The Wilmingtonian., 1884-08-30

oihco cutcIlliS uuI pTOLtSG tsSdlHSB buc
growing laxity in matters of public decency
at the seaside resorts on the New Jersey
and Delaware shores, we have been in
receipt of many verbal and written commun-
ications warmly commencing our course.
Moreover, our Peninsuar contemporaries
have likewise endorsed our comments and it
seems now as il but one bold brave effort
were needed to inaugulate a new era, an era
of decency and proprcty, in the matter OF
public bathing at the seaside.
Foreveryone who has lived to those years
when the scenes of this life become matters
for calm contemplation rather than the
childish wonder which carries the spectator,
willy-nilly, into the whirl of pleasure, every
such person, we say, must have long ere
this forced himself to admit that the morals
Of the modern American watering place have
reached the nadir Of laxity and indifference.
We are accustomed, with bated breath, to-
regard to female virtuc and public decency
| And yet, if we look nearer home if we cast
an eye on the beach at Atlantic City, Reho-
both, Cape May and even prudish Ocean
| Grove, we shall find recklessness prevailing
| among the bathers which would cause the
good people Of Boulogle or Trouville to
shug their shoulders and grin with
extreme significance; and which would not
| be tolerated for moment at any seaside
resort in England. In France the sexes
bathe promscuously, as they do here, but
the proprieties are strictly observed, for all
that; while the costumes are designed to
secure the maximum of decency consistent
with the free use of the limbs in the water.
In England every attempt to introduce the
promiscuous system has been sternly pro
scribed by public opinion, and though there
is considerable room for reform in other
respects, the bathing quarters of the sexes
are located a hundred yards apart, and the
costumes are of the closest and longest So
far as the fair wearers are concerned.
In striking contrast let us note the firs
sketch presented herewith, the original o
which was made at Ocean Grove. 1t is
fac-simile Of pen-and-inl drawing, nothing
exaggerated, nothing omitted, The bather
stood within a few yards Of whole GROVE
OF male loungers, who criticized in expires
sive rather than polite terms, the contlas
between the maternal proportions and thos
t Of the daughter who might have been fron
her height and slender figure, an immediat
descendant of the 'tall sycamore of TIN
Wabash The elder lady limbs we're bar
from the knee dOwnwards, and her bust wa
displayed with profusion worthy of
Greek statue. The daughter wore scarlC
y hose, and seemed as indifferent to the ga7
: Of ''thc boys" as a wax figure might hay
!, been under the same circumstances
IS Whatever may be said to the contrary, tt
y general tone Of the press throughout Il
= world, has been moral. There are newsp
L pers which lend themselves to d0able-eate
dres and salacious articles of the Clara Bel
type, but the newspapers, as rule, are clea
al They speak the voice of the ruling men al
a. women of the day. They are the mout
ty piece of all that can be expressed by t
lis term 'thc people, considered in its hght
be abstract sense. And, as such, we belle
of the press Of tie country is swiftly moyi
NO on to strike u crushing blow at sea-si
mt immortality.
st In the Philadelphia Press Of Sunday last
It case was cited among the crowd Of nor
ad makers at Cape May on the previous d
ty, where gentleman entered the water in
1or tight-fttng white costumes so that he mig
ng on first sight, have been supposed to
entirely nude. Even the not very nice SCI
ho bilities of Cape May Were shocked by
out spectacle, and demand was made for
removal from the beach. Here is pl