Wichita eagle., 1888-05-01
GOING TO C0NEY ISLAND.
THE WAY THE POOR SPEND THEIR
SATURDAY HALF HOLIDAY.

The Boat Crowded-Servant Maids, Shop
Girls. Beaus and Family Parties-Emp-
tying the Dinner Basket-The Effect of
the MerryGo-Rounds.
One glaring, blazing day; one that wits
collars and melts rufhes, that stewS the color
out of hat Innings and reduces cuffs to pulp;
one day that paints "with natures own velou-
tine" the faces of mankind deep, rich terra
Gotta, and bakeS the thin coating of white
wash on feminine cheeks into a stiff, crack
ling crust-one such "roaster" has come ct
last and opened, with a burst, the Coney
Island season. The season proper, the merry
season of dime museums and mechanical
COWS, of beautiful Circassians and the h.iry
children of Borneo, is as yet in the offing. 1t
takes several scorchers about July l to de-
velop this phase of a New York summer, be-
loved alike by Jew and Gentle As soon as
it does come, however, there viii be Satur-
day afternoon exodus to the city by the sea
which Will leave New York well nigh de-
serted. The boats viii be jammed with men
and matrons, surrounded by their progeny;
servant maids and shop girls, with their
"beaus;" bad, little, marauding ladies with
y
tlemen with neatly made creases in that
article of male attire known in Boston as
"parnts."- Then those poor wretches who go
up on the housetops in the evening, and spend
the night sleeping on the leads, Will scrape to-
gether all their spare pennies and repair to
COney Island to "cool OF"
They take their pleasure laboriously. a
jaunt to the seashore is to them a domestic
their numerous offspring-the annual pro-
ducts of their union, which range from the
age of 8 down to a babe in arms, who is at
the apex of the bottle stage of happy child
hood. The mother carries this last achieve
ment, the father carries the last before that,
and both carry baskets. On the deck of tho
boat they take up large area, for each of
the children must have stool, and each of
the baskets must have a STOOL and papa and
mamma must have a stool apiece to put their
feet on. Then they open the baskets, and be-
fore they have reached the shore they have
generally eaten all that was in them, not to
mention richly hued candy, and anatomical
curios of gingerbread bought from vendors
on the wharf The baby exhausts its supply
of food in an incredibly short time, and
yearns loudly for more Its mother soothes
it by setting it up and beating it on the back
with terrific force.
But it appears to be an invertebrate child,
and falls into a sort of messy heap, from
which its hands emerge, opening and shut
ting like pink sea anemones. The maternal
parent has large repertoire of soothing posi-
tions. With admirable presence of mind, she
places it in the next most tranquillizing aui-
.tude she knows. This consists of laying it
face downward on her lap, and jogging her
knees-a proceeding which jerks little spas
modic cries from the sufferer, and causes its
head TO wag palsiedly. But custom cannot
state the infinite variety of this woman's in
ventions for calming the young. With
sudden coup de main, she raises the child to
its feet, and for one intense and delirious in
slant it stands upright on her knee, beating
excitedly on her forehead. and uttering cries
of triumph. She grasps it about its waist so
tightly that her fingers quite disappear in its
Bpongy torso, and as it reaches up to clutch
her bonnet, she abSently tightens her grip,
till its eyes have an uncomfortably popping
appearance Probably, finding this disagree
able, it begins to settle. It's wavering legs
collapse slowly but surely; and, as it feels it
self sinking down into recumbent insipidity,
it clutches despairingly ct the bosom of its
mothers gown, and tries to heave itself up
again.
Meanwhile the mother sits in sweltering
discomfort, her old, battered hat pushed back
from her glowing red forehead, where fila
ments of damp hair straggle, straight and
limp. Her dress is open at tho throat, and
innocent of collar or cuffs. With one of her
hands, bursting large and red, out of a black
silk mitt, she grips the baby, pale as a spirit
and fecked with musquito bites, and with
the other wields palm leaf fan. At Coney
Island she will toll through her pleasure with
a fierce determination to enjoy herself. She
will be weighed, go up the elephant, fight her
way into dime museums, drink sky blue milk
out,of the patent cow and five cent soda water
half an hour later. The children, who are
gorged and sticky before they leave the boat,
will be treated at every candy stall they pass.
When, toward nightfall, stuffed like Stras-
bourg geese and dimly conscious that sour
milk and oranges are refractory elements in
the human inside, they reach the merry-go-
rounds, they insist on ride. Seven strong
they get into the mimic boats and gayly whiZ
about for five OF ten seraphic moments.
Nothing testifies more truly to the invent
i've genius Of the great American people than
the extreme realism of these merry -go-rounds
Not only do the ships rock with perfectly
natural motion, but their occupants invaria-
bly, suffer froa the most acute NAL de mer
The sleepy cries of Joy which burst from
those seven sticky little children soon change
TO cries of woe, and signals OF distress are
made to their friends on shore. The owner
slows up his ships and, pleased by this IN
willing testimony to the perfection of their
looks with a triumphant eye on
the seven victims of his aerial navigation, as
their parents lead them away through deri-
sive crowd. After this comes the trip on the
boat and the ride up town on the car. Such
is the way the poor of New York enjoy their
half holidny.-New York Cor. The
Argonaut.