The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-09-25
Bsitssh RatsaeEs Shameless Exhtbi-
Il tsons ON she. English C0ass-How
Nude Men and Women DtspOrs
rl.A.nsal x,oa I'm tho Watnr.tE.t 80 ,rftR'

Comm, ,ercial the following description OF
bathing ut the popular seaside resorts IN
England and Scotland: -
.SThe most fashionable sensible city in
England Is Brighton, but 1t is'a bit of the
West-E of London transferred to tne
coast, and the beach Is all shingles; and it
is an execrable place. There is not said
a tree to hang ones self on, rs one Is sure
to wish to do, after being there few
hours 1t Is hot, dusty, brassy, and yet
not without interest in one way or anotheEa
on account of its association with tnb
Georges and their fine ladies'.
Scarborough is the spangled stage queen
Of watering. .places-the Long Branch Of
England in all but proximity to the me-
tropolis. For adventures, flirtations, balls,
ostentation, Scarborough is. unequalled.
The Isle Of Wight is pretty, but too hot;
In fact, tropical. People who wish real ad-
vantages OF pure air, quiet, heal ny life, aud
Wales; to Bournemouth, Weymouth, and
dozen other quiet spots Of that kind. But
the democratic watering-places Of Eng
land are Margate and Ramsgate. They are
only from two to three hours from
London trains speed between them and
London all day like shuttles; and they
swarm with all the lower middle-class and
the trades people of the huge city. For
pure, balmy air, pleasant walks and drives,
and general bealthiness, they equal any
place. Margate md Ramsgate are only
some ten miles apart. The former is.aVcry
fast place, like Coney Island. kamSgate is
not quite so fast, and has better stands:
But, as / have said, it is excessively demo-
cratic. The family must be poorly OIL i'll
deed that cannot afford jaunt TO this place
and dip in the sea. The scene on the
sands during every hour of the day is
something quite indescribable, and such as
can be witnessed nowhere else on earth.
Early in the 1nOrniug-G O'clock-thc
bathing begins. The bathins.machines are
! small houses on large wheels, which nre
! drawn, or rather jerked, by horses down
into the waters edge. If the bathcr has
, survived the joltings of this operation,
, which hurl hum or her against the side of
| the machine, he or she descends small
ladder into the water. The women and
men are appointed to different parts of the
| beach. This is done in the name Of de-
cency. The real result Is a maximum of
indecency, so far rs that nudity and eX-
! posure, in which the indecency supposed
| to consist, arc concerned.
! Up to the hour of s o'clock The men
, battle by hundreds without rag on. After
that hour they put on rag; that is ALA
strip of so called drawers, just four inches
wide. Decorum thus secured, they bathe
/ during the morning less than u hundred
yards from where the other sex are bath
| ing. The theory Of the female bathing is
that the men are absent. Really, there are
always between one and two thousand
! thronging the shore near them, TO say no.
: thing of the bathing men. No effort is
! made to secure any privacy. The fe'
male bathing costumes are gowns that
reach to the knee, drawers or trowsers
| being unknown. They are without Orna-
ment of any kind, mere dingy, ugly
gowns, in which, any attempt at swimming
being out of the question, the DANES bob
up and down quite ludicro1lsly. These
gowns have been used by successive gene
rations of bathers until they are almost rags,
and the waves show those hahited in them
as little respect as the gaZcrS from the beach.
/ Decorum would suffer little in comparison
if they plunged in without any gown at all.
One always hears the Ladies' when they first
come, declare that nothing could induce
them to 60 into the water so, and tney turn
blushineIy away from the hundreds OF naked
men. But the WaIm sun and tue seductive
wave soon relax their modesty, though the
loose characters stop generally ut Margatc.
and those at Ramsgate are for the most part
! honest, though humble people. hut really
no large bathing shore in England is
more decorus than this, while one or two
are worse. The truth is England is many
years behind other countries in its bathing
arrangements. There is hardly 4 stre cam that
is not alive with naked men bathing, even
though it be (as in the Thamc )close TO the
most public thoroughfares. II was COM
planned in the Town Council of Windsor,
the other day, that the Queens first sight
on reaching that place was large num6er
OF naked men dabbling around The railway
station where she aliShts. The custom
prevailing at French and Belgian shores, OF
shall be decorou>ly dressed, and then
permitting them to 90 into the sea to-
eethcr, is not considered respectable
here. At Llandudno, in Wales, a
bold reformer has got possession of the
bathing machines, and has adopted the rule
of the Continent on this matter. But that
is the only shore where 1t is known. In
Scotland bathing machines are almost I'M
known, the poorer classes making their
toilet on the sand, and others walking from
their houses or hotels through The streets
enveloped in close MackintosheS, which are
removed when they reach the edge of the
water. But the Scotch are not sensitive on
the subject of clothes. The one great point
everywhere is that men ard women shall
not bathe together. A French gentle
man came to Marglte, desiring to
take into the water his wife and chill
dren. They all had sound costumes, and he
bribed q servant On the beach TO drive
two machines apart for his use. When
this family, the most decenLly clad of any,
went in thus, the police pOunced on them,
they were all dragged before magistrate
and fined, and the servant was discharged
from his place. Of course under these cir
cnmstances, ladies never learn to swim !;
their fathers and brothers, who would
teach them, are not permitted. And, be-
cause they cannot swim, and because no
male friend is near, women are very
one was barely rescued, and yesterday,
alas there was terrible scene. Two
young ladies named Maxwell were bathing,
when the tide swept them out beyond their
depth. One of them was rescued, but the
other was drowned, amid the frantic
screams of hundreds OF ladies. not one of
whom could venture TO try and save her.
Another young lady at neighbOring beach
was about to sink, when u naked youth
taking his bath near by rushed across the
forbidden line and brought her to shore.
INVENTIONS FOR REFINING IRoN.- Wash
tngton, Sept. .20.-rhere is at the present
time large number Of applications pend
ing before the Commissioner of Patents for
an improved process tor refining iron. The
Commissioned is daily in receipt Of appll.
cations and interference claims. The most
common inventions are those which pro-
duce an improved process for removing the
sulphur from iron, an ingredient Wh1ch
must be displaced from all tnat class Of
metal which is to be poli.h or turned,
otherwise the sulphur, which forms hard
narticie In the iron. WonM prevent such