Helena weekly herald., 1886-08-12
SEASIDE SAUNTERINGS.
PEOPLE, SIGHTS AND THOUGHTS
BY THE BEACH,.
Women's Bathing Garments-Ths Super
fuous and Perilous Skirt-A Delight
full Resort-Seaside Cottages-LittIe Sea

Especial Correspondence
New YORK, July 19-There are things be-
sides toilets at the seaside / don't know any.
thing more wearisome than extensive ward
robes, particularly in summer | prefer in.
dividuals to clothes any time While watch
ing the bathers in the surf the other day
could not but notice that there, as elsewhere,
the clothes prescribed for woman were an i'm.
pediment to her. They made her bath both
uncomfortable and perilous. Why must she
be skirted when she bathes any more than
man! Is her form any less decorous than hisi
Has not the Creator given her more beauty
of outline! She needs all her strength and
the freedom of her body any time, but par
ticularly in the water. What man would
venture into the surf arrayed in an ulster or
dressing gown closely buttoned! If accident
forced him in he would expect to be drowned.
The only office Of skirt in bathing suit,
besides being a concession to CUSTOM is to
weigh woman down and make her look
ugly. 1t catches pounds of sand; it soaks up
water like drouth-dried soil: it gets in her
way; it flies over her head when she is tum-
bled forward by wave, and helps to prevent
her from regaining her feet before another
overtakes her. Altogether, it is an atfliction,
and | am wondering what high moral pur
pose is served i'll compelling her to wear it.
This world is far astray in many things, but
in nothing does it reach such wicked heights
of folly as i'll woman's dress; aye, even her
bathing dress In speaking of it l have nc
hope of making any impression on "a time
hardened custom. l merely mention it tc
ease my mind.
Seaside resorts are not all alike. Once in
awhile one finds one after its own kind, and
not constructed entirely on the established
plan. | ran down to Brielle, n j., the other
day, having heard that it was place where
YOU had both the sea and the country-a rare
and radiant combination. And such l found
it. Green fields are all about it to the south,
west and north, and on the east the sea. The
click of the reaper, the kline i'll pasture, the
scent of new mown hay, and a picturesque
orchard close to the wayside give it the true
favor of the country, while the sea, the sea-
"the deep heaving sea-" hath its own endless
joys ever at hand Where is Brielle! didn't
know myself until recently, because it is only
four years old, and aS yet not much OF
horn-blowing infant. 1t lies twelve miles be-
low Long Branch, between Manasquan and
Point Pleasant, both of which are in sight
1t isn't village. 1t is a resort, pure, simple
and sweet with none of the unpleasant
adjuncts OF place where other things beside
recreation are going on. Its history is similar
to that of larger and older places. An asso
ciation, seeing the beauty of the location and
having faith in its future development
bought the ground and erected the lovely
hotel Carteret, with its great broad veran-
dahs, wide halls, and big, airy sleeping rooms
lie
are furnished. and ready to be stepped into
inspected one belonging to Mrs. Fuller, wife
of DR.. Fuller, ex-lieutenant governor OF Utah
now proprietor of the Health Food company,
in this city. 1t had good sized, well lighted
rooms, famed night and day with sea breezes
Who couldn't find summer glorious in such q
cottage by the sea! Many who live per-
manently i'll the country might take useful
hints from the furnishing of these summer
dwellings. They have light wood floors
'shellacked," and an art square i'll the center
The furniture is light hardwood, the wood
work is light wood; the walls are In cream
color, rough finish, soft and pretty to the eye.
The windows have ornamental colored glass
above them Shades and no curtains are the
rule The whole effect is sweet and sunshiny.
Nothing stuffy or oppressive i'll the way OF
furniture is tolerated. The light and air can
be let in at will, and it would be mercy to
humanity if they had as easy access to all
houses. | never could understand why SO
many ladies cover up their windows and
make their homes like caverns.
What a charming thing it would be for a
party of congenial friends-say two, or even
three, small families-to rent one of these
pretty cottages and summer together in a
natural healthful fashion, untrammeled by
too much wardrobe! There is the hotel Car
teret, at whose table they could eat and have
exquisite fare, food beautifully cooked and
daintily served, and be waited on by neatly
dressed, good looking and thoroughly trained
English girls / thought of the wearied peo-
pie of the stage who come back to New York
and dump down in dull rooms, for which they
pay as much money as would rent a cottage
by the sea. What do these cottages rent fors
Three hundred or $3.50 for the season, which
is from MAY l until October, if the tenant
desires to stay that long l thought, too, of
the teachers, the writers, the artists, the hun
dreds of refined women, to whom summer
in such a place would be a boon. thoue ht
of them and sighed.
From Brielle one can see two villages.
--"'Squan" the country folk call ton the
north Two rivers also help to make its land
scape picturesque, the Manasquan and the
thinner Glass-rivers by courtesy, for they
are really arms of the sea or sheets of salt
water separated from their mother ocean by
a ridge of sand and bit of swamp. II ey
make lovely beating territory, and produce
no end of crabs.
They have good substitute for wardrobes
at this hotel, and one that might be adopted
by housekeepers quite frequently. A smooth
board about a foot and half wide is stood up
on end yard and half from one corner. A
shelf is placed at the bottom, and sloping
board on top. The top board is full of ward
robe hooks ON the inside. Across this i'm
provised clothes closet a curtain Is run on a
wire rod, and TO- even fashionable belle
could hang away goodly stock of gowns and
keep them free from dust. Many a house
keeper who longs for an extra wardrobe and
cannot afford to buy one could construct such
. one as this with her own hands and find 1t
good l am convinced that simplicity in
furniture, as in everything else, IS the true
way. | hate to see woman owned by her
furniture-a slave to it. / would rather own
the furniture, and / want no more OF that
than can decently get on with.
All along the Jersey shore one finds groups
Of children who belong somewhere about,
but spend all Saeir daylight time by the sea.
i have noticed that these little sea urchins are
generally thin-legged and scrawny. They
play around in spiritless way, though they
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