and found much to wonder at; what would have been the feelings of those dead actors in a great drama, had they had a vision of our railroads and telegraph, of the telephone and electric light! We have made science our slave and conquered the latent forces of nature and made them contribute to our comfort; yet we have much to emulate in the lives of our predecessors: their virtues made them happy and made their country great.

CHAPTER XXIX.

AMUSEMENTS OF THE PHILADELPHIANS.

"WHILE Quaker folks were Quakers still, some fifty years ago, When coats were drab, and gowns were plain, and speech was staid and slow,

Before Dame Fashion dared suggest a single friz or curl."

So sings R. A. Jackson, beginning the story of pretty Ruth and her unwelcome lover, Sylvanus Moore. Make "fifty" a hundred, and the introduction will serve the purpose of the history of amusements in Philadelphia. For we must begin with the "good old times," when the Quaker influence predominated in the provincial city, when every one's energies were directed mainly toward founding a home and acquiring "substance." In those times amusements were few and of the simplest kind. The founders of this prosperous community led an active, busy life, withal a quiet one; they did not feel the want of exciting pleasures, which, moreover, were condemned by their religion, and religion governed every act of their life. The very word "amusement" was objectionable, as meaning something frivolous and worldly. They had but two resources against ennui, and they availed themselves of these. First, there was "going to meeting," which was not merely a duty but a positive mental enjoyment and a delightful rest for the body. Then, as man must have some kind of material enjoyment, the early Philadelphians sought naturally that which was suggested by the abundance of the land, the pleasures of the table, and big dinners became their principal recreation. To these two habits cultivated by our Quaker forefathers are due two characteristics of the people of Philadelphia, which have outlived the many changes brought about by time, the religious, moral tone of society, and a general inclination to good living, and its natural sequence, hospitality. Every traveler who has written about Philadelphia has noticed these facts, and Philadelphia "dinners" and "tea-parties" have furnished the theme of many pleasant remarks. If these strangers have found anything to criticise, it has been the lavish extravagance of their host or hostess,-a criticism which may be accepted as a compliment. The history of every community, of every country, shows that it bears for centuries, if not forever, the recognizable

mark of its founders. Laws and institutions, manners and customs may change in time, but there is something in the character of the people which survives all these changes, and reveals the influences, good or bad, which controlled the organization of the social body. The seal of the cavaliers in Virginia, of the Puritans in New England, of the Quakers in Pennsylvania is just as easily traceable as that of the French in Louisiana and Canada, although the greater differences of language and religion existed in those two colonies when they became the one English and the other American.

Against riding, swimming, fishing, and skating, there would be no prohibition; they were natural recreations which could be freely indulged in by all. In course of time there were fishing clubs and swimming clubs. As to skating, it became an art in which the Philadelphians acquired no little fame. Graydon, in his "Memoirs," says that "though the Philadelphians have never reduced it [skating] to rules like the Londoners, nor connected it with their business like Dutchmen, I will yet hazard the opinion that they are the best and most elegant skaters in the world." And Graydon had seen "New England skaters, Old England skaters, and Holland skaters." In support of this judgment we will quote the following anecdote of the painter West, as told by Mr. Dunlap, in his "History of Art:" "West was a skillful skater, and in America had formed an acquaintance on the ice with Col. (afterward too well known in the colonial war as General) Howe; this friendship had dissolved with the thaw, and was forgotten, till one day the painter, having tied on his skates at the Serpentine, was astonishing the timid practitioners of London by the rapidity of his motions and the graceful figure which he cut. Some one cried, West! West!' It was Col. Howe. 'I am glad to see you,' said he; and not the less so that you come in good time to vindicate my praises of American skating.' He called to him Lord Spencer Hamilton and some of the Cavendishes, to whom he introduced West as one of the Philadelphia prodigies, and requested him to show them what was called 'the salute.' He performed his feat so much to their satisfaction that they went away spreading the praises of the American skater over London. Nor was the considerate Quaker insensible to the value of such commendations. He continued to frequent the Serpentine and to gratify large crowds by cutting the Philadelphia salute." The sequel was that many of the admirers of the skater became acquainted with the painter and sat to him for their portraits.

