Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 192, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 August 1910 — WORLD'S GREATEST WATERING PLACES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

WORLD'S GREATEST WATERING PLACES

I*L the shores of all the oceans are bathing places, but there are certain beaches which have been chosen, some by the favored few and more by the merry multitudes, for sporting in the surf

These resorts have been dedicated to the bath and they have attained a fame which makes them places of interest the world around. There are the v

great French resorts, where in summer you may [I see the peo- V.l pie whom in win- ■ ter you note dri- I ving in Bois or gl A drinking in the II• cases. Theirs seems almost a 1 burlesque of bath- • H t Ing, for they ap- IT- J pear in as vivid | a blaze of color II - . and in as elabo- 1 . ■? rately construct- H *. * ed costumes, and 1 gip|p| they are as much B • ’ swayed by the rules of fashion here as in the V»a boxes of the opera /I SBI* •.**.'**- 7 in Paris. The \1 »„..'rT, > ~..s**y, - ~ French women make the ocean > a stage and a theater, where they dress and decorate themselves for purposes of exhibition. In England there Is no carnival of costume. The Briton takes his dip in the surf seriously, as he takes all his pastimes and sports. He Is still afflicted with the old-fashioned fourwheeled bathing coach, and men and women bathe ln separate groups, except that the prejudice against mixed bathing has been forgotten somewhat at such places as "merry Margate,” “rollicking Ramsgate” and “breezy Broadstairs." But in general, the man who might try to spy upon the woman’s beach would find himself as much taboo as was the peeper who tried to spy upon Lady Godiva. The Mediterranean coast is a long succession of bathing beaches, and for centuries sirens have left the imprints of their sandals upon Its sands. The most perfect motor road ln all England runs from London fb the famous sea resort, Brighton, and that road, though 52 miles of Surrey and Sussex, Is at least one real achievement which must be credited to George IV. It was tne prince hailed as the most perfect gentleman ln Europe who made fashionable Brighton. Once upon a time he made the first visit to his uncle, the duke of Cumberland, at his Brighton residence, and there he caught a glimpse of a pretty young actress sunning herself on the sands. Straightway he became enamored <?f the place, and llteghlly commanded a city to spring Up by the sea. It Is over the road that he huilt that motor meets run from the capital to the famous old Ship tavern on the wide sea front esplanade. He built, as his plaything palace, at frightful recklessness of cost, the pavilion, which is the most interesting structure in the city, and it is in the beautiful dome of the building that concerts, heard by 3,000 at a time, are still held. Hailed as "the queen of the north,” and as the "English Riviera,” with all the usual attractions of a fashionable resort, Scarborough has also a delightful blending of history, romance and legend. Many of the stately homes of England are In the neighborhood whose owners have played a prominent part ln the history of the nation. The ancient castle is a prominent landmark far up and down the coast and the town has two handsome bays. Most carnival-like of all the bathing places in the world are the French and the Belgian resorts. There are villages, huge clusters of huts and tents and strange-looking straw hives on the sands. From these three troop the daintily dressed women and the grotesquely attired men. They bathe together In water that more often than not barely wets their knees. ■’Eor the women are here to be admired and the men have come to flirt and to ogle. Yes, it is like a carnival. It is a whirlpool of froth and fashion, a kaleidoscope of life and gaiety. This place where the* people go Into the sea tethered with ropes to dabble placidly ln water of saucer-llke shallowness is a carnival of. uproar and extravagance. It would seem that Trouville was discovered about 1830 by two marine painters. Rambling along the Norman coast in search of subjects, they chanced one day upon an humble fishing village at the mouth of the Toucques, where the rugged faces and the quaint costumes of the inhabitants made excellent spoil for the brush. Forthwith they sought shelter at the sole inn and Bpread their canvases for prey. In the salon for 1834 some Parisians noticed the new name, Trouville. They also met it in an article by Dumas. When hot weather came they sought it out Under the empire, 20 years later, fashion set its seal upon the place. Dieppe had besn started by the duchess de Berry and was absorbed by the ■sets of the Faubourg St Germain and the faubourg St Honor*. Its A

