her." you." "Now, Dorothy, that is certainly "I have a hundred dresses." nothing to giggle over." I gave her up then. But I took "But she says they have three the thought of her home with me, maids, one for her, and one for her evolving plans to trap her, to break mother and one for her little bro­ through her seeming impregnability, ther." to save the poor kid from the ostra­ "Three maids --" I felt my help­ cism end misery that I knew would be lessness before the problem of Mary forthcoming. The whole thing was rise up in a wave of nausea. beginning to prey on my mind. There "Why does she have to lie like must be some way to save her. that?" So I oonjucted an investigation "Her dress is old and the hem is of my own (the methods I used are of torn." no moment) and found that I had been "Look at her shoes." correct in my deductions. Her home They shouted from all sides, a was a shambles of broken spirits. sea of resentment against the ob­ They had been on relief for six viousness of her lies. I lost my months now end the family had its temper completely and screamed at back to the wall. Her father had them to keep quiet. For a long mo­ been a dilettante artist, but had ment we stared at each other, the not painted anything ever since they class and I, end I was thoroughly went on relief. About a year ago, exasperated with myself. The first he had lost his job with a furniture principle in maintaining order, in company. I had expected to find my opinion.was never to lose control some trace of mental aberration in over oneself. And here I had given a her family, but there was none. They ghastly display of temper. were normal people -- the father and And through it all,Mary sat calm, mother and two-year old brother,nor­ her eyes boring into mine. For a mal people, but sunk in an abyss of moment I thought they were pleading misery. with me, begging for understanding ± made two more attempts to argue and sympathy. There was still time. with and cajole Mary but failed. She There was still time. If only I stood before me, small, pretty, her could break her down -- make her dark curls hanging about her face -­ cry. She looked so puny and help­ an insoluble problem. less, a tiny piece of flotsam tossed "I told you before, Miss Halpern, about on a sea of enmity. She had that I have a hundred dresses." bees so sweet before that ludicrous Of course I never told her that I obsession of hers. knew all about her. The whole pro­ I kept her in again. cedure I had used, though perfectly "oh, Mary, that is not the way to honorable, left a bad taste in my fight public opinion. Poverty does- February I9J7

n't take one bit away from dignity." she studied tap dancing and modern Oh yes, I know -- empty phrases -­ dancing and toe dancing and ballet but what could I do? "There are dancing and acrobatic dancing. Then other poor girls in our class. If they became vicious and called her only you could refrain from exagger­ vile names. They danced around her ating. You're on the wrong train, in the street, tea.ring at her dress Mary. You must get off and change and pulling her hair. "Crazy Mary -­ trains." I spoke hoarsely, very Crazy Mary. She has three maids. near tee.rs myself. "For heaven's She has a nurse for her baby bro­ sake, don't you think we all know ther. She takes every kind of dan­ that you don't have three maids. Why cing lesson. Dance for us, crazy ~ere isn't a child in the class Mary." I ca.me out of the school and WJ.th three maids." they saw me and ran away. She was "We have three ma. ~ ds, Miss Hal­ pale and disheveled and her dress pern. You all think I'm lying, but was torn but she didn't cry. I we have three maids." walked with her for a couple of I knew that the story of her lies blocks talking of her studies in was going the rounds of the whole school -- but mostly we walked si-. school. I knew that she was being lently called "crazy Mary." I ~·.v that Then one day she came to school the permanent effect on her life in a new wine-red dress and I sensed would be irreparable. My own peace a change in her. That afternoon as of mind was being ·seriously af­ the children were filing out, I fected. Nights I tossed about mak­ touched her a.rm and gestured to her ing plans and discarding them. What to wait. When I had shut the door was I to say to her. I had to admit on the last pupil and turned to look to myself, that I had used every ar­ at her, I saw a. new softness in her gument I could think of. dark eyes. They were lovely eyes. "Don't you like me any more, Miss "I like your dress, Mary." Halpern? Will you turn against me She broke down then, falling on too, like the others?" her knees and burying her head in my "Oh, but I do love you,l'fory dear. lap, the tears coming unchecked. Her Now let's forget the whole thing for body rose and fell with her racking a while --" I had a. raging head­ sobs. She had lovely brown curls ache -- "Vfuat a.re you going to do and I patted them. I had to have about Rallowe'en? I want you at the something to do with rrry hands. I party. I '11 tell you vrhat, Mary, if was on the verge or sobbing myself. you'll help me with the spelling pa­ Her voice came muffled and broken pers, I'll get you a lovely little with her sobs, "I won't do it a.gain costume for the party -- What kind -- ever." would you like?" I had to wait a long time before "I'll help you with the spelling, I could trust myself to speak. I but you don't need to get me a cos­ just sat there stroking her curls, tume, I have a. whole rack of cos­ my eyes blurry with tears. Finally tumes to choose from." I said -- I felt myself on the verge of "I don't know why you did it, screaming, I sat for a long time Mary, and I'm not going to ask you, getting hold of myself then I ever. It was all wrong and utterly dismissed her. unnecessary. It was an awful, awful Of course she was absent the day time for you -- and for me too, be­ of the party -- und needless to say cause I love you so." I had a perfectly miserable time. Then she told me that her father Naturally things got worse as had gotten on the artist's project days went on. Someone had mentioned of the WPA and had been employed for dancing lessons to her, and she said a. month already; that her new dress calmly that she took lessons too -- cost a dollar seventy-five;tha.t they

37 Highlight

were gloriously happy at home; that to vacancy. I had heard her use her mother was smiling again; that that tone before, but then I didn't she loved her father and thought hear the words or the tone at all; I that he was the greatest artist that thought only of the bere~ little ever lived. girl who had suddenly found herself "Some day," she said, her eyes without a father, where last week starry with a new happiness, "he'll his presence was part of her exist­ be a great artist." ence. When she sat down her foot "or course he will, Mary -- of touched her neighbor's and she said course he will." "Pardon me," with an appallingly The next day I had a long talk quiet dignity. with two picked girls, urging them When the pupils were gone for the to befriend Mary, to play with her, day, I took her to my heart again. to show the others that Mary was a "Mary, I'm your friend." perfectly nonnal child. I told them "I'm glad you are my friend be­ that I was sure they would find Mary cause I want to talk to you." amenable now. They promised they No tears. An eerie calnmess that would. Infinitely relieved, I went made me feel limp in my chair. I home, for the first time, at peace studied her dark eyes, darker now with myself and with the world. because of her pale face. Two glorious weeks passed. I felt "I want to tell you about my fa­ ineffably elated. Mary was getting ther's funeral." along well with her new friends. She "Oh, but you mustn't talk about was a naturally sweet girl and now tha.t now. 11 the miasma that had settled on her "Yes, I must, Miss Halpern." was quickly being blotted out. I saw What kind of a funeral could it her running; and playing and laughing possibly have been. No money. Few with the other children and I knew friends. how happy she must be after the long ''There was music, Miss Halpern, black weeks of ostracism and perse­ the loveliest music came in through cution. the open windows. He was beautiful Then one day she was absent from in a silver coffin --" school. The next day I was told "Oh, Mary --" by some pupils that Mary had lost "And twelve perfectly white hor­ her father. The long strain had ses were snorting and stamping their done for him. I had never seen her hoofs e.nd fretting to be off --" father but a feeling of infinite "Oh, Mary --" void settled on me quite as if I "And, Miss Halpern, the people, had known him all my life. But my a whole parade of people,all dressed thoughts were all of Mary. Poor in fine black clothes. It was the childl What had she done to warrant loveliest and richest funeral that fate's cruelty. Poor innocent child. ever was. I wanted to tell you I caught myself talking in subdued first, Miss Halpern, because I love tones, sorrowing not for the dead you. Later I want to tell every­ but for the living. I knew that her body. I must tell everybody about frailty could never stand the shock. my father's funeral. They put him Then she came back and sat per­ in a big stone building all covered fectly still and answered all ques­ with ivy. Music came from all sides. tions correctly. "The Pilgrims came A sweet sad music." Eyes, two brown in 1620 and were bound for Virginia., stars. "It was the loveliest funer­ but the storm tossed their ship onto al." the shores of Massachusetts. They Silence. decided to stay because they had had "Miss Halpern -- you believe me, enough of the rough Atlantic --" Her don't you?" voice was subdued,low pitched, even. Silence. Her eyes were staring through me in- "Miss Halpern -- Miss Halpern,you February I9J7

believe me, don't you?" I swear, because I knew the stuff Her voice came like a frightened that Mary was made of. Hadn't I thing, ending in a small scream. butted against the stone wall be- Oh, God help me,I know the things fore -- I should have said. They would have I pulled her to me. "Darling, of done no good but I should have said course I believe you. It was the them. They.would have done no good, loveliest funeral --11

BEAUTY PARLOR A Lithograph Mildred Dobbin

Mildred Dobbin was born in Newark. She has studied a.rt at the Nev1a.rk School of Industrial and Fine Arts, Art Students League and privately with Nicholai Cikorsky. Her work has been exhibited at the Art Students League and the American Artist School, New York City.

