The record-union., 1891-09-15
FRENCH BATHING SUITS
Fashion Has Different Rules in Other
Countries.

How wide your eyes would open were
you to see our French sisters and broth
ers, especially sisters" exclaims a travel
ing correspondent of the Boston Tran
script "Our determination TO indulge in
sea-baths was slightly crushed in Paris
when we went to buy bathing suits. As
we could not find what we considered the
correct thing, we concluded to wait until
we came here, for we could not believe
the polite young clerk, with waxen mus
taches, was Trustworthy when he showed
us such very disgraceful- looking trousers
and waist-minus skirts, and assured us
they were for ladies, pGIJoitenle7st c0n1aae
u JCut.' Having given him smile that,
interpreted vulgarly, meant What are
you giving us? we left the shop, con-
Guiding to see for ourselves what other
people did. At IL O'Clock, the bathing
hour, we sauntered down to the beach.
and, securing front seats near the water S
edge, waited the arrival of the crowd
First comes kind of dress parade, when
monsieur appears in his white fiannels,
with his few stray locks brushed carefully
over his bald spots ana a iaunty straw
hat or white cap placed deliberately on
the top of them. Madame, in her foulard,
with trO1t-frOU trimmings, and, though
past 80, seen through her pinll-tule veil
and under q girlish hat of crushed roses,
she has still enough of the cOaJeug de rose
past charms. She is followed demurely
by 6e6e of twenty, the typical French
lnge1lue. How Erenchy and captivating
they seem, however, all looking as if
fashioned by the same modiSte. They
exchange many charming nothings with
chance acquaintance, and survey the sea
and their audience through long-handled
glasses. Into their sentryboxes (for they
are no bigger each one goes, and we can
hardly restrain our impatience, so anx-
ious are we for a sight of them again.
''Finally. Here they comer cry our
children, excitedly. We turn, and
see several male and female figures,
draped gracefully in long cloaks OF diff
ferent hue, each having selected their
favorite and most becoming color. All
stockingless, showing their white, we'll
shaped legs, and / must admit l can not
refrain from saying, How lovely What
ankles, by Jove! Just look, how their
skin glistens and shines in the sunlight =
At last they draw near the water and the
rope that forms the dividing line between
the male and female batherS, for-inark
you, my friend = the French, though
naughty and considered vicious, still
have their code OF morals, and no man
dare bathe his lady friends, as is done so
recklessly in America. Monsieur and
madame may take hands and in stately
manner walk into the water, but woe to
the unfortunate youth who LAYS the
weight of his little finger even on the
51agenate 6e6e, or makes the fearful mis-
take of crossing the 'bee-line.' Those
lovely wraps, of course, did not go into
the sea; they are dropped one by one,
and either handed 20 q maid-who is gen-
orally there for the purpose-or thrown
across the line to wave their bright colors
in the salt breeZes. And what do our
eyes behold? Can it be-yes! the identi-
cal bathing-costume, the only one known
in France. There they stood, matron and
maid, father and son, figures slight,
and fattest, all clad in trousers and waists
exactly alike"