A LABRADOR SPRING 
tensified the sun’s rays. It is difficult to 
measure the exact value of the effect of the 
sun’s rays on the bare skin, but that it is con- 
siderable is easily appreciated by those who 
have tried sun-baths, and experienced the 
pleasant sense of well-being that results. As to 
the value of a plunge in icy salt water after the 
sun-bath, that may be open to question, and 
my friend remarked that I probably enjoyed 
these baths in the same spirit as did the his- 
torical character, who employed a boy to pinch 
him in order that he might experience a com- 
fortable sense of relief when the process was 
over. However, in the language of the country, 
chacun a son gout, and my friend preferred to 
keep his clothes on, but I am inclined to think 
that a taste for these two invigorating pro- 
cedures adds a great deal to one’s appreciation 
of the Labrador spring, which is certainly 
rugged, and not one of “ ethereal mildness,’’ 
as the misleading quotation at the beginning 
of this chapter might have led the gentle reader 
to infer. 
35 
