The Portland daily press., 1881-08-10
France and England at the Sea.

[Loudon Times.}
The moment the national fete is over the
French capital turns its back upon Senate and
Chamber, and begins to think of the Norman
coast. The republic has been fortunate in its
birthday, far more fortunate than the empire.
which could never keep Paris till the 18th of
August. The 14th Of July is just the right
time for closing festivity, for the great "set
piece" which ends the entertainment People
have not been kept waiting too long, and they
are in good humor when it comes. But it is
the signal for general scattering. For a
week past the stations of St. Lazare and the
Nord have been beset with hurrying crowds;
Paris has put on its travelling dress-generally
very becoming one-and the move is being
made to the sea. The harvest of Trouville and
Deauville is about to begin; Etretat, which
was simple fishing village when Alphonso
Karr and his artist friends discovered it, is
welcoming the invaders from the capital, who
come in yearly increasing numbers to enjoy its
breezes, and, it must be added, the opportuni-
ties which it offers for the display of ravishing
toilettes All round the northern and north
western coast, from Boulogne to the mouth of
the Loire, the next two months will see at in
Vulnerable points population given up to en-
joyment, and succeeding admirably. For life
at French watering place is not to be estima-
ted solely by reference to Trouville, or Dieppe,
or the few other holiday centres that dot the
coast. 1t is in the smaller places, at Petites
Dalles or Fecamp, at Arromanches or at those
Breton villages which are as yet known to few,
that the charm of the French holiday life be-
opno
The boredom and ennui of the English re-
spectacle seaside, the vulgarity of Malgate or
Herne Bay, are equally unknown across the
Channel. In the first place, the lodgings and
the landlady are not there; the French family
hires tiny house for the season, with little in
it but the bare boards, and a comfortable bonnie
from the village does the cooking and the
cleaning for them. In the next place, bath
ing, which in England is duty or penance,
is in France pleasure and q rational enioy-
ment. The English are commonly thought to
be an inventive raoo, s~. go tiro MaIuer Of sea
bathing they have not only not invented, but
they have declined to adopt the simple inven-
ton of others. The lack of proper costumes
divides the sexes in the water as rigidly as if
the sea was ritualistic church; and the re-
suit is that the social pleasure of the bath,
which is certainly its chief pleasure, does not
exist. In France, the bath is family picnic,
splash in common and help each other to swim,
and make merry over each others mishaps.
In England it is, at best, severe exercise, ta-
ken with all the drawbacks of solitude, a
vague sense of impropriety, and the numbering
of the horrible machine. Who will be bold
enough to reform this barborous custom? 1t
is only the first step that costs, for, after all,
English people are sensible enough and ready
to adopt improvements when they see them
before their eyes. Let some leading family,
at Scarborough, say, or at Folkestone, dress
themselves at home in pretty French bathing
dresses, throw ulsters over them, and boldly
march down to the sea in company. The ex-
ample will spread; the machine will give place
to the cabin; bathing will become social and
deserve the thanks Of their generation.