The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-09-10
BATHING IN SWEDEN.

Women Do ALL the Rubbing and
Manipulating-An Amer leans Exper-
| iencs.
George Alfred Townsend in Boston Globe.
The use of women as barmaids, steward
/! esses, theater- box attendants, theater ushers,
ETC., was universal in Europe. The higher
! degree of respect observed towards women
in America is, perhaps, the distinguishing
! feature Of the western society. | may have
| forgotten to tell you that in Sweden and
| throughout the north the bathing houses
are served by females, to the establishment
| Of the modest customer from this sphere.
| Long before got to the far north, hotel
| waiter who had been there said to me that
| strangers met with their first amazement
! In Sweden when women came In to Dathe
them. The first day | was in Stockholm |
passed an arched way upon the central
island there and observed half a dozen
women with bare arms lettering around
the portal. Raising nv eyes to the Intel
| above, saw the word Bad" which means
bath. On this occasion it conveyed
a bad idea, and wheeled about and went
in.
Some slight emotion ensued amongst
hess females, rather of competitive sort,
and, presenting myself at an office, a mod
est-looking female there granted me a
ticket for a small sum of money, about
30 cents, | think, and consigned me to a
creditabe-looking woman of 30 years of age
or whereabouts. Passing into the open court
or paved place in the middle of the bath,
| was shown upstairs to a small parlor with
two windows, at the further eld of which
door opened into u bath room, much
larger than we are accustomed to. The
female Immediately began to draw water
from two spigoss into the larger tub, and
mixed up the required degree of heat.
waited some time for her to retire, but i,
was soon apparent that she was not of a
retiring disposition. So the customs of the
country had to be observed In a few
minutes | was undergoing a scrubbing
with soap, in that sort of attire which
family remembered to have been the do
nestle habits, upon my mothers knee
when on Saturday night. if not oftener, she
deemed it a christian duty to clew me, fill
my ears with soap, tantalize my hair, and
finally discharge me yelling, out clean, to
be put to bed as an extremely bad boy VINO
did not love to be washed.
The Swedish female adhered to all her
clothing; in addition she tied around her
neck and waists the strings of an oilcloth, to
prevent the splas nlng water or possibly the
resisting hands, from taking the starch out
Of her DIRE 8. With scrubbing- brush ami
soap she traversed me, like la wyer in his
roplcations. Having been soused and
scrubbed, | was turned over and Tt3
scrubbed, and bound IN full calf. This.
however, was only the commencement OF
the exercise. The next thing was to get
some Mexican hemp, or Swedish shavings,
ald with clean water recommends toe pro-
cess At last was stood up in a state Of
Adam and showered and needle-bat ed,
wearing only SMILE l was a. last encom-
passed with long, warm towel, and after
that rubbed again with a softer towel, and
was then tucked up in my little bed, a be-
| Nlldered, but clean, being.
The next process was to bring in some
| beer. If hoped, however, to get a nap.as in
similar baths at home, was mistaken; for
IN few minutes the lady appeared and
handed me some article of my clothiug
| and expressed desire that should get out,
which she, being unable to speak my vul-
gar tongue, emphasized by pointing to the
| ticket which had brought me there, which
indicated that was only to have that BATH
between certain hours of the clock, say
from | O CLOCK to 3 o'clock. | was then told
to ask for No 9 the next time came, as a
matter of loyalty and gratitude.
The next day it occurred to me that |
felt better than | had done during the three
weeks in Paris, where there is hardly
enough water to wash small child allotted
| to every ward of that great CITY. In n
DSASAA
as favor, after waiting some time, and
J every attendant looks half franc to l franc
| at you; begging in France seems to be the
| common law. In Sweden nobody begs and
everything is cheap. l inquired at nv
ho.el where | could get the best bath III
Sweden and was told to go up the street
to a certain number, which found in a
| highly arlstocratlc quarter di-
rectly opposite the American
consul's abode There | fully
expected to find a male bather, but su Cd
was not the case. Again at the head OF the
stairs, a female cashier gave me a ticket a.
little more than the price charged at the
democratic bath. Again 1 encountered a
| bsvy of females in the hall. each apparently
anxious to take charge of me. Without the
presence of mind to select for myself on
this occasion l fell into the hands
| of female perhaps 40 years of
! age, and was taken into smaller
and more scientific apartment, provided
| with the latest endowment in the way of
bathing, such as marble pools, spring
lounges and water apparatus, invisible until
certain doors were opened at the sides of
the apartment, revealing remarkable pro-
fusion of preparations made for single
| person.
1t seemed to me that they had as many
showers, douches, needles, etc, in this one
| apartment as are commonly given in
| America at the public saloon where every
body concludes his bath. The process was
exactly the same, and a cafe being attached
to this bath, CO i'd have glass of Madeira
or OF spirits mixed with the delicious arti.
fetal mineral water they make in Sweden
| and throughout the German North. To
give mark to the female attendant is
thought TO be quite generous. in addition
TO the mark and a half charged by the as
taollshment. In short, for about 50 cents
one can battle every day in Sweden and
vary the attendants s. as to get a respecta-
bic understanding of the population.
Influence of Mind Over Matter,