St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-15

JAW ibbbN N0tA
cate, must feel shocked at the daily
spectacle the bathing beach now pre-
SCENTS.
At the moment that / write | am sit
ting on II of the most beautiful
beaches of the Atlantic coast; the sun
now obScured by clouds, the sky of Il
dark blue, almost leaden in hue, is
lighted by pa!er shades in the west; the
water, which is quite usual, has ass
sumed The same tints, and here and
there white-creSted ave seem to
chase each other to shore.
The hour is one of ~pleasantness and
peace; here one may, "far from the
madding crowd" get close to God and
ones own heart. and worship to the
music of the deep calling unto sound.
l d~iSiike-radicaI though Iam-to turn
from so much that is beautiful and
serene to humanity and Its Shortcom-
ings; but to my subject. Tomorrow at
IL O'Clock how changed the scene! The
place will be alive with men, women
and children; without regard to fitness
OF condition, they will crowd and jOstle
each other.
Now if these people, being decently
apparelled, walked or ran, ii it pleased
them, into the water, bathed and re-
turned to their respective bath houses,
l. 1oiiS UilQO Nv Ill MOultl olS oily W.
lection, nor would there be excuse for
such a paper as this; but when | see a
young man and woman, who have only
met at their hotel. emerge from their
bathing houses, the man looking like a
harlequin in his red and white Jersey
and short blue trousers, legs and arms
perfectly bare; the girl in her costume
de balm, of fine white serge, if she be
very luxurious, made tight, showing
every curve, l feel that a protest is i'll
order.
A few years ago stockings were not
worn; now they may be OF silk or cot
ton, and the latest advices tell us of
stockings cut so as to expose the
toes, which some newspaper CORES
pondent describes as ten tiny pink
Shells" AS l see them thus arrayed-
or disarrayed to speak correctly fear
the girl will SOOn begin to calculate the
effect of what some II lately called
artistic baroness On the mind of
m%asculinity, and the man to be too con-
scious Of the value Of muscle and calf
which he exposes.
AS the mouthpiece of the crowds who
come to witness these exhibitions, let
me quote the little girl, who, in the in
nocence of her heart, asks her mother
eff she might take off her dress and
II PAoy - IN LilNt ~ IN lnulOO
did at the beach,"
After the bath these young people
settle themselves Oh the sand for per-
hapS an hour or so, rarely having any
chapeIon or older person than them.
Is 1T light that an innocent and child
ish creature should be thrown into such
close and utterly unguarded compan-
ionship with one of the opposite sex?
A girls purity and perfect unconscious
ness are her greatest charms, and can
we expect to retain these graces in such
all atmosphere?
You may say bare legs are no more
demoraliZing than bare shoulders, of
which we have a surfeit in every ball
room. Granted; but because we con-
done n indelicacy are we to smile
quietly on all? Round dances have been
the subject of pulpit oratory; let the
moralist and preacher now turn their
attention to this rapidly increasing evil.
All hour or so Of II fashionable
coast will convert them to my view, as
they behold u daughters freely expos
ing those charms which should always
be concealed from the curious and vul-
gar. If your daughter and mine are so
we'll bred in virtue that noue Of these
sponsibility end here? AS to a brother
and sister, can we be sure of them if we
-countenance the leveling of the guards
between them and so much freedom?
Has the tired little shop-girl, without
father OF mother or adviser, no CLAIM
upon us? Shall we preach and not
practice? Can we expect that she will
assume and carry out the same code
that our tenderly-nurtured and hedged-
in children can follow? She is tired
and worn out with hard labor and poor
food: a day and a night are all she can
get or rest from the treadmill. Sick in
body, and, alas! too often sick in heart,
let us give her all the happiness and
relaxation we can; but let US hinder,
not help her to think that familiarity
and license mean recreation.
Look at their faces, prettier and more
delicate III many cases than our OWL
children, yet with all the sparkle of
youth gone out; the shadow and
curse of premature age have drawn
hard lines upon the tender
flesh, and the anxious eyes
betoken the battle of life and the pur-
suit of the almighty dollar" They
come to the "shOre" to have good time,
Ito paint the town red," and they begin
early and end late; they work for their
fun as they do for their bread.
The freedom which the morning bath
introduced grows as the day speeds on.
Their companions, gentlemen friends
as they are called, are generous to a
fault: everything that the town affords
is at the girls service. They ride, they
dance, they fiirt, and when night has
drawn her curtain, as they pass me in
couples, he with his arm around her
slim waist, grown so careless that they
do not even shrink as they see me. I
can only implore their guardian angels
to guide them, since humanity seems
too obliYious of their welfare.