The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1886-07-15
A PLEASURE CITY BY THE SEA.
Where q Perpetual Picnic Prevails
Amusements Found ut Brighton.

Amusements Found ut Brighton.
To-day finds me down at Coney island,
this magical city of pleasure by the sea.
Here the world seems all holiday time.
A perpetual picnic prevails, and it is diff
cult to conceive of care. In the first place,
1t is q perfect day. Nature never tluttered
Il fairer leaf from the folds OF her book.
The shadows on the sea are as varied as
Florentine mosaic The purple of pansy
away off there where the sun is clouded,
while here ut our feet the breakers fringe
the golden sands with silver. A CLEAN of
sapphire, like the bluest break in a
showery sky, has fallen athwart the main
distance, and through it white-Wmged
boat, full-saled, goes courtseying down
the wind. A haze hangs over all, like the
mist that rises from meadow as dawn,
and the shadowy domes and towers OF far
off Rockaway breaks through like city
in the air.
1t is inconceivable that New York
should have been so slow to appropriate
and use this beautiful island. For years
and years this strip of sea-girt sand mlght
as well have lain in mid-ocean rs here. a
few roughs came down now and then and
perpetrated dark deeds that gave O faYor
Of disrepute to the island. Nobody who
thought anything either Of reputation or
pocket-book ever came here in those days.
Now, half hour boats and numerous lines
of cars bring down all New York. Many
come by private conveyance over the
smooth and beautiful boulevard lead
from the city to the very margin OF the
sea.
Brighton at it's loveliest, in tho full tide
of the season, can not excel this wonder
land of pleasure. There is everything OF
which folly ever dreamed of in the line OF
Amusement here Are you fond of riding
the fleet-footed ostrich, the gentle COW,
the domestic rooster, or the roaring lion
of the desert, to say nothing OF tne stately
giraffe, and the mettlesome swan: Here
you have your chance in the "merry-go-
round" Only 5 cents, and you can mount
any one Of these animals, richly caparl-
soned, and fly around ring to the lnsp!r-
ing strains Of q brass band.
II you want to spin like rocket
through the air; il you want to hold
your hat while your back hair falls or
and in your ears the elements of wind and
fire make merry, ride down the switch
back" You take seat at the top OF the
inclined plane-you flash down the plane
like paper through printing press; you
skim up another like swallow on the
wing; you dart down again like falling
star and up again like kerosene.ied
flame, and your ride is accomplished. For
another cents you mount tue elephants
back and indulge in light refreshments iii
different parts of the body. believe they
serve lemonade in one Of his ears, and IN
the mysterious recesses of his inside you
can buy caramels and sweet cakes.
Should you care for milk, several stuffed
COWS stand about under gay canopies.
Milk is ptitiously introduced through
o hole in the back, little behind the ear,
and a man draws it fresh from the udders
and presents it with wink Of superhu-
man cunning. Donkeys and horses are on
hire, whereon you can canter over the
sands and into the seq if you like. Little
children are playing all about, thicker
than sand-feas, and the whole scene IS
one of perfectly unalloyed rapture and
content .-"Amber" in Chicago Journal.