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Really Trememdous Sports
. . . Those days I often used to like to stay with my godmother. She kept boxes of jewels in the house and 1 always had some kind of diamond on. Through her I came to be considered the best dresser, and this caused me to get my invitation to be an honorary member of the Broadway Swells when i was still in short pants. The members figured I was a smart kid, so, in order to beat the other clubs, they decided to display a kid as an aide.
"What do you think about it, kid?" they said, "Do you think you could get a horse—that would cost you five dollars for the day? You*d have to have a streamer, too. But then you*d be an honorary member of the Broadway Swells."
I thought that was a swell idea and I personally accepted.
You see, New Orleans was very organization-minded. I have never seen such beautiful clubs as they had there—the Broadway Swells, the High Arts, the Orleans Aides, the Bulls and Bears, the Tramps, the Iroquois, the Allegroes—that was just a few of them, and those clubs would parade at least once a week. They'd have a great big band. The grand marshall would ride in front with his aides behind him, all with expensive sashes and streamers.
The members that could afford it would have a barrel of beer and plenty of sandwiches and a lot of whiskey and gin waiting at their houses. And, wherever these supplies would be, the parade would stage a grand salute. The grand marshall would lead his boys up one side of the street and down the other while the band played on the front steps. Then the boys would go inside and get their drinks and have a hell of a time.
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