Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-05-22

the waiting room already occupied by
half a dozen Finnish gentlemen. There
were several lighthouses in the town., but
TINS was the best, and since it had been
lately closed for repairs the run upon it
now was great, for the Finlander is de-
voted to his bath. At last our turn came,
Two bath attendants beckoned to us. and
we plunged into the mysterious regions
beyond.
TO my intense surprise all the attend
ants were women. Englishmen have their
~prejudices, but it was too late to retire
without making ones self ridiculous.
Passing through a door l found myself
promptly locked up in a little whitewash-
cd room. some eight feet long by four
broad, down one side of which was a mar
row couch covered with a sheet, This
was the undressing room. Must every
thlns be left here" I shouted through the
wall to the Norwegian who was in the
next cell. ''Everything,' he replied. mot
even a sheet or a towel?' 1 suggested.
There was Il babel Of Finnish from the at
tendant at his door n a manful effort
on his part to understand. Swedish will
carry one through Finland, but these
~bathhouse women spoke not a word of
1t. Nothing at ALL" was the verdict, and
SO. clad thus scantily, we left our cells,
turned a yard or two down a dripping
passage and entered a foggy room. On
either sid of this We're long, narrow
wooden shelves, about eight feet from the
ground, to which we had to c limb by
wooden step-ladders. According to direc-
tons, we reclined at full length on the
shelves, in heavy, misty atmosphere, feel
ing like a fish about to be boiled. A han
die was turned and dense clouds of steam
enveloped us, rushing through apertures
from the furnace room. where jets of wa.
ter were pouring over red-hot bricks Or
stones.
Three or four minutes in this atmos-
phere produced the effects Of half an
hour in the dry air of a Turkish bath.
~Steaming with perspiration, gaspinE for
breath, and half boiled, we cried for
mercy. The steam was shut off and two
women mounted the steps with pals of
hot water and great punches of ,eafy
birch twigs. fastened together in the
shape of a half-exparded an. The pc
culiar feature of the Finnish national
bath was about to begin. The steam
bath is common throughout eastern Eu-
rope, the "bassang" (beatins) is the diff
Terminating feature in Finland. Dipping
these fails In the water, the attendants
begin to lash our recumbent forms, not
gently, but very vigorously, from foot to
neck and from neck to foot, first as we
lay on our backs. then as we turned over
to our chests. The sharp sting CT the
blows at first was scarcely pleasant, but
NAAS col AS=oA PNA
delight. 1t was like the fierce glow which
follows a plunge into ice-cold water,
when after the shock the blood rushes
tingling through the veins. Then the
steam was turned on again. second
lashing followed. and we were ordered
to descend from our lifty perches and
enter another room.
Soaping. ~shampooing, rubbing with
flesh gloves followed, then dousing with
pals Of warm water and standing under
a spray first warm, then chilled, till cold
was reached. All this was the familiar
process of he Turkish bath. But the
strangeness was in the attendant: and
still more strange vas it to be taken
hack to the little room in which l had left
my clothes, to be unceremoniously tow
elled by the same attendent, like a baby,
till I was dry, and then ordered to dress
Immediately. But where were the socks?
They had been carried off, and were
brought hack hot and dry from the, fire,
an invariable attention at a Finnish bath.
Almost before I had fully realized that
the bath was over l was out again in the
cold night air, the whole ceremony hav-
ing scarcely taken twenty minutes. The
Finlarder is no believer in lying still to
cool down after a vapor bath. GloNing
and perspiring. he plunges straight out
into the chill air Of a northern night,
without even an 'overcoat to lessen the
shock. If the feet are warm. all is light
he tells you. So he puts on his hot socks,
and walks off leisurely to his dinner. And
certainly we ourselves felt no 1u-effects
from following his example.
KEpT HEP NERVE