The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1890-08-23
TOOK A TURKISH BATH.

A NovlcE,s VIEWS OF THE MYs-
TERIEs OF THE INSTITUTION.
They Roasted Him, Froze Him, Steamed
Him, Drowned Him, Beat Him and
Then Rubbed His Bruises with OIL.
But He Was Clean and Hungry.
The man who had never taken a Turkish
bath said the reason he had tarried 30 long
was because he did not want to expose
himself to the scorn of the attendants, who
would discover at once by his mistakes
that he was a novice. But II his friend
would promise to steer him against the
game, he said, and instruct him, so that he
would not expose his ignorance, he would
20 willingly enough. A man behind a desk
at the door took $l.25 of his money and
gave him a ticket, q rubber ring with two
keys attached and an envelope. His guide
ran his hand through the rubber ring as
though it were a bracelet, put his watch and
money in the envelope, wrote his name on
it and gave it to the clerk and then started
of with the green ticket.
The heavy curtains behind led into q
uarkened, ornately furnished and warmly
heated hall, with doors opening into 1t on
every side and doors opening out on an
oriental balcony that ran around it. It
was Uttered with a great many leather
sofas, on which were stretched half dozen
men in different attitudes Of repose or ex-
haustion. They were wrapped in long
white cloths.
rHE ssWARM'' ROOM. I
The attendant unlocked one of the doors
opening into the hall and showed q dress
ing room, into which the novice disap-
peared to come forth clothed in a long and
light strip of linen and his rubber bangle.
His guide led the way before him down
stairs through a barber shop and down an
inclined place heavily carpeted. 1t was
very silent and very dark.
At the foot of the inclined and carpeted
plane the debutant stepped into o big
marble, gayly colored and tiled hall, with
q deep tank of green water sunk in the
center and surrounded by brass rails. He
saw all this dimly through 9 mist Of steam
that brought the persptration to the sur
face of his skin with q rush and made him
gasp and feel dizzy. He vas quite sure
that he would faint II he did not get back
to the fresh air, or be seized with nausea,
or fall over, or stife, OF do something
equally foolish. and he tried to hear what
bis guide wa saying and failed.
His guide seemed as much at home In the
atmosphere of the place as though he were
on Broadway, and led him around to q row
Of steamer chairs that were hot to the
touch. The debutant was still afraid to
breathe, and painted and glared around him
helplessly, while his head seemed to be
splitting in different parts, and his ears
were ringing and tingling. "Do you want
to go into the warm room or stay heres" he
heard his guide ask politely.
"Intothe what-the warm room?" gasped
the victim. "Great Scottt what do you call
this:" he asked, pointing pathetically at
the rcdncss of his skin and the streaming
Precipitation.
"Oh, this isn't anything" said the guide,
jumping up apd stalking off into q smaller
marble lined room filed with hot, dry
steam. "This is the Russian bath" shout
ed the guide; for the novice still found It
difficult to understand.
Observation-Disclosures gasp
ed the novice, "I-want-to-get-out"
The man who had been there before
pulled the chsin of a shower bath and told
the novice to I 1t his head under 1t. The
water that fell was gratefully cold and the
novice held his head In the waterfall and
breathed freely and long. This made him
feel better, and when he stepped back into
the warm room again itdid not seem o bad
He lay down in the steamer chair and
watched the heat wash away about three
pounds of him with u novel and delighted
Interest. Then his guide took up the line
Of march and signifed that he was to fol-
low q fat attendant with biceps like prize
fighter, who led him into a room with q
marble slab in it and u shower bath. There
was no one to direct him now, his friend
was locked up with another determined
looking prize fighter in the next room, and
the novice felt very nervous and inclined
to give the whole thing up and go home.
IN n %PUGILIsT's HANDS.
But his own particular pugilist decided
the matter for him by pressing him down
on the marble slab like a s%acrifcia1 offer
ing on an altar and began pounding him
with q wet catcher's glove. He ~alternated
this treatment by rubbing the bather'a
skin the wrong way with his closed fist,
and hitting each particular muscle q raj
with the palm Of his hand. The only sat
isfaction the novice had was in listening
to the whacks the other prize fighter wa
giving nls Su10e III tne 0eAo TooA0. 1e Ae1t
that he was in part avenged. When biz
own body had been reduced to q pulp the
attendant lathered him over with a soapy
substance that got in his eyes and mouth
and made him blind and Ill. The attend
ant removed this with a hard brush, which
he passed over the novice's body as deli
cately as a sailor swabs up the deck Of
man-of-war. Then he stood him up undel
. shower bath and dropped q ton Of it
water over his nervous system.
The attendant gave him about five min
utes to recover in the tank, around which
he swan or fioated heavily. with the ION
viction that he was SO clean that the ver1
sunshine would show darkly on his face
Then he was dried of aud laid out agaiz
on another slab covered with leather, and
the pugilist had a little more fun with him
and kneaded and thumped and pounded
him and rubbed alcohol over him, andther
wrapped him ina cool white winding shee,
and led him upstairs to n of the leather
covered sofas, where he was enveloped II
another light covering and allowed to &
to sleep after he had dipped the prize fighter
for having reduced him to a helpless sem
blance Of q man. The principal thing thai
49, NJ 1900 IL.