hey are. The public attitude toward them is generally a negative
one--indifference, amusement, contempt.

"The world of sexual inverts is, indeed, a large one in any
American city, and it is a community distinctly organized--words,
customs, traditions of its own; and every city has its numerous
meeting-places: certain churches where inverts congregate;
certain cafes well known for the inverted character of their
patrons; certain streets where, at night, every fifth man is an
invert. The inverts have their own 'clubs,' with nightly
meetings. These 'clubs' are, really, dance-halls, attached to
_saloons_, and presided over by the proprietor of the saloon,
himself almost invariably an invert, as are all the waiters and
musicians. The frequenters of these places are male sexual
inverts (usually ranging from 17 to 30 years of age); sightseers
find no difficulty in gaining entrance; truly, they are welcomed
for the drinks they buy for the company--and other reasons.
Singing and dancing turns by certain favorite performers are the
features of these gatherings, with much gossip and drinking at
the small tables ranged along the four walls of the room. The
habitues of these places are, generally, inverts of the most
pronounced type, i.e., the completely feminine in voice and
manners, with the characteristic hip motion in their walk; though
I have never seen any approach to feminine dress there, doubtless
the desire for it is not wanting and only police regulations
relegate it to other occasions and places. You will rightly infer
that the police know of these places and endure their existence
for a consideration; it is not unusual for the inquiring stranger
to be directed there by a policeman."

The Oscar Wilde trial (see _ante_, p. 48), with its wide
publicity, and the fundamental nature of the questions it
suggested, appears to have generally contributed to give
definiteness and self-consciousness to the manifestations of
homosexuality, and to have aroused inverts to take up a definite
attitude. I have been assured in several quarters that this is so
and that since that case the manifestations of homosexuality have
become more pronounced. One correspondent writes:--

"Up to the time of the Oscar Wilde trial I had not known what the
condition of the law was. The moral question in it