ATDTDA (1): Midway Plaisance - part 2

[Tim Strzechowski]

[...] But as places of recreation there were none that would compare with the Midway plaisance, an epitome and also a supplement of the Fair, with its bazaars of all nations, its manifold attractions, and yet with educational as well as pleasurable features. All day long and far into the night this spacious thoroughfare, a mile in length and 600 feet in width, was crowded with sight-seers who, whatever else they missed, would make the tour of this novel and heterogeneous exhibition. Entering the avenue a little to the west of the Woman's building, they would pass between the walls of mediaeval villages, between mosques and pagodas, Turkish and Chinese theatres, past the dwellings of colonial days, past the cabins of South Sea islanders, of Javanese, Egyptians, Bedouins, Indians, among them huts of bark and straw that tell of yet ruder environment. They would be met on their way by German and Hungarian bands, by the discord of Chinese cymbals and Dahomean tom-toms; they would encoun
ter jugglers and magicians, camel-drivers and donkey-boys, dancing-girls from Cairo and Algiers, from Samoa and Brazil, with men and women of all nationalities, some lounging in oriental indifference, some shrieking in unison or striving to outshriek each other, in the hope of transferring his superfluous change from the pocket of the unwary pilgrim. Then, as taste and length of purse determined; for fees were demanded from those who would penetrate the hidden mysteries of the plaisance, they might enter the Congress of beauty with its plump and piquant damsels, might pass an hour in one of the theatres or villages, or partake of harmless beverages served by native waiters. Finally they would betake themselves to the Ferris [836] wheel, on which they were conveyed with smooth, gliding motion to a height of 260 feet, affording a transient and kaleidoscopic view of the park and all that it contains. 

[...]

Entering the plaisance is first observed, on either side of the avenue, a nursery of fruit trees such as are raised on French and California soil, with miniature groves of evergreens from the northwest, and other duplicates of the outdoor exhibit in the Horticultural department. Then comes a line of low thatched cottages whose appearance indicates the abodes of cleanliness and thrift. 

[...]

http://columbus.iit.edu/bookfair/ch24.html
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