The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1908-03-05
JUST FUDGE.

!
or sixty boys as they briskly pursued
their way along the sidewalk toward the
street in which the municipal baths are
situated. Once a week the class, with
the exception of a few lofty ones whose
parents considered them too clean TO
need a bath or too respectable to bathe
with the other boys, tramped along in
tours to their weekly wash and SWIM
As they marched some OF their mothers
came to the doors to call to their lads
as they went by. Others screamed cpl
| thetS at me for allowing the boys to
wake the baby with their tramplng.
! Women hanging the washing out on lines
strung across (Ee narrow streets and al
leys eXhOrted me to wash 'em clean
or else drown 'em." Whenever we
! lurrymen or electric car drivers would
pass their pungent opinions frankly OF
my ragged regiment. L must admit that
| they had cause for comment. AS the
boys marched along, despite my Wig
Hence, they gradually shed some OF their
clothing, in order to facilitate the I'M
dressing inside the baths. Waistcoats
were removed, scarves stuffed into peck
cts, clogs unfaStened and boots unlaced,
until the appearance of my pupils when
they lined UP outside the baths was at
once curious and distressing.
|
ing sight was presented by the shufiier
Fudge. A mans morning coat, the
skirts of which brushed the ground,
was wrapped round his little body fas
tened with safety pin. Viewed from
behind he presented the alarming APP
pearance of coat with a head perched
upon it moving along with no signs of
legs anywhere Old trashers, several
sizes too large for him, covered his
stOckingless feet, but, needless of all
these discomforts, he kept pace with the
other lads, replying merrily to the SCOTS
of passers-by. He was going to his be.
loved baths; what cared he? AS he
shuffied along one boot came off, but not
deigning to waste valuable time by
putting it on again he carried it along i'll
his hand and cheerfully lmped the re-
manning distance. He always shuffied,
but he could shuttle quickly. Had he
lifted his feet up his boots might have
baths he always damned himself in the
turnstile, but as soon as l had eXtri-
Gated him he would fly to the nearest
available dressing-bOX, and by simply un-
fastening the safety pin and slipping his
feet through the tops of his boots, with
out unlacing the latter, his clothes would
drop off him-an old waistcoat did duty
as shirt-and he would skip off to the
nearest washtub. Once out of his
clothes he was pleasing picture.
Though small for his age, he was chubby
and round, with short, sturdy legs and
healthy skin, soon glowing through the
warm water.
The din created by the boys in the
baths was always deafening. They
raced to the tubs, screamed at the top
of their voices to each other applying for
soap, scrambled in no gentle manner
for the best places-ffty or more wild,
naked lads, apparently trying 20 make
| oh hrIn fPy,Cr
sober bathers from the wash baths above
to stand on the balcony and smile at the
| happy crowd of scholars reveling for a
time in the relaxation of the stricter
discipline Of school. l always stood at
the entrance to the tubroom to see that
every boy was well washed before he
entered the swimming BATH When it
came to Pudge's turn he would invari-
/ ably ask me to turn on the cold shower
to the full. Then he would lift up his
chest, stand with feet firmly braced as
the cooling water drove down upon him,
/ and show me how long he could endure
the breath-grasping shower. When L
| had told him the number OF seconds he
! had lasted his eyes would sparkle and
| his wide grin would reveal his beautiful
teeth. which were kept in splendid con-
dition by the crusts which constituted
large portion of his daily bread.
Once in the plunge bath he was like
lad possessed He would fall in, roll
in. and dive off the board at the deep
end. as if he were some wild creature OF
the woods and streams. Often he would
have me to time him as he SWAN a
length of the bath. l kept a record of
these innings for him in a little dirty
pocket book he had. The efforts he
would make to break his own record
and the disgust he would evince as well
as the thumps he would bestow when
some laundering bather got in his way
as he trudgeoned along would divert me
from the dullness occasioned by a head
| ache which the shouting and yelling OF
the lads never failed to bring on. The
task of looking after the bathers was di-
vided between the teacher and the at
| tendant, but fifty lads let loose and wild
! for quarter of an hour in swimming
bath require deal of watching. Every
now and then some of the more
| luxuriously inclined would steal away
from the plunge bath and unostenta
| tiously work their way round to the
washtubs. where they would lie and wal
| low in the warm water. | had left my
station at the deep end of the bath to
go to the tubs to look for these shirkers
| found one. his color q very deep red.