Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-12
BROOkLINE'S PUBLIC BATHS
The Health of the People is the He
ginning of Happiness.
From the Boston Herald.

4 from the Boston Herald.
Above the main entrance of the Brook
| line public baths, carved upon a stone tab
/ let supported by dolphlns. are the words:
The Health of the People the Beginning
| of Happiness"
And for an explanation of this let one
visit the only all-the-year round bathing
place under municipal control east Of the
Mississippi river in Brookline There I'm
| the pool of water of a delicate emerald
green color may be seen daily, I'm classes
little tots, boys and girls all of them school
children, swimming at ease, some using
the difficult strokes of the master of the
art, and all of them divers; a few years ago
the thought of diving from the large or
small spring board at the head of the
building would have sent them into spasms
of fright.
All this has been brought about because
the wealthy town of Brookline was the FIRST
place hereabout to see the advantages of
swimming part of the school education
of the child. and today the art is just as
much a part of the school life as mathe-
mates, geography or any one of many book
studies pursued.
and management of the institution il is
not only the action of the water that pro-
duces the desired benefits, but the actual
amount of exercise taken. 1t Is probably
true that person swimming and diving as
all bathers are in the habit of doing does
nearly, if not quite, as much work with the
muscles, and uses as many Of them as il
going through the exercises in a gymnasi-
UNI. Taking into account the hyper-actiyi-
ty of every nerve ending i'm the skin after
a bath, the committee is led to the conclu-
sion that half an hours stay i'm the nata-
torium will be more apt to remove effete
material from the body, and react bene-
ficially on all the organs than ordinary
gymnastic work for a similar period And
the committee is made up of nine eminent
scientific and professional men and women
of Brooklne
In the last six months representatives
from large cities I'm this part Of the coun-
try have visited Brookline's $4,000 bathing
place, and have gone back to their homes
strong in the belief that bathing places
open the entire year. and properly managed
under city control, are as necessary to tho
people as public library or any other pub
lie institution.
The moral effect of a public bathing place
has been well considered. holding up all the
time. as it does. in the opinion Of the COM
mittee. a standard of cleanliness and vigor
Such an effect, ii is thought, must be pre-
duced although a difficult thing TO recog-
nize Certainly the bathers appreciate the
immediate benefits they obtain, and some
of the poorer ones must carry some of their
high spirits and obvious cleanliness into
their homes. and there stimulate an inter
est in bathing one Of the things worth
having. II is I'm this direction that the COM
mittee believes it may confidently look to
the public bath as an educative force. the
parent getting his lesson through his child.
and one of the pleasant things about this
particular kind of education is that II
comes in an attractive. almost joyful, form,
and not in gloomy and repellent one
In its two years of existence IL has been
estimated that about $1,000 school children
have received free instruction in swimming
and a large number have been taught the
first rudiments of the art. Certificates of
proficiency have been issued TO a large
number. There are many who believe that
the noble work of life saving by several
young men of Brookline. who plunged into
waters In
park system, Christmas day, and rescued
fifteen or more children from drowning is
one of the results of public bath in tho
community. Certainly. Brookline today is
a town of excellent swimmers many of
whom received their first lessons two Years
ago at the public baths.