The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-08-22

so-called, number hundreds, perhaps
thousands. They stand in long rows at
all hours in front of the stations. They
cluster at the entrances of the hotels.
They can be found on every corner and
| moving up and down the streets in readi-
ness for fares. The coach is one of At
lantie Clty's institutions. The fare at
any time of day and for any distance
within the city limits is 10c. A case of
overcharging is never known. Conspicu-
ously posted across the door of the coach
which is in the rear and reached by three
or four steps from the ground, is this, in
large letters: ITO any part Of the city,
10c." A mile or 100 yards is the same
thing to the Jersey eoachy, and while. he
may drive. like Jehu, Euriously to earn
the 10c, he willadd gratuitously much in
| formation for the newcomers benefit
Atlantic City has hotels for the rich,
hotels for the poor, hotels for the peck
et-books all of the way between. 1t has
hotels with accommodation for 1000 peo-
pie under one roof. 1t has hotels where
twenty or thirty may gather together
| and find the modest comforts of home
at the seashores 1t has villas which be-
long to millionaires, cottages which are
which entertain the same little circles
summer after summer 1t affords the
possibility to get any kind of a place to
lay ones head for a time short or long.
And this wonderful variety of architect
| ure and accommodations can be found in
all parts of the city. There is no exclus-
i've neighborhood. There is no squalid
| quarter. The board walk is a great lev
oil o,,d oh vyh0
know how to behave are equal in the eye
of the unwritten law of the island. Some
Americans can be found who never visit
| Atlantic City. They say it is too noisy
| and too common. There will always be
| those who do not want to do what every
| body else does For the small minority
which has nothing in common with the
! majority, Atlantic City is without attrac-
| ton. To those who love mankind and
| enjoy Americanism at its best, Atlantic
| City abounds in interest.
| When Atlantic City congratulates it.
| self that it is not as other resorts, it
| enumerates first among distinctive feat
| ures the board walk. There are imita-
| lions there is but one real board walk.
! Ten feet above the sands, hundred feet
| in width in places, and tapering to one
| third that toward the less frequented
| ends, supported on a massive steel frame,
| the columns of which go down-into firm
masonry, the board walk is continuous
| for five miles along the ocean front of the
| city, The tide comes in, and at full
| flood the surf breaks with a roar and
many a swirl among those columns.
| Above, on the board walk, there is a hui
man tide which flows and GIBBS as regu-
| larly 1t is high between II and 1 o'clock
| In the day, when bathers and non-bath-
ers gather on the ocean front. From 8
| to 10 at night Is flood again on the board
walk. A never-ending, never-slacking
procession moves up one side and down
| the other side of the walk.As 1t goes up
| 1t Is entertained by the white-capped
waves rolling in, chasing each other and
| breaking just when they threaten the
| security of the walk The spray dashes
| high, and occasional drops of it splatter
| on the planldng and the moving feet.
| The breezes come from off the submits
| of those waves. When the less FORUM
| ate people in the interior of the land are
| sweltering, the procession on the board
walk is drawing wraps about its should
| ers as it moves on the outer edge of this
| greatest of American promenades When
| the procession countermarches and takes
| The inner half OF the board walk the
| scene changes. Then come the miles of
| brilliantly lighted booths and pavilions
| and amusement halls, all opening imme-
| diately upon the level of the walk. From
| the tea garden of Japan to shooting the
chutes Is step. The mechanical organ
| of ear-piercing volume of sound locates
| the flying horses and dragons of steam
propelled merry-go- rounds, with carrying
| capacity of hundreds of children grown
and ungrown. Scenic railways, with
their combination of cog cables and
gravity. carrying screaming loads to dir
zy heights, drop them down long slides,
whirl them around curves and plunge
them through dark tunnels. The waters
of Saratoga are drawn in imitation spring
houses by the same devices that are to
be seen at the great Spa itself Shuttle
boards and shooting galleries compete
with the weighing machines and tin type
by electricity. Opera houses, freak
shows and photograph parlors. the cine
matograph, the biograph, the mirror illu-
slons an of the devices time-honored and
| nothing to offend. The spirit of Atlantic
Nara gansett Pier nor that of Coney Is
land. Anything that is marvellous and
moral can have place among the attrac-
tions of the board walk. And the uni
form price of admission to each place
of amusement is ten cents
The barker Is here in all his glory save
his voice. That. by order of the munich
pality. Is hushed. Patronage may be So
licited, but not orally. And so the fell
low who would swell the returns of the
chamber of death whitens his face, puts
on long robe with a cowl, and, with
ghostly gestures points the way to the
interior where one may gaze upon cof-
fins and skeletons and feel to fullness a
taste for the grewsome. The fair maiden
of the illusion show sits apparently in
bowl, with nothing of her but head and
bust She fans languidly and without a
word draws the curious within to see how
1t is done. Pantomime has taken up the
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