Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/312

 298 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

Grateful is he to the saloon that was his "friend in need ;" bitter toward those who, without offering anything better, propose to take from him the only institution that has befriended him.

Scattered throughout the city, within easy reach of any neighborhood, are saloons offering a form of entertainment to the people not unlike the cheap vaudeville. Passing back of the screen, we enter a large room filled with tables and chairs ; at the end of the room is a stage. While men and women sit around these tables, drinking beer and smoking, the painted, bawdy girls entertain them with the latest popular songs and the skirt dance. The regular vaudeville bill, including the comic man, acrobatic feats, cake-walks, etc., is presented. The char- acter of the entertainment is but a reflection of the character of the neighborhood. In some communities no obscene word is uttered, and but little that is suggestive of evil is presented. It affords an opportunity for the hard-worked men and women to escape from their stuffy homes and thoughts of poverty into a clean, well-lighted room, where with their families they can enjoy an evening of pleasure. To see the hardened, careworn expressions on their faces gradually relax and melt away into expressions of simple enjoyment, as they laugh heartily at the jokes, might at first arouse one's sense of humor, but it would soon impress one deeply with the pathos of it all : with the thought that this little entertainment, cheap and vulgar as it is, seems to satisfy their longing for amusement. Patriotic songs are never missing, and I have heard them join heartily in the chorus. Cheer after cheer greets the names of our heroes, as they appear in the songs of the girls. The sense of the masses on the Cuban war policy could easily be determined by their applause and hisses at the saloon vaudevilles. These people have a sense of honor peculiar to themselves, and a careful observation of that which most frequently elicits their applause shows that an appeal to their sense of honor is sure to be well

received. In 's vaudeville saloon it is estimated that

3,000 pass in and out between the hours of 8 P. M. and 6 A. M. Saturday nights. As has been stated, the character of these saloons varies with the neighborhood, and vulgar songs are