reg'lar
citizens in it at that. There was more blue stars in evidence than you'd
find on any three brownstone front blocks down on Madison or up in the
Seventies. One flag had four, and none of 'em stood for butlers or
chauffeurs. Course, some was only faded cotton, a few nothing but
colored paper, but every star stood for a soldier, and I'll bet there
wasn't a bomb-proofer in the lot.

Whether you could get these people together on any kind of a celebration
or not was another question. We begins with Mike's place, on the corner.

"Sure!" says Mike. "Let's have a party. I'll ante twenty-five. And, say,
I got a cousin in the Knights of Columbus who'll give you some tips on
how to manage the thing."

The little old Frenchy in the Parisian hand laundry gave us a boost,
too. Even J. Streblitz, high-class tailoring for ladies and gents,
chipped in a ten and told us about his boy Herman, who'd been made a
corporal and was at Chateau Thierry. Inside of three hours we'd made a
sketchy canvas of the whole block, got half a dozen of the men to go on
the committee, had over $100 subscribed, and the thing was under way.

"I just knew you could do it," says Vee, when I tells her about the
start that's been made.

"Me!" says I. "Why it was mostly Miss Casey. About all I did was tag
along and watch her work up the enthusiasm. She's some breeze, she is.
When I left her she was plannin' on two bands and free ice cream for
everyone who came."

As a matter of fact, that's about all I had to do with it, after the
first push. Miss Casey must have had a busy week, but she don't lay down
once on her reg'lar work nor beg for any time off. All she asks is if
Vee and me couldn't be persuaded to be on hand Wednesday night as guests
of honor.

"We wouldn't miss it for anything," says I.

Well, we didn't. I'd heard more or less about these block parties, but
I'd never been to one. Course, I wasn't sure just how Vee would take it
gettin' mixed up in a mob like that, but I was bankin' on her being a
good sport. Besides, she was wild to go and see how Miss Casey had made
out.

And say, when we swings in off Ninth Avenue and I gets my first glimpse
of what had been done to that scrubby, messy lookin' block, it got a
gasp out of me. First off there was strings of Japanese lanterns with
electric lights in 'em stretched across the street from the front of
every flat buildin' to the one opposite. Also every doorway and window
was draped and de