Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1876-07-30
CAPE MAY.
An Immense Crowd at the Famed and
Fashionable Sea-Nide Watering
Place distinguished
Visitors.
The Surf Bathers-The AristOcratically
Lean the Most Presentable in
Bathing Costumes
The Dogs.


From an Occasional Correspondent of the
Appeal
STOCKTON HOTEL, CAPE MAY, n. J.,
July "a 1t is only three hours ride
on the West Jersey railroad from Phila-
deIphia to Cape May, but the difference
of temperature is that between the tenn
perate and tOrrid zones. Few summer
resorts possess so many natural advan-
tsges for health and pleasure as this eX-
treme southern point OF New Jersey; it
is famed on three sides by the DELI
ciOusly cooling breeZes Of the Atlantic; |
the coast is one Of the safest and most
delightful for bathing purposes, while,
inland, there are fine fores g and green
pas tOral meadows, intersected by inlets
and coves Astounding in fish and oysters.
There are many resorts on the jersey
coast, but Cape May was frequented be-
fore most Of them were beard OF, and
Notwithstanding the confessed attrac-
tions of younger rivals, she still holds |
her own, and is gladdened each season |
by hosts of new admirers. AS village, |
Cape May has permanent population |
OF about twelve hundred, which is in |
summer, especially, TO the limit Of the
accommodate capacity Of her Dumer- I
Gus hotels and boarding-houses. There
are, think, not fewer than seven thou
sand persons at the Cape to-day. The
Stockton hotel alone, with its capacity
for twelve hundred guests, is at present
overcroWded, and hiss been COM
PEELED, after converting the east
parlOr into a dormitory, to turn
away many applicants for rooms. From
conversation with many visitors here, l
am persuaded that, in spite of hot
weather and financial depression, an I'M
usually large number Of summer tourists
are aflOat. The excursion facilities Of
fered by the Pennsylvania railroad COM
psny, enabling the traveller to zee at q
comparatively small cost more Of the
world than any other corporation can
compass, has induced many to leave
home, primarily to see the exhibition in
Philadelphia, and, seconGarily, to see
the many in Ceresting places to which the
ramifications OF the road in New Eng
land, Canada, the southern and middle
States will take them. They remain
about week in Philadelphia, often run.
ming down to Atlantic City or to this
place, which has won the name Of the
Philadelphia Brighton" TO spend the
night Or Sabbath. Among the distin-
9uished las the saying is) persons here
are @ eneral Jos. r. HaWIey and wife, of
Hartford, Connecticut; FIitz COnliffe
Owen, Of London, Eoglsnd, japanese
commis siOner TO the Centennial eXposi-
ton; Count Outrement, OF Brussels, Bel
GUM; E. A. Weyden, Vienna, Austria;
Commodore J. III, Ferguson, U. s. N;
Hon. J. BaiD, lord, mayor of Glasgow;
Hon. II. @. WsrmOth. ex governor Of
Louisiana; Colonel ThO5. A. Scott; Hon.
Thos. II. BoWles, Indianapolis; Colonel
Grey and family, Philadelphia; J. n.
Hobert and family, San Francisco; Gen.
eral w. J. SeWell, president OF the West
jersey railroad; Hon. w. 81. SioWell,
Petersburg, Virginia, and many others.
| The chief attraction here is surf bathing,
and it is enjoyed by all ages, sexes and
| conditions. The fashionable hours for
| the bath are between eleven o'clock in
| the morning and one O'Clock in the af-
| ternooD, when the breakers and beach
| present s very animated appearance.
| Two or three thousand persons may be
| Resn in the surf about twelve O'Clock
noon, while large numbers come down
| to the beach as spectators. The belle
| who was st the hop last night, so re-
! spleDdent in toilet, emeTge5 from the
bathing. house in q rough straw hat,
| flannel petticOat and shOrt pantalOOns,
| her white ankles cleaning in the sun;
| her little toes bearing the marks Of tight
shoes; she plunges in the wave and her
| garments have become ciingingly wet.
| Shade of the lovely, can it be,
| That this is all remains of the:
| Slender men and women are more en-
viable in appearance in bathing toilet
| than the c0rpulent. Some Is lies wear
corsets in the water, and Others wear
stockings, with, / think, cork in them,
perhaps to preserve their lives in case of
accident; but 10 art can tone the IN
manageable grOtesqueness of a fat man
| or woman in bathing costume. | con-
| fess l have softer side for woman's
rights since l have seen some Of these
ethereal ladies swimming and diving as
fearlessly as fish. Yesterday l saw
couple, suppose man and wife, little
further cut than seemed to be safe.
She would get upon his shoulders
| and dive from there through
the heaviest breakers, then she would
| attempt sOmersaults over his arms; for
moment her head and half her body
would be in the deep, and her feet to-
ward the zenith; sometimes, before she
| had completed the revolution, a big
| wave would strike and wash her fifteen
feet away, and when I expected to see
her half drowned and in need Of mascu.
line assistance, she would simply spout
like little whale, snatch the brine from
her eyes, and was ready for another
| trial. After the bath comes dinner; af-
ter dinner, music on the grand piazza;
! then drive on the sands of the much
sounding sea, returning in time for tea;
after tea, a hop in the spacious dining
hall, filtration Gd interim ct dd intini-
tam. This is the way the minions of
wealth Tor credit?) and fashion annihi-
late time and thwart the fiery summer,
and all the while the sitting heat is
sending to their graves pent-up, gasp
ing thousands in the cities, who know
not sea breeZes, or mountain air, or
green fields-nothing but hot, radisting
bricks and nauseOus smells. The even
ing papers from Philadelphia report the
thermom ter one hundred degrees in
the shade; here it is so cold that the
ladies sit on the piazza in wraps. There
is something wrong in cur social ecOnO-
my; the mutiuOus OutcrOppings of labor
| strikes, trades union and other blind ef-
forts at rectification, are not the disease,
they are only the symptoms. 1t is not
equitable that the poor should die by
thousands in the city, while thousands
luXuriate Wastefully in pleasant places.
The survival Of the fittest theory will
not solve or satisfy the fact. The habit
tues Of cur fashionable summer resorts
are not in any sense the fit-the bone,
sineW, brain or virtue of the country.
There is a well-kept brunette here with
dog. The two seem to be very much
wrapped up in each other. She hastwo
maidstone for herself and one for the
dog. l am neither rich nor cruel, but l
would give five dollars to see this dog
coursing along the beach with tin pan
tied to his tail. II this dog had lived in
Paris during the revolution he would
have been guillotined.
The HeaIthfuIness Of Lemons.
| When people feel the need of an acid,
| il they will let vinegar alone and use