The Cairo bulletin., 1908-03-13
MANHATTAN'S
BATH
Billy Was enthusiastically In
Favor of Icy Plunges

k~~--~--~-.-------~n-
Now you listen to me-" Billy Man
haitian is fond of saying to his friends,
"let me hand you bit of advice about
| this bathing thing. Cut out the warm
| baths you've been in the habit of TAX
| ing every morning Fill the old tub
un to the vent notch with the coolest
! kind of water that will run out OF the
| faucet Then jump in, swash around
/ for about two minutes with a big
cake of soap and sponge, and then
| jump out and rub a coarse crash
towel over your body. II you don {
| feel like a brace of fighting cocks, |
! don't want a cent.
! That's the way Mr. Manhattan has
! been talking for years. lie says II
! doesn't make any difference how many
! times a young fellow has crooked his
/ elbow the evening before or how many
strong cigars he may have burned up
| in the course of the session-if he'll
Just tumble into that cold brooklet
that flows into every we'll regulated
| home thereIl be nothing to it.
makes you a new man. he'll tell
YOU "Freshens you up for the rest
! of the day. After you get through,
YOU go into the diningroom and the
! way you mutilate the country sausage
| and flannel cakes is enough to make
| your wife give you hard look. Don't
slip me any OF that stuff about not
| being able to eat in the morning
! Nothing in it, son. take " from me
| Every body can eat in the morning II
! they'll play the game | play. Look at
me Don't look exactly like an under
study for the party Of the first part
in a neurological contract, do /?
Betcher life ! don't. I'm hard as nails
and twice as sharp, I'm here to prem
Use you. Got a string Of life insur-
ance writer's lined up in the hall lead
ing to my fiat fighting among them
selves to make me policy. No chance
for the company TO lose for another
hundred years or so, And cold baths
have done it, son, cold baths and moth
ing else"
As matter of fact. Mr. Manhattan
took a cold bath in the autumn Of
1905 He got in the tub one morning
the hot water tubes weren't working,
and after he had got over sputtering
and was out on the cork mat again
rubbing himself dry he wasn't at all
sure he hadn't enjoyed the novelty,
He told himself he'd take a cold bath
every morning of his life after that.
He took the plunge next morning
and emerged radiantly. He took 1t
for a week or so and began to feature
himself In his talk with his friends
! He allowed there was only one way
for a grown-up man to start the day,
and that was to souse his person in
water that was Just one degree re
moved from the temperature Of an
/ ice cream freezer after the cream had
| been friz Then along came cold
morning. a proper cold morning and
as Mr.. Manhattan regarded tho frigid
| bath it seemed to snecr at him. He
shivered and put his hand in the tub
Then he turned back to his shaving
Suddenly he laid aside the razor and
reached over to the tub lie switched
the faucets. The hot water poured in
IN just take the air off this bath,
said Manhattan. A week later he was
going at the bath as he had gone at
il most of his life-a tub filled with
warm water in which he conf rocline
and doze and enjoy himself thorough
". He has never taken a cold bath
since
Every morning after Mr.. Manhattan
has taken his bath and finished shay
ing he turns on the same sort OF
water for Mrs. Manhattan. Only he
doesn't tell her it is the same style
Gee" he says to her Il don't see
how you can go against that game,
honest I don't Il gives me the
/ Willies Just to think of soaking my
| brains in that sort of soup. Why
don't you be sporty and take flop in
/ the cold stuff"
Mrs. Manhattan tells him that in
the first place she doesn't necessarily
soak her brain when she takes a bath,
| and in the second place she isn't so
! constituted that a cold bath seems
good to her.
Mr.. Manhattan took the big sleep
/ the other night, after he had put in
/ about ten hours at two dollar limit,
and quit so far to the bad he was dis
/ eusted Mrs. Manhattan, contrary to
usual custom, got up first that day,
and after she had bathed thoughtfully
turned on the cold water for has mate.
When Mr. Manhattan reached the
| bathroom he shaved abstractediy.
thinking all the while of the game Of
the night previous, and paving no at
tention TO the full tub. This he ac-
cepted without question. He had for
/ gotten he had not turned the water on
himself. and when he had made his
: face presentable he sank leisurely into
the water.
Mrs. Manhattan, in alarm over the
shrek of agony which her husband
emitted, knocked fearsomely at the
/ door Manhattan, now out of the icy
( ,- 81 ebivorinp IN tho mat