39 Archives and Or·chids

Think of Future Historians Before Discarding That Picture Postcard

BURTON KLINE

n "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" one probably conned a motor car cata­ I of the great dramatists makes mer­ logue and picked, perhaps only in ry with a certain Monsieur Jourdain. imagination, the next oar you will This Monsieur Jourdain had taken the buy. It is to be hoped that you do, precaution to make a handsome for­ but far more important is that cata­ tune. This attended to, he set about logue you held in your hand. Twenty using his means to acquire personal years from now the oars there ad­ polish and attain a position in the vertised will be as much jokes as world suited to his achievements. To the wheezing oars of twenty years accomplish this worthy purpose he back. Perhaps a hundred thousand employed the best obtainable tutors prospective buyers conned the same in all the arts. One of these told catalogue, and threw it away. You 1:,onsieur Jourdai n that as he was probably tucked yours in a drawer not a poet he was a master of prose. for future consultation and forgot As ~uch to his delight as his 8IllB.Ze­ it. You may have had no further use ment Monsieur Jourdain found himself for it, having bought your oar. But already a writer. Hadn't his every whether you saved the catalogue de­ dunning business letter been a piece liberately or by neglect, you did of prose? the next generation a priceless ser­ Monsieur Jourdain is the immortal vice. That catalogue is an archive. figure that Moliere made him because Those who knew Mark Sullivan in in him cried out an instinct common his law school days remember with a to all humanity. Breathes there a grin his room in old Hollis, his old soul so dead who hasn't a laudable Morris chair, and the convenience desire to distinguish himself in known to the ladies of the day as a some way or other? And the strange lapboard forever across his knees. part of it is that we all do just What times he WllS not poring over this. In one way or another every l~w books he was everlastingly clip­ human being is a Monsieur Jourdain. ping articles and pictures out of No man can buy or dispose of the papers and magazines and pasting simplest piece of back alley real them in a scrapbook. He had stacks estate without leaving his deeds be­ of these scrapbooks and kept on add­ hind him. And he may be sure they ing more. His friends wondered at a will be treasured as nearly forever grown man's amusing himsalf with as steel and concrete vaults and hu­ that sort of nonsense and set it man care can approach that limit. down ohari tably as a mild form of Everything you handle or touch lunacy. In recent years Mark Sulli­ this day may become an archive to­ van has made himself the author of morrow. The seeming trash of today "Our Times," six volumes of contemp­ is tomorrow's treasure. Last even­ orary history, with probably more to ing, in slippered ease and cheered come, immensely interesting and val­ by prospects of rising recovery, you uable now and perhaps invaluable in February I9J7

the future. These volumes were made these archives behind them. from those scrapbooks, pasted up by Old theatre programs are already a man who knew an archive when he archives, especially those reaching saw one, and saw its value that far back for the names of Forrest,Daven­ in advance. port, Booth, Barrett, Forbes-Robert­ It is most devoutly to be hoped son, John Barrymore -- in the days that some one will have the fore­ before he acquired his mania for sight to embalm in the necessary marriage. Even the radio program in mothballs one or more of the hats this evening's paper may be an ar­ the ladies are currently wearing. chive ten years hence. Old time­ Fifty years from now they will be, tables are archives. "Annie Rooney" if possible, even funnier than they became a frightful bore in her hey­ are today. They are archives at day; today the song is a relic,along least, and that, together with their with "Yes, We have No Bonanos, 11 and mirth-provoking qualities, is pos­ many another. They are-archives, of sibly their major merit. course,because they carry a meaning. Yet archives may talce on forms of They are lights on the past. extravagant beauty. An archaeolo­ Naturally, the courts are the gist found a stone along the Aegean great, deliberate, organized point Sea. On it was carved: of deposit of archives and of what "A ship-wrecked sailor, buried on they have to tell, and among these this coast, the Surrogate's files touch the Bids you set sail. people first and most intimately. Full many a gallant bark, when we In the Essex County Hall of Rec­ were lost, ords -- a fairly new buildinK al­ Weathered the gale." ready stuffed to the bursting point That magnificent shout to victory with records -- you will find three from the lips of defeat was probably floors of leather-bound volumes, all written, not by a sailor, but by a marvellously indexed. These books poet who spoke the truth for him. He contain thousands of pages of wills, left something more than an archive; deeds, mortgage&. On paper they he left a lightning insight into one make dull reading--until you think. civilization when humanity attained Behind these dry transactions are a peak it never reached .before, and two and a half centuries of one never afterward. man's success and another man's sor­ Every well-stocked art museum in row. the world makes spread of its hoard Picking at random among these of Greek amphorae, and with excel­ tomes you will find an inventory lent reason. These jars are among dating from 1806. On one of its the finest attainments in the human yellowed pages, in faded brown ink, effort to arrive at beauty. Nearly written with an old and sputtering all are signed, very properly, with quill pen, you will find the entry: the name of the artist. Now it is "One black man named Anthony. known that all these articles issued Value, $120." from about six manufacturing plants, To the clerk who scratched that indicating big business in the pot­ down, no doubt,it was one more tire­ tery line in Athens. And again you some detail at the end of a tiresome have a quick light on the Athenian day. It may have struck him as be­ way of thinking and doing things. ing about as exciting, and as use­ Note that the jars bear signatures ful, as picking fly-specks out of of the artists and not the names of black pepper. He may have hoped the makers. Their names disappeared Nhile he wrote that the sausage for with their dust. The Athenian world, supper would be of slightly better having bought their jars, had no quo.li ty than that or la.st night. further use for them. And yet they He may have wondered how much he merit immortal gratitude for leaving would lose at cards when his friends Highlight

