The Republican journal., 1904-03-10
So the first plunge. must BE into

full after Cno toIiSlou VI CIle exercise,
and the relaxation of the muscles is
likely to tempt any one to remain too
long in the tub. But the time for let
ting oneself go is not yet. There must
first be vigorous rubbing either with
a flesh brush or with rough cloth or
with a bath mitten of Turkish towel
ing or some such material. This is
nerhaps best, since the hand thus COW
cred goes over the whole body with an
energy it cannot gain when holding a
waShclOth.
The use of soap is open to discussion.
It is generally taken as a matter of
course and vet | have known COM
netent physicians who claimed that it
did no good. The skin that has been
first stimulated by the bicycle, horse
back ride or other vigorous exercise,
and then coaxed into more work by the
application of warm water does not
need SOAP in order to make it clean,
The rubbing have described will suf-
fee for that. The waste matter is re-
moved by the friction without the use
of SOAP. Yet there is no objection to
this if a good plain toilet soap is used,
one that is not highly perfumed or
too driving in it's effect. Every bit of
this should be washed from the skin
before the cold spray is used to close
the pores and brace the system after
the relaxation of the warm tub.
The cold spray seems rather heroic
measure, but it is only for while that
it impresses the bather as trial. Ina
short time she Graves it and feels no
shrinking from the tingling of ice cold
water, even after very hot bath. The
spraying need not last long-only
minute. 1t is mistake to continue it
until one becomes chilled and loses the
bracing effect. As matter of course,
there are some bathrooms where a
spray cannot be used, because of the
arrangement of the faucets or for some
other reason. This is a pity, but it
need not oblige one to renounce the
douche The pitcher to which | have
already referred can be used or one
can adopt the simple expedient Of a
man knew who used the common or
garden variety of watering pot as a
means for attaining a cold spray.
The stimulation of the skin is pur-
sued by friction with a rough towel.
The ordinary towel will not serve.
Sometimes even the Turkish towel gets
soft and in such cases it is well to pass
it through little starch water before
drying it. 1t should never be ironed,
of course.
The ideal method is to take half an
hours rest after the bath and if the
ride has been long and hard one or if
| the course over the links or the contest
in the tennis courts has been unusually
| fatiguing, it is worth while to give
half an hour to repose. But the
healthy active woman does not usually
need it unless she has rather overdone.
But" | hear a woman say, sit may
be all very we'll to talk about taking
time to battle and to rest for the woman
who has been playing golf or tennis,
I but it is out Of the question for the
woman who rides a wheel. Her ma
chine has to be cleaned before it is put
away"
Not at all, my dear girl or madam.
In the days before the chainless bicycle
| came into service this might have been
the case. With the driving mechanism
neatly encased and amply protected
from mud and dust and even from
rain, there is no more trouble after a
return from a ride than there is in
hanging up racket or setting the bag
of golf sticks in the corner.
Always following bath there must
be some precautions adopted against
cold. Even the cold spray and the
hard rub have not done everything and
the woman who sits in draft when
she has just dressed after her bath
runs great risk. This is especially
the case after exercise, but it is true
also when one has taken the bath with
out preceding it by the walk
or the game. Sometimes one mar
wells what has become Of the com
mon sense that was presumably dealt
out to all mortals when they ca me into
this world.
II have such mean headache" sale
a woman to me the other day. ''The
only way | can account for it is that
forgot how soon after dinner it was last
night, and as l was tired | took hot
bath before going to bed early. have
felt rather queer all day.
And she was sensible Woman.-olC
enough to have known better! Yet
from sheer carelessness she did thing
which might have had fatal result.
The frequency with which such 3
bath as l have described may be taken
is mooted question. There are some
persons to whom it is as regular an
everyday function, barring ill health
as is their breakfast or their dinner
have known those who bathed morning
and night as well,-a rather foolish
thing to do, according to the doc
tors. Some persons cannot stand q
plunge bath oftener than every other
day. 1t is all matter of physical con.
dition. To those who have formed the
daily bath habit it is a real privation to
give it up.
when can l have bath, Doctor?''
queried a woman who was just emery
ing from dangerous illness. cit seems
an age since was in tub"
my dear Madam" returned the ply.
stefan tartly, II have known patients
as sick as you have been who have not
had soap and water come near them fol
six weeks. And you have really been
kept very cleanv'
| The assurance that one is clean does
not take the place of the tub and spray
to one who has the habit of these. Least
of all can one give it up when the hard
ride, the fiercely disputed game, has
brought one into a perspiration that
causes the whole being to cry out for a
Tubing. The woman who does her
wheeling or her playing later in the day
must deny herself the morning bath for
the sake of the one that will follow ex.