The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1885-07-25
Cape May Bellies.
Philadelphia Press.

stretch from seventy-five years ago till
now, but Cape May has bridged the
chasm with an increasing succession of
beauty. The bellies of the olden time
might not recognize their successors of
the present, but the latter are the direct
descendants of the former, and honest
ly deserve as did the famous old beau
ties the right handed down from sum-
mer to summer without break, of
defending against all corners Cape
Mays claim of supremacy as the resort
of lovely women.
Everybody goes to see the trains come
in at Cape May, and the effect of the
aggregation upon the casual traveller
alighting from the cars (not with his
eyes full of cinders and his clothes full
of dust as in years gone by) is very de-
moralizing. The shock of a cold surf
bath IS nothing to II. II is beauty,
beauty all around, but nary a beauty
for him. After few trips to the Cape
the casual stranger generally can stand
the strain of arrival with more equani
nifty. He finds that all the beauty is
not inspecting him, after all, and gen.
orally, if he's any sort of a man, he
manages to have drop of beauty all
for himself in the ocean of it that surges
around the station.
BEwITCHING CAPE MAY BEAUTIES.
Whether it is that Cape May air de-
velops beauty, or that the beauty of the
country has taken upon itself to develop
Cape May, nobody knows, but certain
it is that the worshiper of the ugly can
find no sanctuary for his incense offer
ing at the Cape. Beauty, attired in
clinging white flannel, walks along the
beach under big red sunshades; beauty,
in bewitching black, with red ribbons
and straw bonnets, goes shopping around
the town; beauty, in costumes above
the waist chiefly of lace-black lace
sometimes-drives up and down Beach
avenue in fancy dogcarts; beauty, in
dreams of dresses, throngs the hotel
bathrooms two or three nights every
week, watching the dancing and occa-
sionally, very occasionally, dancing it
self.
Beauty also bathes. So do men and
everybody else at Cape May. Bathing
at Cape May is as delicious as eating a
good dinner anywhere else. The beach
is as broad as the preachers estimate Of
the road Bob Ingersoll is travelling /;
as level as the head of the office holder
who is on both sides of the fence about
the time the Administration changes,
and so firm and easy and warm that ly-
ing on it and watching the sky and the
waves is like going to paradise by the
parlor-car route.
The surf at Cape May is like the surf
at no other place in the world-worse
luck for the other places. Plunging in
it is the perfection of seaside enjoyment.
1t has all of the bracing stimulus of the
salt, without the disagreeable chill. Its
long, even swell makes swimming as
easy as in lake, and the breakers break
just enough to give pleasant tingle,
like the sparkle in soda water. So safe
is the Cape May surf that the little
children stand in it waist deep, and
play "ring-around-a-rosy' and "Co-
penhagen," without the necessity of
having old folks watch them.
PICTURESQUE BATHING SCENES.
Custom makes from eleven to one
the bathing hours at the Cape, and
during that time the scene on the beach
is one of rare life and beauty--a verita-
Bile vanity fair, with the naughtiness
left out. Not everybody bathes every
day, and the hundreds who are ''not
going in to-day" dressed in their gay
est, walk up and down and watch the
hundreds who are in. The good clothes
on the beach and the gayety in the
water make delightful combination.
In years past Cape May has, justly or
uniustly, borne the reputation of being
somewhat in advance Of the age in the
matter of bathing suits for the ladies.
A careful and conscientious inspection
of the shore shows that this year, at any
rate, there is no foundation for any
such charge against the modesty of the
Cape May ladies, perhaps because they
are of style that needs no adventitious
setting off in the way of excessive ab-
breviation of attire. A man looking
for information on this subject to-day
watched the rise and fall of the bathers
in theinviting pillows. A bit of wreck
age foated ashore near him. 1t had
black eyes, dark hair streaming to the
waist, and too wavy to hang in strings,
and plump cheeks softly Drowned. A
big breaker had tumbled it somewhat,
but it did not seem seriously. 1t didn't
look frightened, and the man ventured
to introduce himself as meek and
lowly seeker after knowledge.
"Are-that is, do they wear-I mean
welfare bathing suits shorter than
usual this year?"
Sparkling teeth illuminated the reply.
"Why, 1 don't know; l think there
have been enough to go around so far" "
Desperation-nerved, the man tried
again. "You didn't understand l
meant to ask, that is, 1 wanted to know,
you know, if, l mean whether, that is,
if it is true, that the ladies' skirts are
shorter than usual this season."
A little, neatly slippered foot stole
from under the red-braided edge of
skirt. A slender hand, tipping long
white arm, pulled the skirt until it al
most covered red-stockinged knee.
The teeth cleaned again, almost wick
edly: "Do you call that short? ?" and
before the rash man recovered from the
shock light laugh and head of dark
hair were plunging into the breaker
nearest shore, and something red and
alluring flash a moment above the
water.
Taste in bathing suits at the Cape
this year runs towards the old quiet blue
and grays. Dark blue, set off with narrow
red braid, and cut ever so little to fit
the figure, is the favorite. A novelty
in surfcaps is sort of oilcloth sunshade
of bright blue or red, but for attractive
ness the red handkerchief, tastefully
knotted into the hair, takes the palm.
A new and very tasteful notion is the
wearing of collars in the surf-not the