dropped in for ecarte. One thing he twenty years. It never was settled. probably never thought or -- that he It never was even tried. Even this was writing an archive of thunderous paper which argued the cause dis­ moment. He was planting one of the appeared and was thought forever little grains of powder in a train lost. leading to one of the most horrible George J. Miller, State Director things that ever happened -- the War of the Survey and himself a histor­ between the States, over the slavery ian, found it in a trunk in Perth question. Amboy. (Or was it New Brunswick?) This is what archives mean. It The workers on the Survey have been is why the Administration appears to for a year and a half too busily en­ have been so nearly inspired in gaged in their inventory of every financing and organizing the Survey County Court House in the State for of Historic Documents in all the their director to take stock of what States. The time was ripe and to other historical treasures they may have muffed the occasion might have have unearthed. The richest part of been a calamity. In 1835 the Essex their finds will come,no doubt, when County Court House was burned to the they go into churches, old attic ground and except for one lucky trunks, even old barns where dust­ trunkful, every record, from 1681 to covered Colonial records are known the year of the fire, was burned. to sleep. Already enough has been The Survey is a kind or insurance accomplished to safeguard from now against the like throughout this on pretty much all that is worth the country. saving in handing these papers on to It would pay for itself if it did posterity. If other states have nothing more. It cannot possibly done as well, the coming historian find and catalogue all the millions will have at his hand a wealth of of records left in the course of material such that if great history 300 years by the busiest of all is never written 8J'llong us, it will peoples. But in New Jersey alone it be for want of the genius and not of has traced down priceless papers as the records. And at least two epics vividly illustrative of the life and are crying to be done. There is not thought of the past as the sailor's a trace of exaggeration in saying tombstone, and regarded as lost for that if greatly done, they would take a hundred years. And the like goes their places beside the Iliad and on, perhaps, all over the land. the Aeneid. They are the Revolution Here is a single example. For and the Civil War. easily a century The Elizabethtown In one other direction the Survey Bill in Chancery has been known to already has done a long-needed ser­ students of American jurisprudence vice. It was at first the exper­ -- by reputation. They all knew of ience of workers in the field to en­ it and something of what it con­ counter hostility on the part of tained, but no one had ever seen the custodians of these county records. document itself. The story of the The records were sometimes in dis­ bill and what it stood for is too array and their keepers preferred long for rehearsal here. The nub of not to have their condition bared it is that the early settlers of until there was time to put them in East Jersey took themselves to be order. Their resentment was the beautifully stung in their ~i tles to more understandable because the dis­ land. Three times they bought and order was not their fault. The rec­ paid for it from three di fferent ords had come to them from prede­ sets of claimants, beginn~ ng with cessors who themselves had probably the Indians . Whan a fourth charge inherited a chaos probably dating r :-t;n' f)r qt., t-re•.ts, t .b-·: ricked, f' rom Colonial beginnings. In time .,aey .c.uv. c.oti t~ .~ne.r rio :;c1 •, < • sued. i.n.ase officers saw in the Survey 'lhe case ·wa.., in cour . , or a fui l workers a help and not a nuisance. February I9J7

Here were workers only eager to put mass of garnered material, and this their papers in shape, when other­ ha.s proceeded to a point where half wise neither money nor time might a dozen counties begin to be ready have been available for the job. The for reference to Dr. Luther Evans, records are not merely described for Federal Director of the Survey in the student's or historian's behoof, Washington. they now, generally, are sorted so To single out individuals from he c1-1.n find them. the 145 members of the staff would Now a pa.rt of one county's rec­ be invidious, when all deserve verb­ ords -- Mercer -- ha.s been printed al orchids for a job that had to be in prunphlet form for the guidance of as thorough as it was speedy. the persom1el in shaping the cover­ Orchids? Oh, yes, orchids. In a~e of the other counties. The in­ Rio you buy them at ten cents a ventory is fairly complete for all trainload. And there is the differ­ 21 counties. Henceforth the task is ence. Archives are worth much more, one of collating and editing the especially at their source.

MR. PETRIE

Rudolph E. Kornmann

Mr. Petrie, upside down miz;ht be a savant or a clown, but standing on his proper legs, he's comprehensible as eggs.

He is the creature elegant, a futile thing, whose whole intent is frantically to keep alive and, hftving started, to arrive.

His customs vary, but his plan is quite u-til-it-arian; equipt wi t':1 mouth to love and eat he kee11s the god-like shape complete.

These supplemented by a mind compose the form of human kind, which, though its flesh soon decomposes is fond of war, and wine, and l 4 oses.

43 Old Age Colony

Cumberland County Provides For Its Aged

WILLIAM WESCOTT

e were driving southward along Millville, Cumberland County, was W the State Highway which runs and still is, in a sense, a con­ from Millville to Cape May when the struction job, it is regarded by the sleek-haired driver of the two-bit people of the District more in the cab stated laconically, "Well, here light of a splendid experiment of a 1 tis, Mister." He then turned sharp­ special humane nature and of far­ ly to the right and down a winding reaching sociological significance. road. The objective in this case was a In the rear of the car was anoth­ safe, snug anchorage for life for a er passenger, an .old man whom we had number of aged, indigent, spirit­ casually picked up in front of a crushed people, who for some time lunch wagon, because to our mind he had been existing on an average of represented a "typical case." Beyond $16 per month, given them by the his monosyllabic acceptance of our county. invitation to visit the place where This colony, which may be the shortly he was to make his home, he forerunner of hundreds of similar had not as yet spoken a word. The settlements, was the brain-child of old fellow was about seventy years Mrs. Effie Morrison, deputy director of age, bronzed and seamed of face, of the Cumberland County Welfare sturdy of body, gnarled of hand, and Boa.rd. For some years Mrs. Morrison answered to the name of "Cappy." had been struggling with the almost After a few minutes of driving we impossible job of securing coDfort­ found ourselves at the edge of a able housing condi tions for old age vast clearing in the forest. In the pensioners of Millville. These aged center was a cluster of nEnvly built, people, unable to secure profitable newly painted houses. The little employment, were obliged to fall village, we estimated, covered about back upon the provision of the State fourteen acres. law giving them a small monthly pen­ As we walked around the colony sion. Cappy became quite informative. We The Welfare Board deputy direc­ learned a lot from him and we were tor 1 s most difficult problem had indebted to him for much information been to find means to enable them to about a WPA project, the very nature pay rent anrl at the same tirre have of which is an ama~ing anoma.ly in enough money left for the purchase South Jersey, the heretofore impreg­ of food, to say nothing of securing nable strongholc of reactionaryism. fuel and clotting. She learned that We talked to Cappy quite some time the city owned 100 acres of idle as, with an air of ownership, he land on the west side of the State showed us around Roosevelt Park. Highway between Millville and Cape Although the Old Age Colony Pro­ May, about one mile from Millville. ject,located in the hear•, 1 f a. small It occurred to her that the city forest of pines one mi . ~ south of might utilize a part of that tract

44 February I9J7

upon which to bui ld small but com­ dinette and bath . Each house will fortable homes for the pensioners. have a front and rear porch. All Mrs. Morrison sought and obtained will be heated with stoves. an interview with the members of the . Houses for couples will rent for City Commission, who were deeply im­ $7 a month and those for single pressed with the possible efficacy persons for about $5 a month. Each of the plan. But Mill ville, they dwelling is equipped with gas ran­ said, like a good many other munici­ ges,is lighted with electricity, has palities, was facing difficulties, city water and seYrer connections. and they could see no way in which The small rentals, city officials to provide funds for such a venture. declare, will cover the carrying It then occurred to Mrs. Morrison charges, and the half-acre of fer­ that they might secure Federal aid tile soil allotted to each house through the Works Progress Adminis­ should make the Colony self-support­ tration. The Cornnissioners immedi­ ing. It is quite possible to raise ately contacted District Director more than enough garden truck on a George R. Swinton at Atlantic City half-acre of soil in this vicinity and arranged for a conference. Swin­ to keep a family throughout the ton listened carefully to all de­ winter, experts say. tails of the proposition. He was Cumberland County nurserymen have impressed with its object, expressed volunteered to furnish several va­ his opinion that it was a most rieties of fruit trees and plants. worthy one, and explained how a pro­ Not to be outdone, the Cumberland ject might be prepared with detailed County Poultrymen's Association has plans and cost estimates, to be sub­ pledged to give ten chickens to each mitted to t he District Office. Colony resident desiri ng them. Fron t hen on lit tle time was lost Each house will be named for a in get ting the project under way. flower, and in front of each garden The plans were approved and forward­ this particular flower will predomi­ ed to the State headquarters in nate. The Colony grounds are beau­ Newark and subsequently checked and tifully parked. Fountains, flower approved in Washington, where Presi­ beds and shrubbery are now being dent Roosevelt set upon them his laid out accordin& to plan. seal of approval on November 14, The Colony forrr.s a large square, 1935. The Federal Government allot­ in the center of which is located ted $24,809 for the plan. the Community House. This building The City at once set off a large contains a large asserr~ly room, a section of its tract and twenty WPA small game room, and another room laborers were put to work to make where refreshments may be served ready for construction. Materials when the old folks gather for their were hauled in, a well sunk which festive occasions. Living quarters produced an unlimited supply of pure are also provided for the caretakers water, and then eleven carpenters, of the building. one bricklayer, two painters, two Because it is the first colony of plumbers, one electrician, two truck its kind in this country,and because drivers, a timekeeper, foreman, and it has been developed with the aid supervisor set to work to builc a of Federal funds through the Works little community. Progress Administration, Mill ville There are now fourteen buildings Commissioners have named it "Roose­ in all the Colony. Seven of them velt Park." This is the second of will be for couples and six for its name in the State,since there is single persons. Those for the former also a Roosevelt Park at Metuchen. contain a living room, bedroom, din­ On the short trip back to Mill­ ing room, kitchen and bath. Dwell­ ville we dropped Cappy off at the ings for single persons will contain lunch wagon, and the driver turned a living room, bedroom, kitchen, in the direction of the bus station.

