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Maryland State Archives Jeffersonian, Towson, Maryland mdsa_sc3410_1_81-1020 Enlarge and print image (6M) |
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Maryland State Archives Jeffersonian, Towson, Maryland mdsa_sc3410_1_81-1020 Enlarge and print image (6M) |
| ii* flufcKrftefr Oisti/^fe 9mmp t v/efUi Mah Jong! Mah Jong! Dreay Weary, Mah Jong! One night this week friends invited my wife and myself to their home to indulge in Mah Jong, and by the way, it's the game that an Albany, N. Y. man invented, claiming he found the recipe among some old Chinese books, but like the famous Mormon plates, which also originated; from New York State, the origin ri/A, is doubtful. Somebody has been bold enough to say that Confus-ius was the first living being to play it; however, notwithstanding its popularity today, residents of New York and San Francisco's Chinatown never heard of it until the novelty shops and department stores began to play it up. Of course, the invitation to the Mah Jong party was accepted—i we were tactfully told that special dress was required—not evening dress, but costumes appropriate to the occasion. My wife has a yellow. kimona with huge blue flowers, hence I thought she might wear this. As for myself, I had just bought a pair of pink pajamas and agreed that they would be just the thing with a PLUMBING HAVEN & BAYNE 17 W. Pennsylvania Avenue TOWSON, MD. Phone, Towson 357 Get Our Price on Sewerage Connections UNIQUE IN ITS CLASSIC BEAUTY Druid ft4ge£emefer/ Provides for its patrons' service and equipment of particular excellence. Property-is patrolled day and night by duly authorized officers. Superintendent's Office and car stop Reisterstown Road Entrance. Pikesville. Phones, 159—201. Executive Office, 21 W. Saratoga Street, Baltimore, Phone, Plaza 1500. few dragons and pagodas painted on them, but after all we were compelled to hire two outfits, and when all dolled up, the wife in a plum colored rig with gold dragons and flowers, and me in a blue costume with sword attached, we were both gorgeous and ridiculous to behold. When we closed the front door behind us we looked as though we had just stepped from the colored comic section of The Jeffersonian. After two or three minor mishaps we arrived at our friend's home. These difficulties were due to the outlandish shoes I was wearing and the giant sword I was unaccustomed to, which persisted in becoming tangled with the legs of my trousers, once throwing me violently to the ground. Our host and hostess received us in a.manner that cannot be described. During the jaunt I busted off two buttons and loosened the safety-pin my wife has fastened me together with, and for the rest of the evening I endured far more than words can tell, feeling as if I were falling apart in one place and tightening up in another, and when I endeavored to hitch myself together was jabbed with that infernal pin, adding more misery to life for the time being. Some of our fellow sufferers were attired in hideous costumes, really they made us look like sixteen karat gold and then some. One poor chap had extreme difficulty in keeping his pants up, while some of the women—well, perhaps it's better unsaid—were marvelous to behold. Never before in my existence did I realize there were so many combinations of colors and so many various attires. WORKINGMEN! f T The success that has attended our A venture is almost Town Talk, sfnd A daily we are becoming- better known A as we should be, and the hustling: A boy says "hedlo'* and means it, and * it's fare thee-well for "trousers." ?> We sell Pants $2 up. Look for 511 on the Biff Elsctric Sign on the south side of the street. Open until 10 o'clock Saturday. THE PANTS SHOP 511 W. Franklin Street Between Paca and Greene A NO BRANCH STORES. ? A fellow near me was dressed ^ntirely in yellow, and it was hard for me to understand whether he represented the yellow fever or not, but my curiosity was rewarded when he told me he represented the Yellow Sea and that his wife nearby was a '^sunset." yea, one look at her disclosed the fact that he was telling the truth, for it was a "sunset on the Yellow Sea." Fortunately, or unfortunately, my wife and I were the only ones who forgot to fix our faces. The ghastly yellow hue of some of the guests reminded me of the unclaimed in the morgue. Presently a hefty dame glided up, like a barge laden with coal, asking me what I represented. It was a mean question and I almost wished the earth had swallowed me. After we had all met and given each other the "up and down and the once over," we were asked to tell where we were from and what our names were. This came "like a thunder bolt out of a clear sky," but I eased next to my wife and told her we would be Mr. and Mrs. Wee Got Nuf, from—but just at this juncture that pin that was intended to keep my pants and shirt together gave me a vicious jab, and out I yelled "Dam yo," and the crowd thought it was great, for such a hub-dub you never heard before. There were some of the queerest names. One