West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1894-05-24
"MERRY-.GO..ROUNDS."
A little nonsense now aud then,
IL reiished by the best OF men"


IL reished by the best OF men,"
Our people are great on riding
hobby, and for the past two or three
weeks have been riding to- their
hearts content. We have had two
Merry Go-Rounds" going III ound
merrily every night, and some times
IN the afternoon, and almost every
body in town, retrospective of age,
sex, coler or previous condition of
servitude," according to the Con-
stitution), has caught the fever to
ride hobby horse. When the out
fits first broke loose on the commu.
nifty. most of the older people re-
garded them with contempt and
scorned the idea OF riding them,
but the fun is more contagious than
the measles, and after listening to
the delight of the youngsters and
hearing the lively music, the people
who thought they were too dignified
to go to such kindergarten instr
tuition, naturally dropped around
to see the machine anyhow. And
if they got there once they were u
goner, for it was impossible to
stand there long without wanting
to climb on and try it once anyhow.
1t Is really a harmless amusement
and about the most fun that anyone
can get for the small amount Of
money 1t cost. But it is funny to
see lawyers, doctors, preachers and
old folks 70 years old, riding tie
wooden horses like they were boys
again, and we saw four preachers
riding in one night. Some people
seem to. have season ticket and
are found at the ''Hurdy Gurdy"
every night, except Sunday. OF
course the girls are out IN full force,
and they have gotten more riding
In the past three weeks than ever
before.
The outfits were both built Mt
Tonawanda, New York. and the
parties claim that they cost about
1000 each, but they either lie
about it or got soaked like every
thing, AS they ought to be put up at a
profit for half that amount. The
one on tho Knights of Pythias lot
was from Oakland, and is o, ne
and operated by Sam Il. Davis, of
that place. This is his third season
with IT, and it begins to show the
wear and tear. Tuesday he pulled
up stakes here and left yesterday
for Grafton, where he expects to
coin money on Decoration Day.
The other machine, located on Ju-
nior Browns lot, at corner of High
and Price Streets, belongs to Frank
DeBerry, of Ccrinth, and he has
only had it since last July. Last
year he was at Terra Alta, Rowles.
burg, Oakland and Frostburg in
Maryland, and Uniontown, Pa.
Had q good season and made money.
Took in more at Frostburg than
any other place. He will remain
here till after Decoration Day in
order to catch the rush on that day,
and will move from here to Nor
gantown and be ready for the crowd
Commencement week. There are
three men to each outfit, one to sell
tickets, one to run the engine and
ono tor conductor on the swing.
The hand organs are turned with a
crank by an automatic darkey, who
never seems to get tired, or, if he
does, he just.grins and bears it, as
he has a grin OF his ebony features
all the time. The music is on roll.
ers with spikes in them, and they
can have any number Of pieces for
the box, like an organette.
The competition has been very
lively here between the two and
tickets selling very low, sixteen for
a quarter, while the ordinary price
is nickle ride, but now that we
have but one, the price has been
raised to six for a quarter.
At the Special Term Of Circuit
Court called for Monday June 25th
for this county, no Grand Jury
will be summoned. The aeasion "a