45 Highlight

Cappy's garrulity had turned off from the floor with that big ham of quickly as soon as we had left the his and there was Ozzie sittin' on scene where, at the age of seventy, the floor with a funny expression on he obviously intended to carve a his face. Cappy finished his beer future for himself. an' walked to the door. He turned "Tell us about Cappy," we said to around an' says, 'I paid taxes in the driver. this here county for ten years. I '~ell, the old geezer used to be don't think that lout ever paid any. well off. Was a sea captain over in But mebbe he's right. 1 He walks out Salem. Retired and come here to an' never comes back a.gain an' he farm. Lost it n'everything else seems to change after that. Sorta 1bout six years a.go. Couldn't land slunk around. Kept to himself an' a job. Finally had to go on the all that. Then about a year ago county. Before that he used to be this Old Age Colony thing started. pretty sociable. Used to come in Cappy took a big interest in it, an' the old bar at the old Richards walked out every day to watch the Hotel and set 1 em up regular. After men work. He was pretty sore when he went on the county he'd come to they wouldn't let him help. Anyway the bar same as usual and sit around as soon as the thing started Cappy readin' the papers. He didn't bum became ~ore like his old self,though no drinks, but he'd take one if one you couldn't get him to open up on of his old frie11ds would force him anything except this here project." to it. Well one night our football The driver drew up to the bus team here was celebrating at the station. We paid him and went in to Richards bar. Cappy was standin' at wait. for the next bus to Atlantic . the end of the bar with a friend City. We suddenly discovered that havin' a glass of needled beer. we were thrilled. And that seemed Well, they wasn't enough room for funny because we like to pride our­ the whole team and Cappy too. So selves on not being moved emotion­ Ozzie Karpis, our big tackle who ally about anything. It wasn't the wor~s at the mills here and was al­ blow that Cappy delivered in the old ready feelin' too good, tries to regulation quarter-deck style that shove in between Cappy an' his thrilled us. Finally, we found out friend. Cappy wouldn't budge, so that we were thrilled because for Ozzie pushed him pretty hard an' the past year Cappy had been ma.king says, •Get outa here you lousy coun­ a comeback. They were taking Cappy ty bumJ 1 Well, Mister, it happened off the shelf of uselessness and mighty fast. Old Cappy let go one giving him another chance.

Half-acre and house for every resident of Millville's Old Age Colony Tour 4

Excerpt From a Tour in the New Jersey State Guide Being Prepared by the Federal Writers' Project

JOHN NORMAN

Photos by Rubel

(Suffern, N. y.) - Mahwah - Lambertville Delaware River - (New Hope, Pa.). US 202. . New York Line - Pennsylvania Line, 81.5 m. The road is paralleled at intervals in the northern section by the Delaware, Lackawanna &: Western RR •• and between Copper Hill and Rin­ goes by the Delaware Division of the Pennsylvania RR. Good paved highway, with stretches of four-lane concrete. Frequent service stations with usual accommodations. Numerous tourist c8lllps; hotels in towns.

orthern New Jersey, through which US 202 starts its southwesterly r8lllble N from the New York Line to Delaware River,is a region of heights and roll­ ing dips rising in sharp relief from the generally flat land of the State. South of Suffern with the green and purple-shadowed Ramapos behind, the high­ way penetrates a country that has the clean high look of the Berkshires. For miles around, the Ramapos rim a terrain of minor hills and ridges through which narrow rivers twist their way into the cups of small mountain lakes. Old farm lands from Mahwah to L8lllbertville slope up to the foothills, rising and falling with the rocky core of the country; only at intervals do they give way to industry's encroaclunent. This route cuts open a cross-section of 200 years of America. Here are decisive moments in American history, lost in time, but fixed in the place of their occurrence: the Colonies' first sizeable iron works, which helped turn the tide of the Revolution; concrete-buried Indian paths followed by the Continental Army under Washington; and ·~he house where Morse and Vail labored to bring forth the first magnetic telegraph. The New York State Line is 1.4 m. s. of Suffern, N. Y. A few yards s. of the State Line US 202 turns R. at the junction with a macadam road, the Frank­ lin Turnpike.

Left here, on the Franklin Turnpike, past the SUFFERN BOYS' CAMP ACADEMY (L) and the .AMERICAN·BRAKEBLOK PLANT (R), is the WINTER HOUSE, 0.7 m. (R), a two-story brown-shingled old Dutch dwelling believed by many local residents to be "the house with nobody in it" of which Joyce Kilmer wrote. If it is really the "tragic house, its shingles broken and black," repeal has peopled it and put it in repair; today it is a wayside restaurant and bar. This 150-year-old place by the Erie tracks is a fine example of gam­ brel-roof Dutch Colonial architecture.

47 Highlight

A right turn on the Franklin Turnpike at 0.9 m. leads into the business center of MAHWAH -- several stores, a post office and an Erie RR. station. Mahwah residents will assert with some emuse­ ment that there is no such place as Mahwah; it has neither fixed limits nor a known population. An unincorporated village, its name is Indian and is said to mean "beautiful."

JOYCE KILMER 'S WHITE COTTAGE sits on top a steep hill in Mahwah, at Airmount and Armour Rds. Flanked by birch and elm and sur­ rounded by a rocky garden, the house looks far down into the Rama­ po Valley. It is here, the local story runs, that Kilmer wrote Trees -- although other communities have also claimed the honor.

US 202 runs through an Erie RR. underpass and crosses the Ramapo River at 0.3 m. At 0.9 m. is the junction with State 2 (see Tour 16). US 2o2, known here as Old Valley Road, runs straight ahead. Shaded with maple and shot through with the pungent odor of pine, this 3-mile stretch of macadam cuts into a district untouched by industry for 200 years. Low, ramb­ ling white-painted brick houses built by Dutch landbreakers are today the homes of Wall Street brokers and gentlemen farmers, their estates still en­ closed by the winding stone fences with which the tidy Dutch marked their land's limits. CoDllil.erce itself is resented on Valley Road . The atmosphere of solitude is emphasized by the sharp rise of the Ramapos at the last upward roll of the fields. The residents' feeling for the quiet countryside is not always expressed in a forbidding insistence on privacy. The RJ.M.APO WATER GARDEN, 1.3 m. (R), for example, is marked by a large sign which gives the impression of a commercial establishment; but inquiry will reveal that its proprietor, a retired movie theatre owner from Brooklyn, has had the sign erected only to be hospitable, so that travelers will be encouraged to view his three fine lily ponds and tropical aquaria. This apple-shaded 20-acre estate is said to have been the site of the original Sheffield Hope milk farms 135 years ago. The JAMES CLINICAL LABORATORY, 1.7 m. (R), is the place where Dr. and Mrs. Robert F. James of Detroit do general clinical work in a small white brick building that looks almost as old as their house but happens to be practically new. The blue-shuttered house, constructed of stone and mud with trimmed sap­ lings for uprights and with a white clapboard exterior, dates in part to Col­ onial times. It is one of three dwellings in this neighborhood that have been identified at various times as the original Hopper House, where General Wash­ ington planned the attack on New York City. At 2 m. (R) is a two-story, dormer attic brick house, its old white paint curling along its walls. During the Washington Bicentennial celebration of 1932, when the New Jersey countryside was being ransacked for historic spots, this was declared by its present owner to be the original Hopper House. A marker was erected, but lasted only a couple of months. Henry o. Havemeyer, owner of the adjacent property,protested that a house on hi s estate was really the Hopper House. The ensuing dispute was settled when the New Jersey Histor­ ical Commission awarded the honor to the Havemeyer Buildi ng and placed its marker there. This HOPPER HOUSE stands at 2.5 m. (R), a three-story square brick dwelling back of which is a tremendous red barn once used as a carriage house. In an adjoining field is a small OBELISK, carrying no inscription but marking the spot where Washington is said to have hoisted a diminutive Hopper maiden to his saddle bow. At the ivy-covered CHURCH OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, 3.4 m. (L), the road drops sharply, passing the DARLINGTON PUBLIC SCHOOL, 3.6 m. (R). The red February · I9J7

