St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-08-09
On the Beach Fashion ShoIl1
Not Be Thought Of Too
Often.
Beautiful Women Who Take
Their Lives in Their Hands
on Going Bathing.
Salt Water Is Beneficial Only
When Used in Right
Fashion.
More Fun in the Waves, But
More Health in the Quiet
Bays.

III Chicago 10 think much about sea-
bathing simply as a recreation and a
means of cooling off, yet there are many
women who go to the sea shore i'm
pressed with the idea that a dip in salt
water is sovereign remedy for every
possible ailment. 1t is an undeniable
fact that many Chicago women return
home feeling much worse after month
or two of sea-bathing than when they
eft their pleasant homes by the side of
the lake. This is due not so much to
the fact that the salt water or the daily
StrOllS on the beaches are injurious
in themselves, but that they are in
dulged in at the wrong times or under
the wrong conditions. just at this time
of the year the beaches on the Atlantic
present an attractive sight of beau
tiful women, clad in stuffs that hold all
the cOlOrS of the rainbow, with the dia-
mond drops of the sea failing from their
tresses or from their shoulders; the
wide stretch OF surf-bordered beach
dotted with children and with their
nurses, the coming and the going of the
throngs of pleaSure-Seekers. the sweep
illimitable eXpanse of the sky.
Women may we'll go to battle in the
pure. sparkling, ever-changing sea. but
they should do it carefully. and with at
least as much regard for their health as
for the style of their bathing suits. Cor
their information, although the hints
may we'll be read by the men, a bathing
expert has put together some season
able advice which is worth observing.
In talking through the New York Her
aid, he advises all bathers not to wear
any fabric between themselves and the
salt OF the ocean. Don't filter this sea
water through any flannel or cotton
Let it strike the skin and perform its
true hygienic action. Give the sea
chance at you and you'll not regret it,
my dear young woman. next winter;
you'll see your rivals at the ball show
ing splatters of color on their cheeks
when yours are as r ddy and as firm as
ever Hebe'S were.
Of course. if you cannot find any re-
tired nook at Newport. Narragansett
Pier. Long Branch or Cape MAY. don't
altogether despair. but wear as loosely
woven fabrics as can be found. Re-
member that the object of a bathing
dress is of the most conventional char
acter, and the nearer you get to the
condition of unadOrned nature the bet
ter it is for your health. As for the
purely moral influences such method
of bathing might exert. those. of course,
could be considered with more or less
benefit by philosophical theorists who
do nO1 go to the seashOre.
OF all the great crowd of pleasure
seekers who so 10 the sea il is fair to
assume that with the exception of
chronic invalids all battle in the surf.
1t can be declared. too, as certainty
that of these batherS none come back to
the city at the end of the season without
deriving considerable benefits from
their water experiences, unless the ex-
ceptlOns have been very careless and
have disregarded the most ordinary
precautions in regard to their health
The daily bath has almost invariably
led to the accumulation of flesh AMI
sinew, the tOughening of the skin. and
the quicken:ng of the surface circula-
ton OF the blood.
But while the sea water does all this
to those who use the surf bath intelli-
gently. it may do great harm to persons
whose organisms are weak, or who are
led to abuse their systems by indulging
too often in the pleasures of the bath.
Persons who use the bath tub with per-
SlSteney and intelligence in the winter
and derive immense benefits from it.
seem to believe that in the sea, whose
temperature is as constantly changing
as its waves, they can afford to be care
less of the simple rules of health and
not suffer for their indiScretion.
In the first place, the shock of the surf
should DE as much avoided as the shock
of a blow from the fist Where the
bather has any choice at all he should
choose the shore that has the least wave
movement. OF course there is much
more fun to be had in a surf that runs
four and five feet high. but if one goes
to the seaside for health and not alto
gether for fun, it will be well to battle
on that portion of the beach that is less
theatrical and safer. 1t should be re-
membered that one of those great waves
which come rolling in from the open
sea, after accommodating impetus over a
stretch of hundreds of miles. is almost
certain to strike the body which stands
in its way with force equal TO several
hundred weight. To an invalid, then,
such shock must be disastrous. To a
person in ordinary health the blow is
often staggering, and results in tenn
nary disturbance of the nervous sys-
tenn. To women the blow of a heavy
wave should be especially avoided, as
the chances of injury are in proportion
to their power of resistance.
There has been great deal to say on
the part of scientists since men and
women began to battle in the sea about
the ACCESSIBILITY of going into the water
before having eaten anything. SO me
haue declared it to be equivalent to a
death warrant to allow the stomach to
absorb anything before the plunge.
Now it is generally understood that if a
person is very weak he should never
battle before having strengthened hi m
self with food. This is particularly ap
plicable to women. But this food should
be of the lightest possible character. 1t
should never consist of more than a
small cup of bouillon, even as prepar-
alton for the morning bath. With the
bOuillon may be eaten slip of Zweibach
about as large as lady's finger.
With this preparation the woman may
go into the water with some assurance
that she will not be afflicted with the
| terribly weak sensation to which all but
/ the strongest are sometimes subject. If
| she happens to be in ordinarily good
health she should choose the time for
| her first dip about an hour before break
fast, just after arising, and with as
| little preparation of an elaborate toilet
| as is possible at YOUR hotel. The first
bath of the day is the most important
one and Will do more for making your
beauty as the roses of the field than any
| other combination of bath. In enter
ing the surf you should do so back
first and should fall-fall, mind yo7
as soon as possible into the water
| The shock in getting complete
wetting In this fashion is less than pro
polling yourself head first into an on
coming breaker. The effect upon the
body is the same, and all the conditions
| of the lowering of the surface tsmpera-
tuIe of the body are secured without the
usually unpleasant accompaniment of a
shrek of terror and mouthfnl of salt
water.
Just about this time, when you are
fairly within the water, you should
make up your mind that you must do
everything you possibly can to keep in
motion. Get hold of the life line, if
there is one. and jump up and down as
though your life depended upon it, and
keep it up until you feel tired. This
will not be nearly as long as this in