The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1881-05-25
AT THE BATH.
Woman. Description Of other women There


Clara Belle IN Cincinnati Enquirer
A friend told me yesterday that if I
wished to become deliciously cool that
should take Turkish bath. The after eff
feet, she said, was something wholly salts
factory to the parched soul and body Sew
eral weeks ago, / wrote few lines about
what women wore in these baths. My in
formation was at second hand. Here was
a chance to perform the duty of investigat-
ing right along with the pleasure of Turk
ishly bathing. So | went straightway to
one OF the several large establishments in
New York during the hours when it was
sacred to my own sex Not d man was to
be seen about the place. A woman took
my 81, 80 in an outer Office, and let me in
to the next room, which looked like the
cabin of Hudson river steamboat. 1t
was long and low. with soft carpet on the
floor and doors in row at the sides, op-
ening into little dressing rooms. / was
told to go into one of those and to dis
robe
Must take off everything2" 1 asked.
Everything? Oh, yes" said the attend
ant; s'but you will find a sheet to wrap
yourself in"
Just then a ghostly figure wound in
sheet emerged from room and disappear
ed through another door at the further end
of the cabin. She was TALL thin woman,
with a bloodless face, and her back hair
hung loose wouldn't have liked to meet
her in graveyard on dark night But
she was completely enveloped, and that
gave me comfort. for | had felt
BLUsHINGLY sQUEMIsH.
| might have been seen ten minutes
afterward coming sheeted out my room,
and sinking toward the entrance of the
bath. | pushed open the door and had
scarcely seen that / was III mere ante
room, and l was IN the condition of my
grandma Eve before she took to aprons.
An attendant had grabbed off the cover
ing.
Here" l said, budding myself together.
Il want that"
ooh, none of the ladies ever wear any
thing, was the response, in an expostula-
tory tone.
Well it wouldn't do to kick against the
fashion, and l allowed myself to be pushed
into the bathroom. What sight met my
astounded eyes, About 100 utterly nude
women were in that big room, lounging
in willow chairs and sofas, walking
about, chatting with acquaintance and
perspiring like squeezed sponges The tenn
perature was 100, the dry heat pouring in
from registers on all sides. I was awfully
ashamed at first, but the unconcern of the
great majority gradually treasured me, and
at length / ventured out of the corner in
which l had taken refuge.
The scene would have disenchanted, |
vow, the most ardent admirers of my sex.
There were many comely bathers to be
sure, with fine forms and smooth white
skins, but the revelation Of hollow chested
a.. IL
shanks and hairy arms, or corns and
bunions, and of various unshapeliness, was
something beyond my power or desire of
description. An old walrus of woman
waddled her red three hundred pounds
about with a lank, rib-displaying wearer of
eyeglasses. / saw several persons whom
| had seen before, and bless me, how
altered they looked without clothes! One
of these was the
POPULAR LEADING ACTRESS
by sight, because of having seen her half
undressed on the stage Somebody called
me by name and / with considerably
greater difficulty recognized the face of an
acquaintance. Perhaps that assemblage was
not fairly representative, but taking it as
standard, not more than one in ten of us
| is reasonably good in finery, and not one
in fifty would do for statuary. The best
| figure in the lot was that of woman who
could not have been less than forty live
years old, and it was perfection itself il
every curve and proportion; but as rule
the women of twenty-five to thirty ex
celled in form, the younger ones being
scrawny and the older ones either gaunt
or f1abby. AS for the cute little aprons
sashes and rudimentary skirts which | haC
expected to see (and which / have since
been told are worn, though rarely, by par
ties of swell women when they hire tht
whole establishment for their own exclu
sive selves), not q shred was to be seen
The only wearers of anything were tht
dozen attendants, all slender, sprightl!
young women Each had towel wrapped
around her body from waist to hips, anoth
! er over one shoulder and across the breas
to the opposite armpit, and third wount
turban like around the head. They lookeC
jaunty and agreeable 1t was their tasl
to show bathers how to use the cold waite
douches, pools and showers, and to scru
them with brushes they lay on marbl
tables. ! like the bath well enough, but
am sorry saw the naked women, for the.
| somewhat disenchanted me