The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-08-16
nIIserie. of Sea Bathing.

Mr.. Harris, who last summer visited
Pargate, one OF the English bathing
places, relates some of the incidents OF
sea bathing, as follows;
There is strong tide here at certain
seasons, with unexpected currents and
shifting sands. On one occasion, as
Mrs. Harris was disporting herself
under the awning, male voice adj
dressed her without:
800 away, you wicked wretch, she
screamed; ego away, directly, bad
man ~
Madam" replied the voice-"mad-
am, II, is the tide; the nip tide, or the
spring tide, or something, and cannot
help il; It has carried away my bathing
machine, and all my things, and must
climb into this or be rowned"
"If you only dare" said his wife-"if
you only dare SO much as to lift the
awning, 1 will-yes, L will will cry
police,n and with that she ran up the
steps as fast as her bathing gown would
permit, bolted the door of the machine,
and (she says) tainted. But the man
held on desperately to the outside of
the awning, had his clothes taken to
him in the water, dressed, and waded
home. E.-E
was nearly driven away from Par
gate last year by an affair of this kind
that happened 10 myself. had order
ed out our vehicle to great distance,
under the impulse of extreme modesty,
and because there were ladies on the
beach, and was swimming lazily about
the pier head, when L suddenly felt
myself drifting shoreward. 1 strug-
gled to regain the machine; but the
current-the current 1 had heard SO
much of-was too much for me. was
not afraid of drowning. for 1 could
keep myself afloat well enough; but
worse than death by drowning threat
In spite OF all my efforts, directly down
upon the esplanadei felt myself
blushing from head to foot-tingling, l
may say, from topic toe-and the water
getting shallower every moment.
dared not turn my face to shore, but
raised my voice as well as 1-could In
"Ladies !" said-"ladies, the current
is carrying me to your feet. 1 cannot
help it-upon my word, can'r-and I
shall be on dry land in a couple of
minutes. I shall have to run along
the beach"-I thought IL best to tell the
worst at once-"I shall have to run
nearly a hundred yards, ladies, before
can regain my bathing machine.
When said this 1 thought they would
be off, but from a hurried glance over
my left shoulder, ] saw they were still
there, about four and twenty of them,
and I heard a sound of suppressed
laughter.
"Ladies!" began again-and now
wished might be a sand-eel to the end
of my days rather than what 1 Was
"ladiesI don't look in this direction; but
I call you to witness, it is only the
cur-cur-.n At this place I got my
mouth full of sand, and found myself
not more than ankle deep in water.
Let the Pargate Star of the ensuing
Saturday tell the rest. am not sure,
indeed, but that it WIS on the Saturday
that this dreadful thing occurred, and
that there was a special edition of the
Star devoted to me that evening. At
all events, here 1t is:
"DIsG GRACEFUL OuTRAGE!-We regret
to say that the esplanRde of Pargate
was made the scene, at mid day, OF u
fragrant outrage, the perpetrator of
which, we trust, the police will make
every effort TO secure. While our fair
promenaders were employing their
minds upon the beach with thoughttul
books, or knitting graceful articles for
the adornment of their boudoirs, they
were Terrified by the appearance of an
elderly monster in human form, swim
ming softly towards them, and utter
ing the most savage, but unintelligible
sounds.n This refers, / suppose, to my
simple statement regarding the force of
the current. .Our fair friends, of
course, rose On the instant, and made
the best of their way homeward"-
Tthey done nothing of the kind, but sat
as sill and composedly as though ]
had been a novel species of Jelly fshl-
and the ruffiRn, having reached The
shore, contented himself with pursuing
them for a moderate distance with
dreadful cries"