St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-06-15
Cape May Letter.


knowledge and acQuaintanceshlp of the
North, and for several years 1t has been
the summer refuge of what you might
call the Semi-SOuthernerS, the people
from Maryland, Delaware and Virginia,
With heavy Sprinkling from Phlladel-
phla and Pennsylvania.
1t is one of the most peculiar water
Ing places We have, and it is little
difienlt TO say whether it should be
| called the least modest, or merely the
most provincial, Physically, it has a
splendid, broad, long beach of sand.
hard enough to make beautiful duve.
Facing this are many large hotels of
that distinctly Southern type which we
N0rtherNerS are best acquainted with IN
Knowing the West End hotel at Long
RraNeh> The long, slender columns
that support the porch sheds, even With
the r0ots Of the houses. are the rule.
There are more presty girls In
minute at Cape May than at Long
Branch, C0Ney Island or ROeSaway in
n season. They are what y0a might
call Sseo0Ntry pretty>s But like all
Southern girls. they are spoiled. They
have never had any 0ISelplInes they
do and saw what they pleaSes
they are petulaMt, arbitrary. whiN-
steal, and though it is not a
pleasant wOrd 10 say. selfish, Only 4
Southern man can get along with a
Southern girl, and he does it by agree
ing beforehand that whatever she says
or does is ecStatically delightful. Some
OF the pecQlSarities OF Cape May are
that it is the fashion there for the girls
to blister themselves into deepmahog-
anv tan. One month after the season
.,,,an,>s shaw ,ra0r auanlnr dress
You can Imagine for yourself what the
effect would be of mahogany throat
above a natural neck. What on earth
they are going to do this summer, when
all the ladies are going to wear
collarleSS gowns or low-cut shirt
waists, is is difficult to see. But it is the
fashion and always has been the fashion
for the women to spend just as long a
time as possible bare-headed, bare
necked and bare-armed in the hot sun.
And can assure you there is more hot
sun in Cape May than IN any other
watering place in this country.
1t is also and always has been the Gus
tom for the ladies to dress for breakfast.
to parade on the porticos in pretty
morning attire aud then to disappear in
their rooms, presently to flock to the
beach i'm wrappers. 1t is thing you
have got to get used to. The rela-
ton between the sexes are even
more remarkable than the costumes of
the women. 1t is only at Cape May that
| you see frollcklng in the water eXtened
| to rampant pastime. 1t is only at Cap
| Nav that you see the male escort wiring
| out the skirt of his lady loves bathing
dress. and that you will see again and
again every day on the beach.
At Cape May the bathing houses are
MANY times the finest. on the coast.
They are better than the hotels. They
| are we'll built, well kept, tidy and
| picturesque little cities of closets inter-
sected by scores of street.-The passage
1 WAYS. On these miniature streets you
| see carried out another OF the peculiar
| customs of the place-that is the hair
drying process. Each lady puts towel
over her shoulders and then spreads
her hair out over it, as thin as possible,
I to dry. One of the most remarkable
1 eutgrowths of this custom is the habit
/ that the girls have of allowing their
beaux to rub their hair with towels.
Is -
Tt is only at Cape May that you see
women riding bare-headed and in morn
ing gowns in stylish equipages. The
1 drive down to the Elephant, OF farther
still to the POINT" is very alluring, and
| carriage riding is great paStlme. But
| YOU will see ladies in carriages attired
as YOU would scarcely expect to see
| them, except at chance meeting in
| hotel hallway. / suppose that the
| most remarkable things on the At
lantic coast are the tin types displayed
in, the beach photograph galleries,
showing the singular desire of the
| women to obtain portraits i'll their surf
| costumes.
| There is more drinking by women at
Cape May than tany other coast resort.
The principal hotel has large drinking
room purposely kept for men and
women. Hotel clerks who go there from
any other place are always astonlshed
at the orders for alcoholic beverages
that the ladies send down from their
rooms.
But all these traits of the place and
| Its people are not to be set down as any
| thing more than customs, which do
not happen to agree with our own. 1t
is not place for the hoi pollOi. 1t is
not an excursion resort: there is no rab-
BILE there. 1t is very quiet old-fash-
toned, provincial little resort, which has
been maintained rather, 1 think, as a
close corporation by some of the better
families of the semi-Southern states.
The peculiarities that have mentioned
are marked, but after all they may arise
very largely from the fact that the pop
ulation there is restricted, is composed
of one set, and is simply enjoying the
freedom that comes from those condi-
tlOns.