Milwaukee historian John Gurda, in a history of Bay View, Wisconsin (the neighborhood of Milwaukee where both John and I live), noted the straight-laced, working-class morality of the village in the 19th century as seen in an ordinance (circa 1880) that levied stiff fines for those proved to be one of the following undesirable types:
any vagrant, mendicant, street beggar, common prostitute, gambler, or moutebank …. any common fiddlers, organ grinders, street musicians, common drunkards, common nightwalkers, pilferers, wanton and lascivious persons in speech, conduct or behavior; common railers or brawlers such as neglect their callings and employment, misspend what they earn, and do not provide for themselves or their families.
Well, my goodness. I must say it’s a nice neighborhood these days. I guess the ordinance did its job and ran most undesirables out of town. (Just don’t let anyone know a common fiddler has slipped back in.)