shore was trod by the feet of the Forty Immortals, who then only belonged to the Orleans party, and by deposed statesmen. The imperial court had abandoned Dieppe and gone to Biarritz, but that was too far from Paris for the lesser officials and the busy men of the party to follow. And Trouville offered a bathing place within six hours of Paris. So it came about that villas were built and a square foot of sand soon cost as much), as a square foot of building ground® in Paris itself. Very soon It was the favorite resort of the monde and the demi-monde. The real life of Trouville, of course, is closed to the merely passing visitor, just as is the case at Cowes and at Newport. The passing caller has not the entree to the salons and the villas. But he may see that the people change their toilets every hour, he may walk the 'promenade and the beach, firm and smooth, which slopes so slowly into the sea that the bather must wade far to get Into water to his neck, even at hign tide, .and he may visit the Casino, so close to the sea that the great tide c£ 1876 almost swept it away. Dieppe shows a seascape that is called “inexpressibly grand.” The visitor seats himself upon the terrace and looks seaward over a glorious and far-stretching expanse. Sometimes it is as calm as a mirror. But the tide never creeps in. It brings waves and foam with it. Often it is turbulent. Sometimes it comes in as a raging plain that lifts itself at last mountain high and thunderously dashes itself upon the shore and flings its salt showers over the spectators. It is splendid for the eye and it gives vigor to the body. Napoleon played with Josephine, pushing her into the water, and hiding her bathing slippers, to the amusement of the boatmen and the onlooking staff, in their bathing expeditions in 1808 from Bayonne to Biarritz, that bright little corner of France, nestling at the foot of the Pyrenees, overlooking the Bay of Biscay and adjoining the Basque provinces of Spain. There are fnemories here of the Empress Eugenie also. On the slope and overhanging the great rocks at the head of the bay are the ruins of the bathing villa, where she and Louis Napoleon spent many happy hours. It was sold, then enlarged and burned in 1903. There are many historical memories here. Gladstone spent weeks here each year. Many battles were fought in the vicinity in the Wellington campaigns and the Spanish provinces adjacent are full of reminiscences of Loyola and Xavier. Ostend—to the Initiated that meanß the most beautiful strand to be conceived, as .smooth as a billiard table and stretching away many a league. It means also in the summer months a most diverting spectacle, where dandies mince and flirt even with the waves, where bathing, dancing, gaming and music occupy the fashionable world, and where the vast throngs present a gay and cheerful miscellany of faces and costumes. This most important seaside town on the continent of Europe has its palatial villas, including the summer residence of the king; its sports, polo, golf, tennis, racing, its great annual “bataille de fleurs,” its promenades, and around all Its beach, a paradise lor children, and its bath houses, so great a novelty for Americans. Above all. It has its kursatl, the center of all the gaieties of the season, which gives the visitor who sees it for' the first time a most confused impression of marbles and brass, qppper and gilding, rich hangings, palms and mirrors. 1 The dike or “digue” which is built along the beach Is a three-mile promenade, and at night the spectacle deen upon It Justifies the saying that Ostend is “the maddest, merriest” city in Europe. Every country has its seashore resorts, some of them as famous as Biarritz and Brighton. Bray, in County Wicklow, is the Brighton of

Ireland. Perhaps Portrush in thfl Emerald isle is even more popular. England has Yarmouth and a score of big beaches, aside from those which have been named. There are good beaches in Wales ana aiong the Clyde in Scotland. Spain has San Sebastain across the border from Biarritz. On the Bay of Biscay, also/ in Arcachon, nestling among the pines,- 40 miles from Bordeaux. Other and not so “advanced” countries have also their summer exodus to the shore. Tunis, for instance, has a number of popular resorts. What Brighton is to the Englishman, and what Dieppe is to the Frenchman, that Rades is to the Tunisfan. La Marsa is said to resemble Trouville. Bathing is an indulgence that is proper at any hour of the day. Those who bathe don no special dress, but enter the water exactly as they were at the moment they decided to bathe. Then they stretch out on the sands to dry. At these Tunisian watering places such amusements as tennis, shrimping and case concerts, as well as sand castle building by the children, are well known. Finally America, not forgetting the Philippines. The list is a very long . one. Palm Beach, where in February the "water’s fine,” and, indeed, the whole Florida coast. The resorts in California, the gulf coast beaches, the almost endless succession of bathing places on the Atlantic coast. What a list there is of them. Narragansett Pier, which has become the polo headquarters of the nation; Asbury Park, with its Founder Bradley and its annual baby parade reviewed by Titania and her court, and Atlantic City, with its board walk, its famous piers, and a bathing hour that begins one might think at dawn and lasts till dark. Miles of firm white sand, shelving to the boundless ocean and washed by the eternal surf —no wonder that those who com® from the interior to see the sea for the first time have no trouble understanding its fascinations.

A TUMISIAN WATERING PLACE ARAB LADIES IN BATHING

VIEW OF SANDOWN BEACH ISLE OF WIGHT