The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1912-08-10
ANNUAL :sWASH DAY. FOR
 FARMERS OF NEW JERSEY

To-day is the annual wash day. for the rural population of Burlington, Ocean and Monmouth counties, New Jersey, in accordance with an old-time custom which sets apart the second Saturday of August of each year for this peculiar and unique festivity. The observance of wash day. dates hack beyond the memory of the oldest 1n- habitant, and usually takes place at Manasquan Beach, which adjoins Sea Girt From forty mile around the farmers and their wives and children will assemble on the beach to-day for their annual bath,'' and they will not lack opportunity to spend their mon ey, for fakirs from up and down the Jersey coast and from New York and Philadelphia will be on hand in force to attend to that matter. The crowd begins to gather in the seaside vil- iage on Friday afternoon, coming by train and in all sorts of vehicles. Farm wagons, we'll stocked with provisions, are the favorite means of transporta- ton and subsistence, many spending the night in covered wagons, The more prosperous farmers arrive in au- tomobiles, and there are also many cars filled with fashionables from nearby Summer resorts, who look on the annual wash as a sort of bu- co1ic summing expedition. The prin- eipa1 rite of the day, of course, is the
 
 tivat it's name, and diverse and pecu- liar are the bathing costumes in evil dence. Most farmers in the neigh borhood would rather run the risk of losing a good crop than miss the "b1g sea day. at Manasquan. It is the one day of the year when they turn themselves loose and have a good time a dollar and six bits. And as for eating-wen, the farmers wife has provided something in that line that could not be equalled at any of the big hotels in the neighborhood. For weeks she has been putting up pre- serves and pickles. and baking pies and cakes, and otherwise preparing for the feast, with the full knowledge that her neighbor. down the road will try to have something better, and the result will be perfectly delicious and indigestible spread that will keep the doctors busy for days to come.
 Tonight will mark one of Natures anniversaries. which she will celebrate by a pyrotechnic display of falling stars, and if the sky is cloudless the exhibition will be we'll worth watch ing. This annual shower of falling stars-meteors, in reality-takes place | stars" will be seen shooting from a single spot in the sky, the display us- ualiy beginning about 10 o'clock, al- though it may commence much earlier or somewhat later. The constellation Perseus, which may be located on any astronomical map, is the point from which the discharge of celestial artil- | lery seems to come. The shooting stars are fragments of ancient and 1 worn-out comets, which drop through the atmosphere and are consumed be- | fore reaching the ground. The free fireworks display is due to the earth crossing the track of what was once a comet, but which is now an aggre- gation of meteors
 To-day is Independence Day in the 1 South American republic of Ecuador and there will be the usual national celebration in Quito, the capital, which
 nestles in the mountains nearly two miles above sea level. Since the com I pletion of the railway from Guaya- quil, the chief port of the country, to 1 the capital, Quito has become ia nous health resort Situated on the equator, its altitude makes it the one | city in the world of which it may tru
 ly be said that Spring reigns eternal l1<