Rockaway River at Boonton brick and limestone IMMACULATE CONCEPTION SEliINARY is atop the hill, well off the road (L). There a.re no village limits between Mahwah and Darlington. As one local postmaster puts it, "You can live where you please in Ho-Ho-Kus Township -- it don't matter where your house is. It all depends on which name you like bet­ ter, Darlington or Mahwah." North of Oakland there is a change in the character of the district; along with the old Dutch houses, their backs to the road, there is a sudden clump of "roadside rests" -- beer, hamburgers and service for tourists. These have been the object of considerable acrimony on the part of some wealthier new­ comers in Valley Road. The stand-keepers, however, find no ha.rm in making their living out of a country in which they have spent all their lives. Off the road (R) is a double-headed steel TOWER which rises from the wooded mountains. It is a private lookout belonging to Clifford F. MacEvoy, mayor of Oakland, and is lighted for aviators at night. At 8.2 m. Pond Brook with its mill site and lumber yard marks the s. end of the Valley Road region. OAYJ,AND, 8.6 m. (280 alt., 735 pop.), one of the oldest comm.unities in Ber­ gen County, is a cluster of frame buildings strung out s. of a New York, Sus­ quehanna and Western RR. station just over the bridge (R). The borough has been known successi vely as Yawpaw, The Ponds , Scrub Oaks , Bushvi l le and now Oakland. Its public edi f i ces number a s chool, a l ar ge f i re bell (L), a Ci vil War monument and flagpol e in the mi ddle of a public square (R ) , a one-story brick borough building at the far end of t own, and a br illiant red post office which shares occupancy of a two-story yel l ow frame buildi ng with a barber shop (L) • Hanging from a bracket in t he public square i s a SIGN which announces: "Oakland. Bergen County , N. J . Est ablished 1 869 . 11 The legend is topped by a po rtrait of one Chief Lapogh and the words, "Once There Was Indians All Over thi s Place." The sign was the donation of Robert T. Sheldon, a resident of Valley Road; Oakland people assert that the ungrammatical construction was in­ sisted upon by Mr. Sheldon, who, they recall~ said it was "a quotation from some author." The rivalry betVTeen old and new that was noted in Valley Road takes on a different form here. To the le~ of the main street is a chain grocery store; opposite it is a red porch general store which exhibits a large signs "Chain Store Prices -- Plus Delivery1" A SILK LABEL PLANT is the borough's sole industry. Its principal point of interest is the BOROUGH HALL,oonstructed by WPA as a replica of the old Church

49 Higbligbt

Twentieth century industrial blends with Dutch Colonial at Sheffield Farms of the Ponds. The site of the former church building is farther down the road by Oakle.nd Pond (R). The hall, a white Georgian edifice, is adjacent to the present brown-shingled DUTCH REF'ORMED CHURCH, whose congregation celebrated its 225th anniversary in November 1935. A forner pastor of the church, the Reverend Ilsley Boone, became the center of a local controversy some years back when he espoused nudism, of which he is today one of America's leading exponents.

Yfest of Oakland, beginning at ROTTEN POND, 1.5 m., and skirting the top of the Ra.ma.po Mountains, arti traces of the old CANNONBALL ROAD used by the Continental Army in transporting munitions from the Ringwood Iron Works (see Side Tour 9A). It is not accessible by car. This pre-Revolutionary road, swampy portions of which were laid vrith logs, corduroy fashion, served the Jackson Whites in their enforced flight from a society in which they coulc find no home. Few isolated racial groups have had so tragic a history as the Jackson Whites. A mixture of Hessian, English, West Indian, Dutch, Portuguese, Negro, Spanish, Italian and American Indian blood, their ancestry can be traced to the two boatloads of 3,500 women shanghaied by the British authorities during the Revolution for the pleasure of their New York troops. In the crossing from England, one boatload was lost; and Jackson.the contractor, filled in his order with a substitute conscription from the West Indies. When the British evacuated New York City the women were released. But the authorities would have none of them, and they were forced to leave the city. Ostracized wherever they went, half-starved, they struggled their way into the mountains of New Jersey. They were joined by another band of outcasts, Hessians stranded by the British government which had brought them to America to fight the Revolutionaries. Runaway slaves, outlaw whites and the Tuscarora Indians banished from North Carolina -- unwanted men of all races soon found the log road to the haven in the Ra.mapos. As late as 1925 the population was augmented by a group of Negroes imported from the south to act as strikebreakers, and ostracized by their fellow-men in New York and New Jersey. Many stories have been circulated concerning the alleged "savagery" of the Jackson Whites; none of them is true: Today many of the group, which num-

50 February I9J7

bers a.bout 150 families, work in nearby factories. The Jackson Whites have no cormnunity of their own. Their greatest concentra­ tion is at Conklintown (see Side Tour 9A), atop the mountain. Dark in color for the most part, there are a number of al'.)inos; some of these have been employed as freaks by the Barnum and Bailey Cir­ cus. The family names of the Jackson Whites echo some of America's well-known lines: De Groat, Wanamaker, De Fries, De Graw, Burris, Conklin, Van Dunk and Sisco. Descendants of two Castiglione bro­ thers are knovm as Casalony.

South of Oakland, followine; the Ramapo River, US 202 swings (R) through a district of bathing beaches (R), tourist camps and hot dog stands. At 10.9 m. is the junction with a concrete bridge over POMPTON LAKE into Pompton and the Borough of Pompton Lakes.

Ri$ht across the bridge and (R) on Perrin Ave., a macadam road, is BIER 1 3 TRAINING CAMP, 0.3 m., where top rank professional boxers prepare for their matches. The ca.mp makes Pompton Lakes a news­ paper dateline known by fight fans throu3hout the country. It is jammed in spring and summer with tourists, sport-lovers and angle­ men on hand to watch Louis, Carnera, Canzoneri or Bere; go throu6h their paces. Most of the Broadway visitors know the training-c:unp only for its outdoor ring fronting the lake, its gymnasium and its restaurant-bar. But the camp site has other historical associa­ tions than those of this year's greatest fighter of all time. The two-story white frame and brick house in which Dr. Bier and his fa.oily- live is the 200-year old SCHUYLER MANSION, where General Washington and his staff took the_ day off to attend the wedding of Peter Schuyler, Washington's aide.

