The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-02-10
BATHING IN SPAIN.
Facts About the Feeling of Spanish
Women Against Practice.
(BrOOklyn Eagle.)


Some time ago l happened to mention
the dislike of the Spanish women for
bathing. l cannot recall in what con-
nection the remark was made, but IT
was merely meant to state an admitted
fact When / lived in Madrid the moth
er of a very dear friend, Sonora s.,
gave to me terrible shock by telling
we that she never had bathed in wa
teri" "Ah, in milk, then?" l had eX-
claimed, wishing to make a record as
a guesser. NO indeed" was the re-
ply. I'm champagne, no doubt" L
said, wishing to pay a compliment, be-
cause the family was fabuloUsly rich.
Wrong again." was the quiet reply.
4 use an oiled towel, and my maid rubs
me down with a crash hand cloth"
In Spain the dangers of bathing are
constantly set forth by some monks.
Originally the fair sex was warned by
monks. who practiced the doctrine
themselves, although the reasons there
for were not logical, that they should
remember the sad cases of Susanna,
Bathsheba and Count Julian's beauti-
ful daughter, La Cava, all of whom
owed the wreck of their lives to too
much bathing. To this hour La Cava
is mentioned as a warning to all women
not to wash themselves with water.
When one visits that quaintest of all
European cities, Toledo, he is shown,
upon the banks of the turgid Tague, be-
low Wamba's palace. built in ga, an
alcove in which La Cava was wont to
battle. One day Rodrigo, last of the
Goths. beheld her there, and the re-
suit was quite similar to Bathsheba'S
experience with the sainted David. To
me the story sounded like a warmed
over version of the Judean escapade;
but l stood in the arched alcOve. with
the water flowing at my feet, and, al
though there is an Arabic inscription
over the Moorish arch that shields the
place from the sun, but not from the
surrounding palaces, 1 am bound to be-
lieve. | remember, also, that at the
wretched little station of PancorbO,
twenty-five miles south of VittOria. in
northern Spain. some devOut Spanish
acouaintances bound for San SeDas-
tian insisted on leaving the train to
visit am ancient monastery near the
village at which La Cava, disgraced but
repentant, had immured herself until
death relieved her sufferings. of course
the absurdity of this is that La CaVa
was not a Christian. At Malaga, also,
was shown the Gate of La Cava, in a
noble Moorish castle. As the mistreat-
meut of this woman by the Goth, Don
1OullSO. -'ADCi 1911
invasion of Spain, the gate" must have
been built by the Arabs long after the
poor woman had been carried off to
Pancorbo.
But ] am not lodging the bathing
question The aqueous anathemas in
Spain extended not only to public but
to private washings. Many instances
of these injunctions are historic. For
example, Isabella, daughter of Philip
II, made a solemn vow never to change
her undergarments until Ostend was
taken. and as the siege endured three
wears three months and thirteen days,
the royal garments acquired tawny
color. known as Isabel to this hour.
Southey relates that the devout st.
Eufraia entered into a convent of 100
nuns. none of whom had ever washed.
To mention bath was an abOmination.
only to be atoned for by application of
the scourge.
In the land of CASTLE. CASTLE soap is
bought and used chiefly by perfidious
English and Americans. The Spanish
Cloths. rabid Christians, didn't believe
in washing their bodies. Many good
fellow with enough traces Of Arabic
blood in lis veins to insist upon a daily
bath wss - the flames of the inquis-
ition.