People's Pilot, Volume 5, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 September 1895 — HER FIRST OCEAN BATH. [ARTICLE]

HER FIRST OCEAN BATH.

Country Maid, Marrlod Mister and Wicked Brother-In-Law. At first she would and then she wouldn’t; but really, after all, It would be a shame after coming 600 miles to the sea not to go Into the surf. This and the married sister from Brooklyn, and the mild ridicule of her wicked brcther-ln-law, settled it. But she shivered as she noted the effects of the hired bathing suits upon the human form divine. Some of them were just too dreadful, says New York World. You could mark her shrinking little figure coming down' the sands, piloted by the married sister, to the spot where waited the wicked brother-in-law. Her freckled face was red, but not from the sun. She kept her eyes on the near foreground, certain that the 5,000 persons on the beach and pier were looking directly at her bare ankles. “Oh, dear! let us go in quick; I want to cover up!” she said pleadingly. “Take her other hand, George,” said the married sister. “Now, don’t be a fool, Mary. You’re not the only one here, remember,” added the old-timer, rather obscurely. “Come on!” cried the wicked brother-in-law with a grin. And they ran down, pit-a-pat, splt-a-splat-ter, just in time to meet a stiff roller curling in. “Jump now!” yelled the married sister, but the wicked brother-in-law dragged her down with him, smothering a piercing shriek of terror. When the gentle, freckled face came up again it was white instead of red, and she choked with salt water, and the smart in her eyes made the tears flow. She looked reproachfully at the wicked brother-in-law and shook him off, but before she recovered speech another wave knocked her over and buried her, screech and all. “Keep hold of George!” cried the married sister., “Go ’way, you brute!” gasped the little one. “Don’t you see I’m drowning? Oh! Oh! Yeouw!” Down she went again before a wave not more than knee high. The wicked brother-in-law laughed. “I’ll never speak to you again!” she sobbed, shivering all over, and cowering between the fear of the sea and the mocking crowd on the sands. “Come in here by the rope, Mary!” yelled the married sister. “Bring her in, George. What are you standing around there for?” “Never!” cried the freckled girl, getting her voice once more. “You never told me it was ice water! And that it is nasty—ugh! I’ve swallowed a bucketful of it—yes; and you think it’s funny—don’t you touch me! I’m going out! Now, you dare!” But the wicked George grabbed her round the slender waist and bore her, kicking, struggling, shrieking, her eyes flashing Are, out to the rope to his wife. And there she remained In wild frolic, terrors soon all forgotten, until both the wicked brother-in-law and his wife had to join in coaxing her to come out.