The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1909-06-19

In glanclng DOWN the pages Ol
an exchange issue the reader was at
tracted by column headed Sum
mer Amusements.' 1t was not the
nature of the two words that caused
them TO stand our above the many
other and more unusual ones in the
headlin7s, but the plural number of
the second one of the combination.
Summer Amusementsl And like an
unpleasant but insistent sign, calling
the mind from contemplation of a
pleasing landscape, that word
''amuseinents" would not be gone.
Only, in the case of our own city.
II was minus it's most Significant
component, the final s. The true
state OF affairs is just this, we have
"A amusement" in the summer
theatrical line, and its clear case
of which would you rather 10 or
20 TO the Family theater. MOI that
the management OF that deservedly
popular little playhouse doesn't rally
splendaly to the demand, and sup
ply the patrons with high grade
vaudeville and motion pictures and
illustrated songs and all the :ecog-
nized features of a theater of that
sort, but just as competition raises
the standard of all business and pro-
fessionai enterprise, so Il would be a
spur to the efforts and offerings of the
one house of amusement in Marion
and would doubtless double the box
Office receipts by piqueing curiosity
il a rival attraction was ON the job.
Folks who go one place will go
across the way just 10 see If they
have anything better over there, !
hence he spiceiness OF competition. |
Of course there are the usual nickelo-
den fieDds, and several of the popu- !
lar priced attractions about town are
most worthy. Yet there are those
whose eyes are not immune TO the
flicker and glare of the kinetescope, |
and who want to hear real songs
by real people, laugh at them and
with them, AMI enjoy impossible sit
uations conceived by some knight of
the pencil and lived by citizens of
the mimic world for the sole purpose
of diJerting the mind from SELF self
interest, self-sorrows, self-imposltions.
1t seems great pity, almost
pathetic reality, that in a town the
size Of Marion there is positively no
place the gregarious spirit of youth,
may be freely exercised. Lacking the
nf QH n nj h.al
the streets offer the only
ALTERNATIVE. and whether or not the
streets are desirable haunts in COM
interested in the social well
fare of Its young folks may best be
solved by officers of the police and
Juvenile courts. Given the known
quantity--youth will have worldly
pleasure--and will seek worldly pleas
ure in lwos or in crowds, it remains
to comciete the present unknown
quantity of the equation, which is
what and where is this pleasure at
present" by supplying the pleasure,
and thas make sure of it's quality.
A park equipped with legitimate at
fractions, regular hand concerts, ten
mis- courts. boa;lng surely these would
be Tar better safety valves for the
bubbling energies generated by young
blood than the street sport which
Is a necessary evil under the pres
ent "A amusement" condition Some
seeking where to light
with sack OF humanity welfare"
money, could lind a nice soft spot in
some desirable park site hereabouts,
and by converting it into a sure
enough pleasure ground, help direct
the asaosemen. taste of youth, IN the
state, in right path where
in they might walk safely through
life.