CHAPTER XIII.CARROUSELS.
Thecarrousel is a form of entertainment which has grown popular with a certain class of people within recent years. The term may be a little obscure to the uninitiated, but they will readily understand its meaning when it is explained that the carrousel is nothing more or less than the old-fashioned “merry-go-round” which we all easily remember as a feature of fairs, circuses and other out-door entertainments. There are at the present writing several carrousels in the city, but it would be quite useless to specify their location, because they change places so frequently that to do so would only be misleading. They are here today, there tomorrow; but there never need be any difficulty in finding them. An inquiry of the hotel clerks or any other well-posted person will secure the desiredinformation as to where the nearest carrousel is to be found.
Various newspapers have from time to time waged war upon the caroussel on the ground that it is prejudicial to the morals of young people who patronize it. This work does not assume to criticize, but to state facts. It is a fact that the carrousels are well patronized as a rule and that the young people who do the patronizing appear to extract no end of fun out of the whirligig process.
The caroussel or “merry-go-round” is generally situated in a flimsy building on some convenient vacant lot, rented for the purpose at a pinch, so to speak. The fiery wooden steeds that go whirling round and round in a circle, to the spirited music of a brass band or snorting orchestrion, bear on their backs sundry youths and maidens, with now and then an old boy or girl thrown in as a leaven to offset the general juvenility, who indulge in all manner of sportive remarks and jests as they go on their circular journey. It must not be supposed that the ride itself forms the chief part of the entertainment. By no means. A very little of that goes a long way. The principle part of the fun is derived from standing among the many rows of spectators and listening to the witticisms that are indulged in at the expense of the riders.These are often very pert, not to say cutting, and the lively repartee (not always very refined) that is exchanged between equestrians and spectators is always productive of infinite amusement to the chance visitor. A too pointed remark not infrequently leads to a spirited argument, which spirited argument not infrequently results in a row in which the friends of the participants are as likely as not to take part. In such an event that is the time when courtesy and all semblance of it abruptly ends and simple muscle then comes into play. This is good time for the outsider to withdraw to a safe distance, but though the combat is never very deadly—no shooting scrape, according to the writer’s recollection, ever having taken place in a carrousel—it is just as well to avoid the risk of a black eye or a bloody nose that may result from a chance whack from a too-enthusiastic pleasure-seeker who has become embroiled in the fray with or without his consent. The battle, inconsequential as it always is, invariably terminates before it is found necessary to call in the police.
The ground upon which certain of the great editors of the city have attacked the carrousel is that of the temptation to wrong-doing which it presents to the young. Certain it is that wherever a carrousel is located a largeclienteleof girls of tender age seems to follow in its wake. These girls are of the sort irreverently referred to by the very tough young men of the period as “chippie.” They do not seem to be burdened with a great supply of innocence, but it is beyond question that the surroundings of the carrousel lead them to indulge in such behavior as they would not be guilty of elsewhere. In this respect the caroussel has in a measure taken the place of the skating-rink. Roller-skating some years ago was a craze, and while the carrousel craze has never assumed the dimensions of that popular “fad” its associations are very similar. There is always a liberal supply of alcoholic beverages to which the patrons of the carrousel, male and female, have easy access. Indeed, in some cases, there is a saloon directly attached. From this fact it may be easily imagined that this is not the sort of place from which a girl of fifteen or thereabout can be expected to derive any lasting benefit—and any number of such girls will be found enjoying themselves at the various carrousel enclosures.
Whatever be its merits or demerits the carrousel constitutes one of the features, good, bad or indifferent, of a great city. As such it is mentioned here, and for no other reason whatsoever. It may interest you to go and take a look at one.