Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/459

 THE SALOON IN CHICAGO 445

which play upon their sentiment and constantly hold up before them the ideals after which they pattern. The character of the neighborhood determines to a certain extent the character of the amusement which, in turn, working upon the younger members of the community, re-creates in them a taste for itself, becoming thus self-perpetuating as to its character.

Of the amusement enterprises of this city the theaters take the lead, varying in their attractions from the cheap vaudeville to the high-class theaters and operas. On the west side, in the center of a large industrial district, are two large theaters, typical playhouses of the people. They present, at popular prices, two distinct classes of amusement the the continuous vaude- ville, the - the melodrama.

In the vaudeville bill the numbers are usually interesting, the acrobatic feats such as would thrill the heart of any boy and form the basis of his conversation for weeks. Usually trained animals excite the admiration of the audience, while the magi- cian and the comic man each in turn receives the approval of the applauding hundreds. The jokes may be flat, but they never fail to provoke laughter. The masters of the cake-walk, with their gay and fantastic costumes, are ever in demand. Occasional plays of one or two short acts are a feature of the daily program. This vaudeville is clean and rarely suggestive of evil. With the exception of the upper gallery, the theater is well and comfortably seated, seats ranging in prices from 10 to 30 cents. An average of 4,000 attend this place of amusement daily (2,000 women, 1,500 men, and 500 children). Groups of girls and young women, a comparatively small number of couples, mothers with their children gathered about them, make up the audience characteristic of the matinee. More men and couples attend in the evening. Some of these girls look forward for weeks and plan with an anticipation that has a touch of pathos in it for the afternoon at the theater. They are almost the only bright spots in the lives of these girls, who, all too young, become women grown and, totally unprepared, enter the more serious relations of wife and mother. In the Chicago street boy's vernacular these matinees are "just s-s-swell," the most