The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1877-08-22
WORKING GIRLS AFLOAT.
Fifteen Hundred Pretty, Modest, "ell.Be'
hnved Misses Enjoying Themselves.

hnved Misses Enjoying Themselves.
The New York Sun of o recent date
has the following account Of a free ex-
cursion to the seaside given to the work.
ing girls of New York and Brooklyn
When the Columbia steamed away
from the last of her New York landings
yesterday morning she carried 1900
working girls, and at her Brooklyn land
ing 800 more taken aboard.
The Columbia arrived at Rockaway
beach at about one o'clock, and the ex-
cursionists poured over the gang plank
at each of the landings. At the second
landing some of the officers put out o
narrow plank beside the gang plank, and
helped many of the girls over it. The
bystanders applauded their gallantry
and the girls laughed IS they were as.
sisted to the pier. At Rockaway every
body was alert to see the expected
visitors. The girls thronged the wooden
walks and hurried to the beach, where a
fine surf was rolling in. A few went in
bathing ct once, but most of them o o
returned to the buildings along the
shore and presented their chowder
tickets. Two hundred of them sat down
together OF tables in a grove near the
second landing. Praise was showered
on them on every hand for their attrac-
tive appearance and modest behavior.
At least a thousand of the girls went
into the water. Over 8, 300 bathing suits
had been placed at their disposal free of
charge by the bathing house %proprietors.
A few of them were good swimmers, and
struck boldly out beyond the breakers.
A large number stood up to their waists
in the water, keeping fast hold of the
safety ropes. The majority, however,
stayed very near the shore and padded
in the shallow water. Most of them re-
NAMED in the water a longer time than
is usual, as though reluctant to give up q
pleasure to which they were unaccus-
toned. One of the swimmers was Mary
johnson, Of 10th street and Fourth
avenue, a middle-aged woman who has
only one leg. She laid her clutches on
the shore and hoped through the surf.
On Thursday last she went down to
Rockaway because her physician told
her that she ought to take her little six
.year-old girl down to the seaside for the
benefit of her eyes. She lost her ticket,
and could not return until she was taken
to Capt. Pease, who allowed her to re-
turn on the Columbia, and, in addition,
gave her three tickets for yesterdays OK.
cursion. She said that she tried to give
two of them away to her neighbours, but
they would not believe they were worth
anything. When she came out of the
water she said yesterday was the
brightest day she had seen in America.
There was no boisterous or otherwise
improper conduct observable among the
hundreds of spectators on shore. The
bathers laughed and screamed rs they
tumbled in the surf.
Many who did not go in the water
walked along the shore, finding endless
novelty in the freaks of the water as it
made frequent darts up the beach after
retreating steps. All looked with interest
at the large transatlantic steamships as
they moved seward in the distance, their
long black hulls being half concealed in
clouds of dense smoke.
At half-past four o'clock the Columbia
again touched at the landings to bring
the e1cursionists back to New York.
The girls hurried from the beach, some
of them apparently with regret, and some
of them looking tired with their days
sport. Again the Plymouth Rock fired
a salute, and both steamers, with their
decks crowded, started back to New
York, where they arrived at about half
past six o'clock. On the passage up
lemonade wa again served in unstinted
quantity by Mr.. Spencer. Tho band
played and the glee club sang. When
columbia, the Gem of the Ocean," E'as
sung, some of the words having been
changed to make it allude to the steamer
Columbia and Capt. Pease, the girls
Joined in the chorus.