Lakeside Avenue skirts the la.ke into the Borour;h of POMPTON LAKES, 2.8 m., (200 alt., 3,500 pop.). where a du Pont pla.nt manufactures electric blasting batteries and metallic caps-;- - -

The ESTATE OF ALBERT PAYSON TERHUNE, well-knovm writer and dog-fancier, stretches alonG both sides of US 202 at about 11.5 m. Terhune's house nestles in the steep lake front, almost hidden by towering shade trees (R). At 12 .1 m. is the junction with the Paterson-Hamburg Turnpike. US 202 turns (L) here. The COLFAX SCHUYLER HOUSE, 12.3 m. (R), has a warped and sagging roof, crumbled brick chimney and great sloping cellar that are testimony.of the building's age. It was built in 1697 by Arent Schuyler; his descendants have occupied the house ever since it was built. The oldest portion of the house extends as a right wing to the present main section. which is still in excel­ lent repair and is in use today. Six slim, white Ionic columns support the second story and its gar:lbrel roof. The entrance, up a broad porch, is marked by a cross-paneled "witch door" beyond which it was impossible for witches and e~~l spirits to penetrate. A sandstone marker fronting the mansion indicates 23 miles to Hoboken and Jersey City; the milestone. erected in 1805, is not accurate. The Colfax Bridge over the Ramapo River, 12.5 m. (R), was built in 1836 by the Morris Canal and Banking Co., in cooperation with General William Colfax. At 14 m. is the junction with State 23 (see Tour 9). Threeliundred broad acres stretching along both sides of the macadam road beginning at 14.1 YJl• are those of SHEFFIELD·_.FARMS. Sweet timothy and alfalfa. smells make up in bucolic atmosphere for the modern buildings where milk. is Highlight

The Colfax Schuyler House at Pompton Lakes, built in 1697 Photo by Halpern drawn from cows by machine and pumped across the road for bottling without be­ ing touched by human hands. The milk houses themselves are a 1 umlnous white, a cross between old Dutch mill buildin~s and the spare trim lines of twentieth century industrial architecture. (Uilking parlor is open to visitors). At 15.6 m. there is a maze of intersecting roads at a traffic circle where US 202 unites with State 23 in a four-lane concrete highway whose north­ and south-bound lanes are separated by an avenue of trees. At 16.8 m. is another traffic circle large enough to enclose several houses. MOUNTAIN VIEW, 17.1 m. (180 alt., 1,684 pop.), a residential and suunner­ resort conununity, appears to the traveler as four corners of brick and fra~e buildings marking a right turn along US 202. The DEY MANSION (open Tues., Wed., Fri., 12-5; Sat., Sun., 10-5; achn. 10 cents), a red brick structure of three stories on Totowa Road near the PASSAIC COUNTY GOLF CLUB, is the bor­ ough's most important historic house. Washington had headquarters here in 1780, and at one time 250 men and officers camped on the bare pine floor of its attic. Built in 1740 for Colonel Theunis Dey, it has been preserved as a Revolutionary museum by the Passaic County Park Commission (see Tour 9). Turning (R) on Greenwood Avenue, US 202 separates from State 23 at 17.2 m. It crosses a single-track Erie RR. line and a bridge over the narrow Pequan­ nock River onto the Boonton Turnpike (R). Lining the right bank of the river are the bungalows of sunnner visitors. Wood barricades separate the houses from the river's edge and at frequent intervals steps lead down into the water. HOJnes were deserted here in the spring of 1936 when floods swept down the Ramapo Mountains and inundated the valley. The river topped its banks, overran roads and highways and surged to the porches of the flimsy frame buildings. A weed-grown dit ch paralleling the road (R) is what r emains of the old MORRIS CANAL. A monument to the era of expansion, the canal was built in 1831 for the coal and iron-ore haul into Boonton and Dover. The Lackawanna and Erie RRs. long ago supplanted its service and the State Legislature withdrew its charter in 1920. Today it is a resting-place for windblown newspapers and the wax-paper sandwich wrappings of heedless tourists. Whe r e the road becomes two-lane concrete the canal ditch stops abruptly, reappearing soon on the left

52 February I9J7

side of the highway. This section of the road was built over the canal bed. A red brick schoolhouse (L) identifies the community of LINCOLN PARK. At 21.2 m. the highway meets a Lackawanna RR. overpass (R). US 202 divides to run on both sides of the tracks here; the right hand route offers the better road. On the left road the handsome old YffiITEH.ALL M. E. CHURCH rises in surpris­ ing contrast to the railroad cinder-bed al­ most at its foot. TOWACO, 21.6 m. (200 alt., 416 pop.), ap­ \ pears as a small suburban center in real-es­ I tate-devel opment stucco; its Lackawa...n.na RR. station, with its dull red roof and stucco walls, sets the architectural tone of the .'.) I:;) .. ' town. The community was once known as ~1hite­ ~ ~ ~ '( +\ hall. The land out of Towaco is a rising ~ ct <: plateau; high to the left the deep cuts of 1t~~ -. ~ ,~~;;,- -,Tl.1 /;;_f..;cw.__1.Jd sand quarries can be seen in the hills. -~~~):~7 MONTVILLE, 23.9 m. (350 alt., 900 pop.), is the seat of Montville Township of which Towaco is a part. A motorist can enter and leave Montville on one sharp right turn. It is a collection of brown and gray frame buildings in the middle of which, oddly enough, there is a three-story red brick apartment house. An old frame hotel operates only in sunnner. On Crooked Brook (R) are the remains of an old grist mill. The right bend out of Montville is a long climb to the top of a high plateau. Broad peach acres (L) give way quickly to indus­ try's smokestacks marking the entrance into Boonton. BOONTON, 25.2 m. (400 alt., 6,866 pop.), built high into the ledge that overlooks precipitous ROCKAWAY GORGE, has the alert look of a New England commercial center. Gray factory yards at the town's outskirts recede before the steep hill into the business dis­ trict; Main Street thrives. If cities can be placed in time, Boonton fits most perfectly into the bustling, driving years of the eighties. One of America's first iron works was established in Boonton, and for about 50 years in the middle of the nineteenth cen­ tury, when iron rails were demolishing the

West's frontiers, the town was one of the COMPILEO BY largest iron centers in the country. Today rF:lJl:RAI. WRlTER!'( J'IHMECT,W.P.A. its industries comprise two nationally known IRENE FUMLBRUE6GE, hosiery mills, gunpowder, dynamite and +or­ STATE OIR.ECTOR pedo plants, a radio factory, several ga1ment concerns and two bakelite plants. Bakelite One of the maps to be used was first manufactured and commercialized in in New Jersey State Guide Boonton. A local man, Richard W. Seabury,

53 Highlight

• The Town of Boonton, from the Rockaway River opened an old rubber works to manufacture the new phenol product after nwn­ erous large rubber companies had turned the idea down as unfeasible. Boonton's steep, winding streets seem to have been hewn hurriedly out of the rock to keep step with industry's swift progress. Main Street itself, rurming perpendicular to US 202 as it enters the city, winds up around the rim of the gorge's knife edge. From a LOG LOOKOUT next to the bank building (R) is a view over the precipice into the Rockaway cut; below, the twisting river sluices its way through the sharp rocks and on the far bank the Lackawanna tracks gleam in the sun. Sheer crags rise above ROCKAWAY FALLS (R). SHEEP HILL, just N.E. of town, has an elevation of 940 feet. Another sunnnit is knovm as THE TORN, from the Dutch word toren, or tower. Over to the left, be­ yond the gorge, is the blue face of PARSIPPANY RESERVOIR. Once it was the good, dry community of Old Boonton, busy with forges and iron works; in 1898 the town was flooded to provide a water supply for Jersey City. South of Boonton, the road crosses the Rockaway by a steel bridge and runs along the reservoir bank. The reservoir (L) is 2,150 feet long and has a max­ imum depth of 110 feet. A large island, often peopled with patient fishermen, pokes its head out of the still water; this is one of Old Boonton's promontor­ ies, rising to recall the days when men and women walked on land now soggy with a quarter century's inundation.