dowager, breaking ground for her second chin, sailed across the room under full canvas (purple silk), bearing the name of Fo Sweet, and the critter accompanying her, so tall that his green pants called to his feet across his ankles, said he was Me Too. There were any number of chips and mongs and pongs and Hi and Lo and Tee and other heathen combinations of perfectly good English letters. How to tell them was a question. In the room was a handsome chap, and for anyone to be handsome in a chop-suey outfit he must be the real article, and by golly this guy was. He waltzed over to the prettiest girl, and standing near, I could not help hearing him whisper: "Yo Fo Me," and she smiled, answering, "Me So." That was actually the best thing that had happened so far. After it was all over and most of us had wished there never had been any China, and the man in Albany had never been born, Yo Fo Me and Me Too stole away together—he took her home, not in a Chinese basket on two wheels, but in a six-cylinder char-riot that would have made a Mandarin crazy. In fact, I think these two were the only ones who were glad they came. Ye Gods! At last the game was started. Two little girls, dressed like sun flowers, came in with dwarf tables, made in the shape of a long triangle and painted on the top with different colored stripes. From what) could be learned the triangle represented the old days in China and the stripes the new Regime. As far as I was concerned this was all right, but when you are seated at these triangles, the fourth person, who happens to be opposite the sharpest angle, CONSULT BLACK & COMPAN Certified Public Accountants 90S GARRETT BLDG BALTIMORE. MD. Corporation and Individual Income Tax Reports Compile every time he leans over a sudden sinkingN comes in his middle regions. I think I was at one of these points most of the evening. I felt it, and sometimes when it jabbed me in the appendix that safety pin got in its work, and I felt like a man swallowing a sword that got stuck and punched in two places at once. When the tables were placed the guests were coupled off, according to a scale of colors. A man in blue had to take a woman in yellow and a woman in pink a man in green. They said that1 was the way Confusius planted his flowers to make color combi-nataions, but it made no difference with Yu Fo Mje and Me So—they started together as partners and ended the evening as such, even if she did wear black and he crimson. But what's the use of trying to stop water from running down hill? When we were all seated at the tables we had to wait until one of the "little Chinese maidens struck a gong, and at that we tumbled on the tables a quantity of colored domino blocks, painted with thej queerest hieroglyphics and figures. One had a purple cow, another a green dragon and another a red pagoda. When I saw one block turn up with a bird's nest and another with an ancient looking egg I suddenly remembered the .meal of bird's nest soup and Fong Yong Dong I devoured in a Chinese restaurant, and immediately I became nauseated. Just then that! pin gave me a terrific jab, telling me the rear was well guarded. This pile of fancy blocks lay on the table, each person selecting one fourth, and soon we had a tower built. The gong struck again and we all got up and started to march around the room, single file, singing "Mali Jong, Mah Jong, that's the Jong for me." I haven't found out yet why we did this, but I do know that my sword got tangled in the dowager's big, flowing sleeve and swung back, striking me on the shin. I felt like the proud father when he shows off before his friends, trying to put the nipple on a bottle while the baby is yelling like a steam piano. Once more the gong sounded and we dived for the nearest table. You should have seen the dowager maneuvre to keep away from the point, of the triangle, with the result that she succeeded, it again falling to me. We each took twelve blocks; the Remaining ones were equally divid- ed, each hiding his share in his sleeve. The game seemed to be to get the purple cow into the red pagoda before the green dragon coud eat her up. I never saw such a stubborn cow, especially when she knew she was in danger, and I never knew any dragon could hold so many purple cows. Everytime the dragon swallowed a cow, if it was your cow you had to jump up and run around the room crying "Woe," for it made you lose a point. If you succeeded in getting your purple cow safely lodged in the red pagoda you ran in an oppo- No More Dreary, Weary Wash Days We Serve You Right Regal Laundry MAIN OFFICE. QILMfi ano MOSHER STS. BALTIMORE SUBURBAN DELIVERY site direction crying "No." That counts one in your favor. By the time the game got in full swing, and six or eight were running around in all direction (Continued on Page 6) HOPWOOD'S EXPRESS 306 S. Paca Street Baltimon Phones Cahert 0119-0988 Telephone CAlvert 4416 Night and Holidays, WOlfe-5734-J GEO. W. LAYFIELD, Jr. Awnings Tents Wagon Covers Anything Made of Canvas Estimates Submitted 208-210 E. 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