A stereochrome of Our Lady of the Jersey Meadows, the city conceived circa 1850 as the ""lungs of Philadelphia"" to end up, sadly, as the voice of Bert Parks. Funnell (save for the last chapter which includes its decline as the poorest city in the state) concentrates on its say-heyday in the 1890's when it became the playground of the lower middle classes--amusement rides, animal acts, palmistry, rolling chairs, vaudeville and saltwater taffy. It also sported a sporting house right next to the Methodist Church as well as assorted gambling dens and saloons. Always it would be divided between its intentions as a Family Resort vs. a Pleasure Dome and the dichotomy between Nature and the City that it is.... A retrospective with affection for the confident, ""cheerful tastefulness"" and buxom pleasures that were by the sea, by the beautiful sea, in an era that was.