54 Remember?

a story

ALBERT BOYD

owering himself wearily into the didn't notice the time because the Larmchair at the table,John rest­ blast of music from the next apart­ ed for a moment.But he was afraid to ment brought fresh sweat to his rest for long; he needed it too bad­ forehead. Then the music died down. ly. He drew a deep breath,then ·took Nellie Thompson would be lying in the handkerchief from his breast bed playing the radio. If her head pocket and blotted his forehead. wasn't too bad she'd be up and Then he dried his left hand care­ dressing and out to the clubs in fully, studying the smears of blood half an hour. The music stopped and on the damp cloth. He replaced the he knew Nellie's head was very bad. handkerchief in his breast pocket, Looking around his own room, John pointing it with care. reflected that it was a pleasant John looked out the window. The place. A few prints broke the mono­ dimly lit disk in the tower of the tony of the orange walls. He liked Jefferson Market Court House, told its warm simplicity. He liked its him that it wa.s eleven-thirty. Draw­ small hearth on which a fire was ing another slow, deep breath, he laid. It had been his home for a opened the drawer of the table and long time, but he thought it best reached in with his right hand. He not to go into that too deeply. listened to an el train stopping at A muffled blast of laughter told the station. Then the train pulled him that the three law students who out. He looked in the mirror direct­ had the front apartment on the first ly across the room, by the door. floor were having a party.The laugh­ His face was pale,even in the shaded ter wasn't all masculine. They were light, making his hazel eyes dark. raucous, lively kids, given to hell­ His greying hair picked up dull re­ raising Saturday night and heavy flections. sleep all day Sunday, from dawn on. His body tensed with the closing He listened to a car pull up at of the street door. He listened to the curb below. He closed his eyes, the footsteps on the stairs. They listening intently. He had been entered the rear room on the floor listening for so long. He had been below. It was the fellow who played living by his ears, if you could the violin. Thank God there would be call it living. But the car drove no lessons tonight. The man was off and the street door had not been a fool to starve. He might love his opened. Perhaps it was the female violin, but he couldn't eat it. artist ( batiks and weaving ) who But then, he had loved Martha, lived in the basement. He wondered and what had it gotten him? what she'd think of the' red symphony John looked out at the clock on his handkerchief. Or it might again. It gave him untold satisfac­ have been anyone, though it hardly tion to look at the dim old face on mattered. His old habit of keep~ng the tower of the court house. He track or everyone in the ·, hous~.. re-

55 Highlight

fused to let him rest. Miss Dorothea Wade who had the first He mopped his forehead again, and floor rear. Dorothea. was a. short, looked around the room. It was home. slight, dark school teacher who held The bed was the studio couch against some cha.rm over Henry Harvey Arm­ the far wall. His mind began to strong, which John had never fath­ feel the flood of the warm orange of omed. John could more easily have the walls, and into this crept the reconciled Mr. Armstrong to Nellie sad voice of the violin. As if in Thompson, his inunedia.te neighbor. answer to this, the voice of a man But it seemed that the minute, dark and woman came from directly beneath Dorothea. had something for which the him. Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Curley. soul of Henry Harvey Armstrong cried The Curleys were of uncertain age out, after half a dozen scotches. and attainments. They were usually Armstrong, Jolul had discovered, very quiet, except when stirred to was a feature sports writer and got battle. The se arguments were, as around quite a. little. now, loud and short. At first John John closed his eyes tight, as had thought that their sudden term­ Dorothea's door closed her black ination was brought a.bout by a right sheep into the fold. But above the to Mrs . Curley' s jaw. But after he muted life of the old house, Nellie had seen the lady and gentleman, he Thompson's vocabulary asserted it­ gave them ea.ch an even break. self in favor of Henry Harvey Arm­ The Curleys, John was sure, were strong. John wondered if there was­ very fortunate people. More fortun­ n't just a touch of jealousy -- Not ate than himself, for instance. Mr. because the school teaching spinster Curley worked in a department store had looped in a fun-loving male, but and his wife worked in a restaurant. simply because II.II.Armstrong was on Generally their life was a.t lea.st the up-stroke, while Nellie herself quiet. But he couldn't understand lay in alcoholic doldrums. what had held them together for the Then the street dqor opened and five years he had known of them. steps ca.me up the stairs. Even on Perhaps it was simply that they the first flight, John knew it was loved ea.ch other. The monogamy of Tony. Many times in imagination, he the parties concerned set a. record had heard these halting steps corning for the house. up. Along the second floor hall, Again John looked at the tower the limp was more pronounced. Up the clock as the brawl beneath him crune next flight and they stopped outside to a sudden end. It was almost mid­ Nellie Thompson's room,then came on. night. Ile wondered what was keeping Knuckles rapped the door and John Tony. He'd expected him before this. sa.i d, 11 Come in. 11 He couldn't be wrong. If Tony had Pushing open the door, Tony stood told him that he'd drop in tonight, there looking at him, his face ex­ John couldn't have been more sure. pressionless. As if it was a manne­ Tony was never the kind to disap~ quin speaking, Tony said, "Anthony point one. Though they hadn't spoken McGuire to see Jolul Scott." to ea.ch other in six years, Jolul was "Sit down." sure Tony hadn't changed. Tony didn't take off his derby or They'd both nursed a machine gun coat. He didn't take his hands out overseas. · They'd both spent more of his pockets. He sat on the couch than half the war in the same hospi­ which was John's bed, saying, "It's tal. Ma.chine guns were very unheal­ getting co] (>' r. The rain is turning thy things to associate with. to snow. 11 The street door banged open and John smiled. "It usually snows the lower hall was filled with loud in the winter." profa.ni ty and a. h··sky male voice Tony nodded. "Remember the day calling for Dorothea. That would be of the big snow --" Henry Harvey Armstrong calling on John inte~rupted him: "I remem- February I937

ber. The gun clogged." were even in the same hospital to­ Tony looked at John for a. full gether. By the way, how's your leg?" minute, then around the room, slow­ "Vfet weather bothers it," said ly, taking in its details. "I often Tony. "But we have to go now." wondered what it would be like." Strains of a gypsy dance came up Then: "It's been a long time, John." from the apartment of the hungry John nodded slowly. "rt has. Per­ violinist. John listened for a mo­ haps too long." ment. He tried to follow the melan­ Smiling, Tony shook his head. choly melody, but he couldn't. Then "I 've come to take you with me. 11 he said, "we have a lot to talk Without moving, John said, "How a.bout." are you and Martha getting along "I'll be seeing more of you now," unless I'm too inquisitive?" said Tony. ''We '11 have plenty of "We 1 re not." chance to talk." "No?" John shook his head. "I don't "No," said Tony, "she's dead." think so." "oh --" "I 'm going to take you in. 11 "Yes, Martha's no longer with us, John shook his head. so I thoue;ht I'd look you up." "Take your hand out of that table A slight V deepened above John's drawer," said Tony. "I'm going to nose. "I've been expecting you." take you in, dead or a.live." Tony nodded. "Don't think it was "I don't think so," said John. unwillingness on TIY part." He closed his eyes for a fraction of "I'm not," said John. "Haven't a. second. Then he smiled. "Remem­ you some papers, or something?" ber the trouble we had with our "I don't need any papers." first gun? Remember we damned near A gust of noise and laughter crune got killed that time it jammed? up from the front apartment on the Well, they're making them better ground floor. Tony looked a.round, now. Look --" And the nose of a startled, then back to John, who machine gun slid out from under the smiled. "Three future lawyers, two scarf on the far side of the table. floors down. Saturday night party. Withbut moving, Tony looked into Take off your coat and make yourself the cold steel m•izzle of the gun. comfortable, Tony." "Pretty, eh?" said John. "It's "I'm not staying long,"said Tony. so easy to handle. And it operates 11V'fo have a date." from this drawer. I have my hand on "Did you come a.lone?" the trigger and almost any shock "Yes. Alone." would be enough to start the belt John nodded. "Was Martha sick for running through." He smiled. "You long?" know what happens then." "No. She was shot." Tony's face "I know," said Tony. "But I'm didn't change. His eyes didn't move. going to take you in." He spoke as if he was speaking of "Impossible," said John. someone he'd read a.bout in the news- Shaking his head,Tony said, "You­ papers. 've gotten a.way with plenty, John. "You must run a.cross a lot of For a long time you ha.d us fooled. such things." said John. But you were careless tonight. When "I had only one wife." you shot Martha., you pointed right "Yes," said John. "So did I." ·at yourself." Tony leaned forward about to get John smiled wearily. "You're not up. "Are you ready to go?" forgetting that she was my wife "No," said John. "\Ve haven't seen first?" each other to talk to for six years. "I've never forgotten that." We've a lot to catch up on. After But John, seeing Martha lying on a.11, we were in college together. the living room floor, was listening And we were in France together. We to the soft, sad moaning of the vio-