Graydon names Gen. Cadwalader and Charles Massey, the biscuit-baker, as the two reputed best skaters of his day. William McKoy, in his "Lang Syne Reminiscences," mentions as being "decidedly superior to the rest for dexterity, power, and grace" William Tharpe, Dr. Foulke, Governor Mifflin, C. W. Peale, George Heyl, and "Joe" Claypoole; also a

black skater who "outstripped the wind." Franklin Peale became as famous a skater as his father. Capt. James Page, of the State Fencibles, was also much admired. Dr. Joseph Parrish was equally expert, but being a Friend he did not indulge in "fancy touches." The list of these brilliant performers on the ice does not include any ladies' names. It is reasonable to believe that women at that time had not learned to skate, or at least that they thought it indecorous to exhibit their native graces in public; but the girls, doubtless, had many a surreptitious slide with their young brothers on some retired pond or creek. As for the boys, they did as all boys do,they practiced on every frozen gutter, slided, fell, began again, went home with torn clothes, scratched noses, and unaccountable bumps on their heads, to the great distress of their mothers and suspicion of pater familias, until some fine day they appeared on the ice in all the glory of a new pair of skates, and proudly out-skated their elders. But if the fair Philadelphians did not venture upon the glassy surface of the Delaware, they congregated on its shores to witness the sport, and their approving bright glances had not a little to do with the efforts of the skaters to outdo each other in the grace and skill of their performances.

If skating remained an innocent amusement, riding led gradually and inevitably to horse-racing, at first a friendly trial of speed on an invitingly smooth road, then betting, the establishment of a race-course, and gambling unlimited. The Society of Friends did not approve of horse-races, but others did, and races were held at a very early period. Race Street got its name from being the street leading directly to the racing-ground. In 1726 the grand jury present "that since the city has become so very populous, the usual custom of horse-racing at fairs in the Sassafras Street is very dangerous to life," etc. Capt. Graydon, in his "Memoirs," says racing was a great passion of his young days. Watson notices the first public advertisement of a race in 1761, "wherein is stated the terms of running the intended races" at the Centre Race-Ground, to run three times around the course each heat." The grounds themselves at the same time were familiarly called "the Governor's woods." The races at the Centre Square were discontinued in 1775.

Mr. Thomas Bradford, telling Mr. Watson of his recollections of the races, says "he was told that the earliest races were scrub- and pace-races, on the ground now used as Race Street. But in his younger days they were ran in a circular form on a ground from Arch or Race Street down to Spruce Street, and from Eighth Street of Delaware to Schuylkill River, making thus two miles for a heat. About the same time they also ran straight races of one mile, from Centre Square to Schuylkill, out High Street."

It seems that, at that time, pacers were deemed the

most genteel horses. The Philadelphians, true to their English ancestry, had a decided fondness for horseflesh, and gentlemen having fine animals were wont to try their speed on the public streets. The race was often a spontaneous one, resulting from two riders getting into a discussion about the relative merits of their horses, but there were occasions when some day was fixed upon in advance for a trial, and the friends of the riders would assemble at a certain point to see the sport. Racing on the streets prevailed long after the Revolution, and when Philadelphia had become quite a large city. This dangerous custom became such a nuisance that on the 22d of March, 1817, the Legislature passed an act prohibiting horse-racing on any of the public streets of Philadelphia. The penalty was a fine of fifty dollars and forfeiture of the horse.

The citizens who were forbidden the unlawful pleasure of riding at break-neck speed through crowded streets could find ample compensation in taking drives or rides on one of the several fine roads leading out of the city through a beautiful and picturesque country. Mease said, in 1810, "No city in the United States affords so many diversified rides in its immediate vicinity as Philadelphia." But then driving or riding leisurely is not accompanied by the excitement of racing.

A regular race-course, very extensively patronized to all appearance, was in use near Germantown at quite an early period. Bulow, who visited Philadelphia in the latter part of the last century, speaks, in his account of his travels, of having witnessed a race near Germantown, where he saw horses run a four-mile heat in eight minutes, a feat which, he says, the horses of Germany could not perform.

Another race-course was situated upon the Hunting Park estate, at the corner of Nicetown Lane and the old York road. It was known as Hart's race

course.

That racing was, however, far from generally popular is shown by the fact that "fifteen hundred mechanics and twelve hundred manufacturers" signed an address to the grand jury, in June, 1802, in which they declared that the race-course was injurious to them, and went on to say,—

"This English dissipation of horse-racing may be agreeable to a few idle landed gentlemen, who bestow more care in training their horses than in educating their children, and it may be amusing to British mercantile agents and a few landed characters in Philadelphia; but it is in the greatest degree injurious to the mechanical and manufacturing interest, and will tend to our ruin if the nuisance is not removed by your patriotic exertions."

In September of the same year the "great mischiefs and vices" resulting from races held at a place between Frankford and Bustleton were denounced in a communication to the Philadelphia Gazette. Again, in 1805, the evil consequences of races are exposed by a writer in the Daily Advertiser, who says, "The Germantown races yesterday commenced, where I suppose

intoxication, riot, lewdness, and distress may be seen in all their various shapes."

