San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-08-26
q a. The dog-star RACES.

II The dog-star RACES
4. Nay, It's past doubt, all Bedlam-
for Parnassus-is let out"
Pope used the line 200 years ago TO
sdescribe the writers of his time, but
lit is equally applicable to the vigor-
'ous and colOrfui young people who dec
,orate the many swimming beaches anu
bathing pools in and near San An
tonic during these dog days.
~ Whether one regards the vigorous
/ young swimmers, attlred in complete
lack OF self-conSciousness. and close
fitting one-piece bathing suits, as es-
icaped lunatics-"No nice girl would
/ have thought of doing such thing
I when ] was young, my dear, who
/. should be forcibly restrained, if neces-
,sary, or as healthy young gods,
straight out of tales of the old Greek
heroes, Is largely regulated by the gen
ieration to which one belongs, and also.
from another point of view, by the Sec
1 ret reckoning we all hold with the
club house scales.
How much one enjoys swimming
parties depends very largely on the
fatal tale as told by those same scales.
No one, man or womdn-children do
not count in this-who weighs less
than 100 or more than 200 pounds,
can be said TO take any deep and last
ing pleasure in swimming in public.
That is very wide latitude to allow
. swimmers, but it will prove correct
every time.
1t is curious how little joy n beau
Itiful young girl who will admit un-
der pressure, to weighing 10 pounds
can get out Of "a perfectly heavenly
. swimming party at the country club"
IL don't see any use in taking such
strenuous exercise in all this hot
weather and how these girls can wear
/ fhe kind of bathing suits they do
can't understand. Ny idea OF good
! time is a formal luncheon or dinner
party" she will announce with en-
, gaging naivete. 1t is equally strange
how few allurements the big clear
pool at New Braunfels has for a man
|, whose highest and dearest ambition
!. is to tip the scales at 100 pounds,
! and who drinks milk surreptitiously
.. with that end in view, and not be-
. cause he likes it. His idea of pleas
i ant evening, he says, is to smoke with
I a group of men somewhere where wit
I and true worth will count and the
Importance of broad shoulders and
/. straight flat backs is not so stupidity
I exaggerated.
! One evening last week four elderly
I maiden ladies who have all passed the
: mark of three score years and ten,
: that are allotted for reason of unusual
:, health and virtue, were driving with
4 a younger friend, when the bright ring
! of lights which surrounded one of the
biggest swimming pools in the out
skirts of the city, attracted their at
/, tention. They all announced that thew
: had never been TO a public swimming
. pool and wondered what it was like.
! AT seventy and over, new experiences
and impressions are rare, so it was
: decided to investigate.
! II happened that the tallest and
/. gravest lady in the group. real aris-
: tocrat of the old school. led the way
I up the sloping bank with the others
: following in single file. and just as
they got TO the tor. two stalwart youths
.. in regulation bathing suits, pinE and
!. glistening with health and high spir-
: its. bounded out of the water and al
smost on top of her. The lady took
Zone horrified glance at the unfamiliar
sapparition Of splendid masculinity and
: turned, like the ancient king of France
, and led her shell-shocked little army
! Straight down the hill again. As they
rail- got back into the car after being
tout Of il less than three minutes, she
said. in her severest tones to her
younger hostess. MY dear, don't look
IN that direction. / feel soiled." All
the way back TO town they discussed
an hushed tones behind their hands,
the horrible thing they had seen.
But, when the very idea of ever be-
ing seventy is as remote a possibility
as the end Of the world and things
like that, and one is "a perfect thirty
six"-and there are many of them.
10 the credit of the country--or built