And to lighten the depressing snippets of the earlier post still more, here’s one of Vivian Maier’s photos from 1950s Chicago (thank you, Amro!), showing a young man riding a draft horse bareback through the city, and the story of a 1909 carousel in Spokane, still turning. I particularly enjoyed the explanation of the difference between the “romance” and the “money” sides of the figures of horses and wild animals: the outward flank of the beast is fantastically decorated, whereas the side the customer sees when they’ve paid up and are about to mount, is somewhat plainer.

Also, an extremely cute pony.