The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1871-10-05
Miscellany.

| .... NllSSS116DAA
British Bathers Shameless Exhibl
tions on the English Coast-H1f
Nude Menand Women Disport Then.
selves In the Water "a
NJ. D.. Conway sends to the Cincinna3
Commercial the following description d
bathing at the popular seaside resorts i
England and Scotland: j
'SThe most fashionable, seaside city il
England is Brighton, but it is bit of III
West-End of London transferred to .stH
coast, and the beach is all SHINGLES; and it |
an cxccrable place. There is not, saiH
DIR. johnson of it once, there is not evel
"a tree to hangone's self on, as one is sure If
wish to do, after being there a few hours
1t is hot, dusty, brassy, an yet not witfho,S q
interest in one way or another on account q
its association with the Georges and theh
fine ladies.
(, Scarborough is the spangled stage queeh
of watering-l laees-the Long Branch 4
England in all but proximity to the md
tropolis. For adventures, airtationa, balls
ostentation, Scarborough isunequalled. Ths
Isle ofWightis pretty, but too hot, in ttacg
tropical. People who wish real advantage
of pure air, quiet, healthy life, and pleasans
scenery, go to Llaududno, in Wales; y
Bourne mouth, Weymouth, and a dozen othef
quiet S, OTIS of that kind. Butthe democratie
wateripg-places of England are Margate and
Ramsgate. They are only from two to othrea
hours from London; trains speed betweeB
them and London all day like shuttles; and
they swarm with all the lower middle-clasa
and the trades people Of the huge CITY. Fel
pure, balmy air, pleasant walks and drives
and general healthiness, they equal anyplaecs
Margate and Ramsgate are only some tcti
miles apart The former is very fast place;
like Coney Island. Ramsgate is not auits
so fast, and has better stands. But, as
have said, it is excessively democratic. Tha
family must be poorly off indeed that cannd{
afford jaunt to this place and a dip in ths5
sea. The scene On the sands during every
hour of the day is something quite indescnhy
able, and such as can be witnessed nowhere
else on earth. . ~ =
Early in the morning. o'clock -tha
bathing begins. The bathing-machines ara
small houses on large wheels, which. ata
drawn, or rather jerked, by horses downiht1
the water sedges IF the bather has survived
the joltings Of this operation, which hrfEE
him or her. against the side of the machilef
he 81 she descends q small ladd der into
Water. The women and men ase apas
s5dlpvEgar EuFfs 5, 5Fs J0aolI hzs dol
n tlie name Of deceney. The real result
q maxiimumof findeceney, 50 far as that nudity
and exposure, in which the sindeeency iss
supposed to consists are concerned.
Up to the hour Of 8 O'Clock the men bathet
by hundreds withontsa rag ons After that
hour they put on afag; that is ssall4-a strip
Of so called drawers, just four inches wide.
Decorum thus secured, they, bathe during the.
morning less than a hundred yards from
where the, other sex are bathing The
theory Of the female bathingis that the mem
are absent. Really, there are always between
one and two Thousand thronging the shore
near them, to say nothing OF the bathing
men. No effort is made to secure any
privacy. The female bathing costumes are
gowns that reach to the knee, drawers or
trowscrs being unknown. Phey are without
ornament 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 ludicrously. These gowns
successive generations Of, bathers until
they are almost rags, and the waves
show these habited in them as little
respect as the gazers from the beach. De.
corum, would suffer little Iii comparison 1T
they plunged in without any gown at all.
One always hears the ladies when they first
come, declare that nothing nldinduce them
to 90 into the water SO, and they turn blush
ing gly away from the hundreds ofnaked men.
But the warm sun and the seductive wave
soon relax their modesty, though the loose
characters stop generally ut Niargate, and
those at Ramsgate are for the most part hon
est, though humble people. But really no
large bathing shore in England is more
decorous than this, while one or TIVE are worse.
The truth is, England is many years behind
other countries in its bathing arrangements.
There is3hardly stream that is not alive
with naked men bathing, even though itbe
Gas in the Thames close to; the most public
thoroughfares.. 1t was complained in the
Town Council of Windsor, the other day
that the Queens first sight on reaching thai
place was large number of naked mer
dabbing around the railway station where
she alights. The custom prevailing al
French and Belgian shores, Of demanding
that both men and women shall be decorous
" dressed, and then permitting them to g
into the sea together, is not consideree
respectable here. At Llandudno, in Wales
a bold rcformer has got possession of tn
bathing machines. and has adopted the rul
of the Continent on this matter. But tha
lis theonly shore where it is known, Il
Scotland bathing machines are almost un
known, the poorer classes making thei
toilet on the sand, and others walking fror
their houses or hotels through the street
enveloped in close Mackintoshes, which ar
removed when they reach the edge of tn
| .,..o- Rrt the Scotch are NOT sensitiy