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Show "" f3 U f t - .Mk. - ''Mrwm ''M-,syi4 ill ivS'r - x ' MBfill fW , ;' - ; St - 1 1 1 ' I " 1 J The Comedy Theater in Budapest, which, despite the war, has had the most prosperous. season in its J history. The home of many of the most tuneful operettas which America has borrowed, it representslto the If melody-mad Magyar the soul of the famous Hungarian dance music. ill! DUT&JCfQ the KjLu&TGi As war takes its daily toll of thousands thou-sands and the black mourning on the doors of the houses spreads V. slowly but surely over tho town like 3 a hideous tide the psychology of the i j cities becomes more and more ap- j nr parent. H Each capital of Europe has its in- ,t- dividual, unique method of bolster- 4 ', ing up its courage. ... fr" f London hangs doggedly and grim- V & - y s mo "Business as usual." ffl?')"'' Paris prostrates itself, deep in m? grief, in a prolonged heroic spasm fe. of self-denial and emotional but con-W' con-W' talned patriotism. Sp? Berlin is silent, solemn, sober in &k the transports of religious devotion. f Petrograd, calm, practical, is cur tailing its wastrel tendencies. Vienna Is chastened and quiet. Budapest sings on, covering its i. hoartaches with laughter, music and 7 melody. 12 v London, Paris, Petrograd and $m. Vienna are dark and pure; John . Barleycorn has stolen away from W them. But in the gay city of the tfe ' r 4 Magyars that stands arched across 3i - the beautiful blue Danube those v three graces of Bacchus, Wine, Wo- $: men and Song, revel more wantonly than ever they did in the days of peaceful abandon. j ' The Magyar-Hun steels his emo- f tlonal heart with music and the light from woman's eyes. - Budapest, capital of the Hunga- m' rlans, is not saddened by the death W( of its thousands at least not visl- f( bly. Underneath the laughter and - careless unrestraint of the throngs & . ' that drink, dance, love and revel in & the cafes there are heartaches and sighs, for the Magyars and Huns are emotional, sensitive and passion- r, ate. Still they show nothing to the j: . visitor but lightness and indulgence, & for that Is the Magyar's way, i k ' . It Is the psychology of these pe- f cullar people, these strange folk of , " gypsyland half Oriental, half Oc- t ' cidental. In them is the mysticism ' and fatalism of the East as well as ft '$? the energy and the nervous stJm- ff'-. ulae of the West They are half and $V ' hat. having tho charm of .the one yr - and the force of tho other. f4r'? " Tho psychology of London is to it ' accept the war without emotion, ty? without excitement and with dark- 0 " ' ncss as a precaution. London re- Jfc' fuses to let tho war disturb It too ' much. It will not surrender its ';'y calm, practical "Business as usual" Tv Paris, quick, keen, ever ready to VJ7, ,, laugh or to sob, Is in a permanent Hi intoxication of horoic self-denial. Everything iB sacrificed for the defenders de-fenders of the nation. Once the gayest gay-est and wickedest city in the world, the center of "the life," It has neglected neg-lected either to sow or to reap its perennial crop of wild oats in Its intense in-tense patriotism. Before the war it was brilliant, sometimes on the crest of delight, sometimes in the slough of despond, but always exciting, always al-ways dramatic, always romantic. The night life of Paris is dead, buried for tho duration of the war and longer, no doubt Its municipal drink, absinthe, is forbidden. Berlin has undergone a tremendous tremend-ous purification of civic conscience. It has a new religious atmosphere. It is sober, fearfully in earnest about this thing "victory." Its alcoholic privileges are slowly being restricted. restrict-ed. The half-word is closed. Morality Moral-ity has become a battle cry in the mouths of those who stake everything every-thing on German efficiency, those who depend absolutely for viotory upon the elimination of all unprofitable unprofit-able things. Petrograd has curtailed the activities ac-tivities of the district where the yellow yel-low police cards lio in the purses of of tho women. Gradually the Russian Rus-sian capital is becoming systematized. systema-tized. Vodka, the national artery of drunkenness, has been cut In two. The army must be sober. The Slav admits that "the rounders" are out of place in these days of strife. But Budapest glveB carte blanche to its demimondaines. Its psychology psychol-ogy is that soldiers noed relaxation when they return from the front They have none of the thrift which leads French and German authorities authori-ties to withhold dangerous temptation tempta-tion from their men. They have too much love of seriousness in thelF blood to ever think of conserving their national health. The gypsy strain in their ancestry makes them disregard life itself, since those nomads have always been surrendered to the motto, "A short llfo and a merry one." Consequently, Budapest has bc-como bc-como the wickedest city in Europe, tho gayest city on the continent and tho maddest city in the world. Bohold it Budapest with the lid off; Budapest, tho only wide open town in Europe! All morning the city has slept - Now at 5 o'clock In tho evening, when the lights are coming on, tho people come forth the revelry begins. No moro beautiful city is there in the -world than Budapest Its buildings are artistic triumphs. Its men are dark, handsome, well built Adonises. i Its women, with their devilishly slanted eyes and their olive skins, I f II j ijiji toning down their red hue of virility, l have been celebrated in comic op- era wherever music is sung. ifi The cafes are decorated and H ablaze with lights. Officers sit at a- j Sji bles, each with his sweetheart, his ll cigarettes and his wine. The cos- tumes of the demimondaines are bl- j zarre, but all are ultra decollette, aQ ill H daring in cut, gauzelike in their clothing functions. , J if Tho profusion of flowers on the j Uj tables (since tho gardens of Buda- i j pest are world-famous) is reflective j jim of the exotic, colorful spirit of the ' night Turks in the red fezes of ( an! their cult sit down amidst the throng, M more at home by far than in any ( j other city west of Constantinople, i m for there is something haremlike in J M Budapest Tho Hungarian has the l Turk's passionate love of sensual jj pleasure, his prostration before lux- ! j IU ury, his untempered animal spirits. , M To his credit he has for all his unre- I Ml straint moro intellectual control han ' M the Mohammedan. B No, you will see no drunkenness m in Budapest tonight Somehow, Buda- fl pest knows when to quit You will fl see, 'however, love everywhere see j jj-a the officers suddenly cut their gay laughter short with a quick, fierce $ kiss; see so much amorousness tbat i IjH your thoroughly occidental temper f (ML will be shocked. ' U You have seen enough of this hot n u emotion to convince you that the J hurrying reporters ' who dashed ' jf through tho city were right when M they called It the wickedest city of ' Europe. , fl t- IJJjj (Copyright, 1915.) - |