Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-02-08
THE RUSSIAN BATH.
THE PLACE WHERE THE PORES
TURN INTO SWEAT-SEWERS.
The Mysterious Ordeal of vapor, Soap and
Water-In the Steam Room
Sparriug with Cold Water
"A New Man.
George Alfred Townsend in Boston Globe.

George Alfred Townsend in Boston Globel
There is not so much difference between
the Turkish and Russian bath as you would
suppose. The Turkish bath is dry, heated
air, which you inhale, and which forces you
to sweat. The Russian bath is heat modified
by steam. The Russians, l fancy, found the
old Roman bath in Turkey, and, not liking
a very dry air, they sought some means OF
softening it, and, therefore, they had the
vapor baths.
When you go to the big Russian bath you
occupy one of about 200 rooms, all stable
and commodious. You take off everything
You possess in the way of human
manufacture, don't gird yourself with
a towel, but step right out into
the public plaza, and you go back through
the gristing room to the wiping-room, which
has roof and walls of onyx. Then you
open the door of the tepid room, which has
a big pool of water in the middle, AMI all
around it are marble slabs for reclining, and
the heat comes out OF various CRATES, and
overhead is fine piece of stained glass.
Behind this room is the scrubbing- room.
where they scrub the human body as if it
were a wooden floor You pass through this
apartment and enter the steam-room proper,
which has also a great pool in the middle.
The first pool you have already passed in the
tepid-room is male up of well water.
The pool in the steam-room is Of Croton
water. You can hardly see anything in the
steam-rooin when you first enter. The heat
is high without being oppressive. The
pores Of your body begin to open, and finally
you have not a single pore that has not
poured forth. You find your skin to 10
pierced everywhere with little bits of sewers
nd punctureS, and out of each comes that
heat which is not of much use to you. Finally
you come out, and a man seizes you and lays
you down on piece of marble and put Il
sponge under your head. Then he takes a
flesh brush anu lot Of soap and he scrubs
you everywhere.
When you are thoroughly well scrubbed
you are allowed to go free, and you naturally
turn to a corner of the scrubbing-room
where the different spiSots of water are al
lowed to go wild Cns of these spigo;s
comes from the floor, and you can hold up
your arm and strong jet of water will
seek you under the armpits, or you can
throw your head back and the same Jet Of
water will strike you under the cerebellum,
and you will freeze out what very low
animal nature you must possess in order to
be a great reformer. Another sheet of
water comes when you touch a spigot from
the top AMI strikes you with the full force
of human fist, and you can have a sparring
match with cold water which you don't often
have, dare say. Another spigot turns on
the shower. By the time you have started
these different spigots you heart has just got
a little aroused AMI takes an interest in you
You next step through a side door into the
great Roman apartment, which Is something
like forty feet wide by perhaps 100 feet in
depth. This is the gem Of the bath The
proprietors put it in two or three years ago
md expended all their spare money in the
stained glass and the solid marble walls, the
marble ceiling, etc. At one end is the mag
netic apparatus, by which you can get all
the electricity you want in no time. At each
end of this room are all sorts Of needle
spigots, by which you can have a lung bath,
a kidney bath, a shower bath, or whatever
you desire. At the opposite end is a marble
arch, which leads to the natural plunge
Here there is a driven well, and the water
comes up clear and green. You wet your
head with the bottom of your hand and then
you plunge in. The first shock is pretty
rough. Somehow or other you want another
one, however, and before you leave that
beautiful plunge, which must have chemical
properties Of some sort, you feel like buying
out the establishment and remaining there
for life.
After you have passed through man
takes a towel and gives you another one, and
you are wiped dry and then you are taken
into the kneading room and put on clean
sheet and every joint and muscle in your
body is worked or annealed until the whole
man has had a certain gentle exercise and
hogging and stimulation Then YOU
can go and have your corns cut and the
thick skin taken from under your soles, and
il you are very noble minded they will rub
into you some alcohol or some lavender
water or some vaseline In the meantime
your boots are being blscksned You can
get into a chair with blanket around you
and be shaved When you step out into the
open air almost everybody you see seems to
be young girl