St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-07-14
81 -

the awful behaviour Of silk bathing
costume.
.'Why girls" she said, forgetting the
heat, as she told the story to her IN
tensely interested audience, ''that was
the very prettiest suit ever saw when
first put it on. 1t was lent me
by Birdie Durande, one of my friends at
the beach, and the little wretch smiled
when she handed it to me. but L didn't
suspect anything. The basque was of
dark purple silk and made quite loose.
The pantalettes we're also loose, the
silk being tride lighter than thatin the
upper half; they came to the knee. AL
together the suit was an extremely
modest affair, and as l teetered down
the spring board to the surf, | was sure
| should create an impression; and |
did, girls, not only an impression, but
sensation. When | reached the water,
there was Bob Chandler and that dark
New York friend of yours, Elsie; | for
get his name; they were waiting to
teach me to swim. Each of them
took me by q hand, and l jumped
I thought the unmentionables
felt strangely clammy, but, Oh, Lord! !
if you had seen me in the next minute,
l was a sight. Bob. you know. would
insist on it that must duck my head,
OF should have headache for the rest
of the day, he said. That was the sum-
mer that had my hair in short curls,
and | didn't care about it getting wet,
so l just ducked. After came up it
took me about a minute to get the water
out of my eyes, but as soon as did, and
never forget it, l thought L should have
tainted, but l knew that dark fellow
from New York would have made moth
ing of carrying me along the beach to
the bath house, and the very thought
sustained me. If you'll believe me, l
might just as well have had
NOTHING AT ALL ON,
absolutely nothing. AS soon as it was
wet that suit just chung to me like wax.
| looked as though | had on tights, and
every wrinkle in my skin showed
through the filmy texture of that treach-
erous garment. Well, there was one
consolation about it, as thought after
wards, and that was that l was not
Scrawny, like some people. l was so
ashamed that could scarcely look any
one in the face, and when | did look at the
New York man, his eyes We're like
saucerS, and he came to the hotel that
night and proposed to me on the piazza,
Sdlll llC uCNCl ouN GuCH q OlidI HiIIS
picture as | presented in that silk suit,
in his life. | was so mad that didn't
even answer him. just got up and went
to bed. OF course, anything like that
does embarrass unsophisticated girls
like us, from the West here, but the
girls East don't mind bit. You re-
member that little Mr.. PaIgrave. Maud?
He was at the hotel when we
first arrived and pa introduced
him as the son of an old
friend of his. Well, that fellow was the
most ridiculous sight in the water. He
wore the very brightest sort of suits,
and his le-limbS were not thicker at the
thckest part than those Egyptian num-
mics were that we saw at the British
Museum. He always wore his eyeglasS
in the water, and his stupid little face
was screwed up all the time as if he had
pain. | laughed so much that l
couldn't keep ON my feet, and almost
drowned myself when Bob ducked
k him; he begged and shrieked just
/ like school girl, and spluttered for half
/ an hour after he came up. But of all
the sights, you should see Mrs. Trew-
pvar Howard in her pet costume. 1t is
made of some soft clinging substance,
similar in its action after having been
wet to my silk. The dear creature is
forty, if she's day, and decidedly in
clined to embonpoint. l never saw