Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1889-08-23
LETTER FROM THE sEAsHohe.
ATLANTIC CRY, N. j..


doing business at the same old stant
and doesn't show the slightest sign o
wear and tear.
What a wonderful place Atlantic
City is, and what sight it was OF
Sunday of this week. Just think o.
14O. 900 visitors being here in addition
to the natives. Why, it beats Shep
herdstown on decoration day. What
would old Shepherdstown be if the
railroads would land seventy thou
sand visitors there in two days? And
what would mine host Trussell dc
when they came to him for accom-
mediation? One hundred and fort!
thousand persons is a big crowd oil
people. but that is just the number
that were here yesterday; and the
hotel men took the strangers in, too.
The question naturally arises, What
do these people do for amusement
Well, I'll try and tell you what the
majority of them seem to do, and you
will have fair idea of the daily rou-
tine here. From the inlet to the Elk
cursion House, a distance of fully five
miles. there stretches an elevated
platform, called the board walk-a
boulevard about fifteen feet wide, OF
smooth pine boards. l have never
been there so early that it was not
filled with people nor so late that 1t
was not crowded. Everybody prom
enades on the board walk, for it runs
just along the edge Of the ocean and
YOU have fine view of the breakers,
the beach, the bathers, and all the in
teresting sights belonging thereto.
| don't know what time the process
sion starts in the morning, but go
there when you will you will find it
moving The people saunter along,
getting themselves weighed on the
nickle-in -the-slot machines, Smelling
out money for shells they want as
relics, drinking ginger pop that never
pops, buying salty candy and trying
to eat it, and the younger folks, OF
course, slyly flirting with each other.
Then there is the sandy beach, where
YOU can just lazy around in the soft
est. cleanest sand imaginable-even
if you do have your Sunday clothes
on it will not soil them. About IL
o'clock the bathing begins, and by
noon thousands upon thousands of
the bathers are in the surf. This is
glorious sport to most people. TO
NV taste there is nothing more ex-
hilarating than to 60 out and meet
the big breakers that come in con-
tinually. The ride over the top of
them or dive through them as they
break Just meets my demands. But
sometimes the waves get in their
work very unpleasantly. If you do
not happen to be ready for them you
will be thrown down and wallowed
around on the bottom until you think
you are never coming up again. But
YOU always do. No one gets out of
humor, for it is such a merry crowd
that good spirits are contagious.
They say that from twelve thousand
to forty thousand people go in bath
ing every day-you can imagine what
q sight it is. The costumes are pref
tv much all alike. That of the men
consists of blue jersey shirt with
out sleeves and trousers that come to
the knee The women wear blue
dresses with short skirts-some are
very short-pantalettes and black
stockings. OF course there are excep-
tions to all rules, and consequently
some unique bathing suits are occa-
sionally shown. The females who de-
sire to create sensasion array them
selves in white or yellow or red suits,
and these seem to be of different ma
terial from the regulation blue. They
cling to the form something like wet
muslin, and the result is quite inter
esting.
The average bather is not beauti-
full to look at A fat man-not a
paunchy one-looks well when he has
on neatly fitting bathing suit-but
all the others-bah! As for the fair
sex-those who are really fair are in a
great minority. Before they go in
the water many of them look jaunty
and lovely. But when they come
out, with their compilations washed
off, their hair uncrimped and hang
ing in strings, and their bathing suits
clinging in wet folds, they seem like
different creatures. When girl looks
pretty after she comes out of the
ocean you can set her down for a
beauty, sure enough, But the girl
who thinks she is truely beautiful is
careful not to go in the water. She
may sometimes put on bathing
suit, but she never gets it wet. She
prefers to stand around looking pref
ty or pose in lovely attitudes on the
sand, with gay string Of admirers
about her. All this, you know, is
very pleasant, and the sand is dotted
with loving couples who no doubt
wish that everybody else were miles
away. Whenever an umbrella is seen
close down on the sand you can bet
there are two heads under it.
About one o'clock in the afternoon
the bathing ends, and then everybody
is ready for dinner. 1t is astonishing
what an appetite the salt air gives
you. No wonder the landlords charge
such high prices.
As might well be suppose, in all
this vast crowd of bathers occasion
ally there are drowning cases. Mr..
Baker and myself witnessed thrill