122 WAYFARING NOTIONS 



concrete groyning would have knocked the latter 

 out in any case. Still, the small boating has 

 been knocked out and the foreshore is not what 

 it was at all. As a watering-place old Brighton 

 has vanished, and given way to a new, which is 

 by the sea, but not seaside, as it used to be. 

 Who would go there for sea-bathing except 

 perhaps fine swimmers who dare venture from the 

 piers ? You would not select Brighton as it is for 

 teaching youngsters swimming, nor for any 

 bathing from the shore, with a "machine" for 

 dressing-room- — at least, not as things are now. 

 Still, I wonder if history might be made to repeat 

 itself. Brighthelmstone grew from a little fisher 

 village into a great town. Why ? Because of its 

 sea-bathing. Suppose the authorities, who are 

 trained in laying out money in big lumps, tried 

 taking in hand the splendid advantages lying 

 literally at their feet, and set about making the 

 town what it might easily be — one of the finest 

 sea-bathing resorts in England. They need not 

 find the capital themselves, I fancy, if proper 

 plans were prepared and sites for open-air baths 

 granted. The resort is there, and the sea. All 

 that is wanted is to make the bathing easily 

 practicable. 



Instead of providing sufficient accommodation, 

 municipalities, conservancies, and such keep 

 driving bathers within narrow limits of space and 

 hours, all of which means waste of good material. 

 For, as has been pointed out so often with regard 

 to modern education at ratepayers' expense, after 

 spending so much to educate our Board scholars 

 we ought at least make them go to Nature's 

 insurance office to cover against risk of drowning. 

 Find the kiddies a place to learn, and they will 



