Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/460

 446 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

used and misused word in his vocabulary. Sundays the boys

"camp out" at the, taking .their lunch with them and

remaining until it closes at night.

The presents an entertainment of a different class to

an audience of about the same character and size and at the same price. It is the most widely advertised theater in the city. The following is a quotation from its announcements of a play : "This new play is built on a conflict between the mountaineers of that locality and the revenue officers engaged in hunting them down. The atmosphere of the blue-top mountains has been preserved to a remarkable degree, the breath of the strange woods is in it. It pulsates with the vitality of vigorous moun- tain life ; its swift action is impulsive ; its recital of manly, honest, abiding love excites no blushes, but it warms the cockles of the heart, because such love as this makes the whole world kin. They love, and are merry ; they suffer and never flinch ; they are gentle as they are strong ; they are pure as they are kind ; their acts are governed by deep feeling rather than by calculating reason." Throughout the play, which is one of intense excitement, the people lean forward in their seats, their faces reflecting the emotion portrayed. The tension is occa- sionally relieved by the "comic man," who elicits hearty laugh- ter, the reaction from the prolonged strain. When it is all over,, the inevitable impression must be against the civil law, and that there is a higher law one, however, which is oft misinterpreted. Excitement and enthusiasm are stimulated. A drama less excit- ing would fail to bring out any response from the people, whose playground was the street, where the rattling fire-engines, borne down the street by dashing horses, the gathering crowd, the shouts, the barking dogs, the occasional street fight, the police ambulance, and the patrol form a part of their daily experience.

There is another on the west side, similar to the, the

, which, when this investigation was made, was reproducing

with the cinematograph the Jeffries-Fitzsimmons fight. We omit mention of the places of entertainment which are better known

to all newspaper readers. At two theaters, the and the

, boxing and wrestling matches take place every Friday,.