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| WESTERN ENTRANCE OF MIDWAY PLAISANCE - The scene
shows the Plaisance before the Captive Balloon was torn by the gale and
collapsed in the financial panic. This Midway entrance was one mile west
of Jackson Park. Here, every one of the "concessions," or private
entertainments, lay before the visitors, and a line of ejaculatory
"recommenders" saluted them in all languages, imploring them to come in
and see their "attraction." After the collapse of the Captive Balloon the
Exposition itself gave public acrobatic exhibitions at this end, where
tens of thousands might freely behold acts on the trapeze and cross-bars.
On the right is Old Vienna, an ingenious
construction of houses with an inner court, where the visitor might
imagine himself in the ancient quarters of the Austrian capital. In this
manner a "Street in Constantinople" was copied on a German pattern, with
the important improvement of a fine orchestral band which, during warm
summer evenings made beautiful music for hearers who quenched their thirst
and increased their enthusiasm with potations of beer and wine. It was
into this nook that the daring young adventurer boxed and shipped himself
C. O. D. by express, only to secure arrest for entering the grounds
without a ticket - and all this after a railroad journey as common freight
for one thousand miles. At the left may be seen the sharp architecture
of the Chinese Theatre, which went into a
receiver's hands. At the center of the great street stands the Ferris Wheel, always visible for many miles.
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