57 Highlight

lin from downstairs. No doubt the ttwell, the man had a gun in his fellow got some sort of pleasure out hand, but he let Martha finish. She of that dirge. was in good voice, I can tell you. "I opened the door and went in," Then he. shot her down. I yelled and he said slowly. "Their voices were he turned and plugged me. But I got so loud they didn't hear me. I got him. He's in the clothes closet. one look into the room. The man was It was a nice shot, if I do say so. giving Martha hell because she was You'll find him." giving him the air --" Tony took his hands out of his "what man?" Tony interrupted. coat pockets. Then he stood up. "I John raised his shoulders, then guess I'll talce a look," he said. lowered them slowly. He could hear John nodded. "Come back if you're Henry Harvey Armstrong singing at not satisfied." the top of his voice down in the "I feel cheated," said Tony. little school teacher's apartment on "So do I," said John. the first floor. "What difference He went out. John listened to does it make? Just like I found you him going downstairs. The closing present one evening six years ago -­ of the street door was lost in a Any man. That's the only way I can riot of laughter from the young law­ fie;ure it." yers. His forehead was covered with When John stopped to breath deep­ sweat. He tried to raise his hand ly, slowly,several times, Tony said, to his breast pocket, but he could­ "And?" n 1 t. His hand just wouldn't come "Martha was telling him off. She up. He had a hard time understand­ was all through with him; just like ing that. He pitched forward on the she'c been all through with me -­ table. The room was filled with the Remember?" roar of explosions and from the wall "I'm still listening." said Tony. above the couch, plaster rained.

CITY STREET Earl Lawson Sydnor

Is there no beauty in a city street, No rhythmic fantasy in rushing feet?

Is there no thrill in seeing pigeons fly Across a narrow patch of broken sky?

And when tall buildings cut the dawn in two, A jag~ed free verse poem trinuned in blue;

Is not that gasping breath of ecstasy As pleasant as to know who made a tree? Streamlining the Law

Paterson Alts to Codify and Renovate Its Ordinances f

LOU SAPPERSTEIN i ' imes change, and if the ordi­ Advoca.ted by the legal depa.rtment T nances of a big city still pro­ of Paterson as a. means of providing vide penalties for carelessness employment for lawyers, clerks and in hitching horses, filling water typists, and at the same time per­ trout;hs, and rai sine; whips to bugr;:y forming a necessary work, Project drivers in the rear, somethj_ng had No. J.t'HO had had under scrutiny every better be done about it. So, at any ordinance enacted since the incor­ rate, thought t~1e city of Paterson, poration of the city. At its height whieh is sponsor to WPA Project No. the project included thirty people 1010 "to codify all city ordinances under the direction of George Dia­ and to instRll a system of filing mond, secretary to the Paterson leg­ city records." al department, who is supervisor It's not so ha.rd to appreciate without salary of the codification the value of a new disposal plant, a project. smooth macadarn highway, or a much 'l'hus far one of . the outstanding achievements of the project workers (\ needed school building; but even t~e satisfaction of acquirint; these sub­ has been the discovery of many city stantial benefits throu~h WPA aid ordinances whose penalty clauses should not hide from anyone the are in direct conflict with the dollars and cents significance of provisions of the Home Rule Act. straightening out in ti11e exi.sting This is a discrepancy which has at discrepancies in the law. Otherwise, times cost Paterson dearly. the collective taxpayers of a com­ For example, just before the co­ munity might find themselves out e. dification project was launched, a nice piece of change if one of these hatter, found guilty of hawking his defective ordinances was questioned wares on the sidewalk, was fined in court. $250 as demanded in the city ordi­ In the past this has actually nance. The case was appealed to a been the experience of Paterson, higher court, and the first decision where the codification work has been was reversed on the ground that the in progress since April 1936. Since Home Rule Act does not permit the then numerous other cities of New police recorder to levy fines great­ Jersey and neighboring states have er than $200. set up their own codification pro­ In another case the owner of a jects, and to the historic efforts junk yard in Paterson . was subjected in this direction, which have im­ to a mandatory fine of $150 for mortalized the name of the Roman Em­ opera.ting without a license. This peror Justinian and the great Na­ decision was also invalidated when poleon, there now promises to be lawyers for the defendant proved added the codifying accomplishments that the fixed fine was ille~al un­ of the Works Progress Administra­ der the terms of the Home Rule Act, tion. and that the ordinance should have

59 Highlight J I allowed the r~corder discretionary ing fountains in the city, under powers in assessing his fine. If penalty of five dollars for each the recommendations of the project offence. In the case of every such are adopted, and all city ordinances obsolete ordinance, the codification brought up to date, there will be no project will recommend revocation. need for such reversals in the fu­ But perhaps the most valuable ture. portion of the project is the com­ The project has also been of pilation, according to topic, of the great value in another respect. Like thousands of ordinances ever enacted other lar~e cities, Paterson still by the various departments of the has on its books a considerable num­ Paterson city government. These have ber of obsolete ordinances, which in the past been filed merely in the could easily cause embarrassment if order of their passage, with no invoked. This situation has attrac­ effort being made to arrange them ted the attention of the WPA codi­ according to the subject they dealt fiers. with. Consequently, to discover the Thus, the lawyers of the project various amendments, and amendments have discovered one measure, enacted to amendments of any given ordinance in a more leisurely era than ours, today requires the reading of every which provides "that no vehicle hav­ measure which has ever been enacte«. ing pneumatic or rubber tires shall This is often a herculean task, and be run at a faster rate of speed will be eliminated by the new filing than as follows, namely: in the system,which indicates at a moment's crowded streets of this city, six notice all amendments and cancel­ miles an hour;in streets less crowd­ lations. ed, but within the fire limit, eight Still another result of the codi­ miles an hour; outside the fire fication work has been the dis­ limit, ten mile~ an hour." covery that different departments of Conjuring up the days when the the city have sometimes passed or­ congested streets of Paterson were dinances which were outside their wooded country inhabited by many authority. Moreover, many of these species of game, one city ordinance, ordinances were inconsistent with unearthed by the codifiers, still each other. This condition will also specifies "that no person shall at be eliminated. any time,within the corporate limits Finally, the WPA . codifiers are of the city of Paterson,catoh, kill, also at work on a compendium of trap, or expose for sale, or have in cases relating to local ordinances his or her possession after the game which have been adjudicated in the has been caught, killed, or trapped, Supreme Court and the Court of Er­ any night hawk, whippoorwill, spar­ rors and Appeals. This is a work of row, thrush, meadow lark, skylark, en9rmous value, when it is con­ finch, martin, swallow, woodpecker, sidered that the members of the city robin, oriole, red or cardinal bird, legal department often spend days oedar bird, tanager, cat bird, blue­ "running down" preced~nts which have bird, snow bird, or other insecti­ bearing on some present cases. This vorous bird." achievement of condensing data ordi­ Another old ordinance includes a narily found by reading a multitude section forbidding the removal of of books is something which even water from any of the public drink'- laymen can appreciate.

60 Pl• Now Being Presented by the F.ederal Theatre Projea of New Jersey

'Fhe ~lie. A1' Comiy The ~tr Watning The Paary Broken Dishes Night Cap The Barker Her~ The Widow It CM't Happen & .... Brother Moe« (-,II N en tll#) UWThatOtF Na Santartma ( 11/Jlilll)

~Seven

/;fllflf1•11t1 Pll;,ys V~lt Urnts 111 r,,,_.ltll Tlletlial mDoaot Beck