Races continued to be held, however, for several years later, but this species of gambling could not meet with the approval of the Legislature, and on the 17th of February, 1820, a law was passed which declared that "all racing, running, pacing, or trotting of horses, mares, or geldings, for money, goods, or chattels, or other valuable things, shall be, and hereby are declared to be, common nuisances and offenses against this State." The animal used in the race was liable to be forfeited and seized by the overseers of the poor. All wagers and bets on horse-races, and notes and other securities given on account of the same, were declared void. The act further made it an offense to make up a purse or plate to be run for, to print advertisements, handbills, etc., mentioning the time and place at which races were to be held. Races for money were broken up for a time, but as racing to merely test the speed of the horses was not prohibited, a great deal of private betting was carried on, and the law was thus evaded, though apparently respected.

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Before the Revolution such barbarous amusements as cock-fighting, bull-baiting, and bear-baiting were frequently indulged in, especially cock-fighting, in which men of the highest respectability found pleasure. Watson, in his "Annals," quotes from a letter of Dr. William Shippen to Dr. Gardiner, in 1735, announcing that he sent his friend "a young gamecock to be depended upon," and giving as a reason for not sending an old cock that our young cockers have contrived to kill and steal all I had." The venerable annalist also states that Timothy Matlack had once "a great passion" for cock-fighting, which caused the wags to transform the initials T. G., with which he sometimes signed his political articles, into Tim Gaff, by which nickname he was afterward designated. Bull-baiting and bear-baiting were patronized principally by a lower class of people; they were usually gotten up by the butchers, who reared and kept dogs for the sport. Yet, it is on record that some very respectable citizens also kept bull dogs and found much enjoyment in the excitement of these fights. These practices were gradually abandoned by the better class of men, but did not disappear entirely for some years after the Revolution. Poulson's Advertiser of April, 1812, contained a complaint from a correspondent that on Easter Monday a certain neighborhood (not named) was a scene of riot and confusion on account of a cock-fight; also that a boxing-match was advertised at Bush Hill, which had been prevented by constables and aldermen. The writer took this occasion to lament the increasing wickedness of mankind.

As late as 1821 cock-fighting was carried on, but the cock-pit was shunned by all who laid a claim to social standing. Waln, in "The Hermit in Philadelphia," published in that year, says,—

"Cocking, to which English ruffians are so generally addicted, is limited to a very small number of Philadelphia fashionables. Several cock-pits, however, exist in the neighborhood of the city under the superintendence of men who have nothing further to dread from the opinion of the world. Toward a certain quarter there is one of higher rank, to which some of our aspirants have the misfortune to belong. This barbarous predilection subsides with the rude passions of youth, and I do not know one veteran cocker to disgrace the character of our

city."

At the time when the Council was so much exercised about tavern frays and disturbances that it had to increase the number of night-watchmen, there was, without doubt, a good deal of "gaming and curses loud and deep" in some of these haunts of vice, yet it is strangely true that while in England gambling was carried on to such an extent that the period of which we speak might be called the "age of gaming," this fashionable vice never prevailed to any alarming extent in Philadelphia. Card playing, even for amusement, never became a general custom, nor was it at a later period the principal attraction in fashionable society receptions, as it was in New York, as stated by the witty Rebecca Frank, in a letter already quoted in our chapter on Manners and Customs. The condemnation by the Friends of all sorts of gambling as frivolous and injurious, and leading to loss of substance and waste of time, and by the Puritans as a sinful practice, had their weight with public opinion, and Philadelphia society sought more intellectual recreation than that of handling slips of painted pasteboard. Still, it was not thought improper for sedate old gentlemen to sit down to a solemn rubber of whist, or perchance to a game of “all fours" or cribbage. But in every large or growing city there is always a class of people who care little for their reputation, and are not influenced by the opinion of good society. Among such there was much surreptitious gambling. The Legislature found it necessary to put a restraint upon this demoralizing practice by which the young and weak were lured to destruction, and by an act of Assembly, passed in 1794, playing at cards, dice, billiards, bowls, shuffleboard, or any game of hazard or skill, for money or other valuable consideration, was liable to fine.

Among the games of hazard prohibited by this act was one designated by the mysterious name of the "E. O." The extreme simplicity of this game was one of its chief attractions. On a round table, covered with canvas or oil-cloth, were painted lines radiating from a small circle in the centre. Upon each division formed by these lines the letters "E" and "O" were painted alternately. On one of these letters, in any division, at his choice, the players staked their money; the keeper of the game now placed a teetotum in the small circle in the centre of the board, and gave it a whirl; the toy spun around, tracing an erratic circle over the lines, and finally died in one of the divisions, to the great joy of the player who had hit upon the lucky letter and the discomfiture of the others. That a certain skill in twirling the teetotum enabled the keeper to score regular profits is mani