12 NORTH SHORE BREEZE and Reminder 
Aug. 11, 1916. 
Bathing Costumes of Dainty Frocks 
Silk Sweaters and Silk Hose 
All on a Wager---We Surmise 
ANNE ACTON 
Not fiction, but fact, is this prank 
that I tell of, 
And witnessed, as well, with three 
or four more; 
And it was not a scene to be played 
on the “screen,” 
- But was done just for fun on the 
Marblehead shore. 
HO that has spent a summer anywhere along the 
North Shore, from rocky Nahant to shady Magnolia, 
has not more than once crossed the narrow causeway that 
connects Marblehead Neck with the mainland and circled 
the road that loops the Neck and that furnishes on one 
side an unparallelled view of Massachusetts Bay and on 
the other, glimpses of the gay, craft-crowded harbor of 
Marblehead and the quaint, clustering town with its 
houses rising tier on tier to the sky-line? 
Somewhere along that circling road, between the end 
of the causeway where the loop begins and the end of the 
Joop where you enter the causeway again, lies the scene 
cf my story; but I must not describe too accurately, lest 
some of my readers may know the place or the people. 
It happened some three or four years ago on a dull, 
gray day such as frequently come in Septenber. The 
exodus of “summer visitors” had but just begun, and ex- 
cept for the dampening effect of overhead grayness, the 
Neck still had an air of summer festivity. An unending 
line of motors came and went, for a steady, two days’ 
rain and a strong, on-shore breeze had whiysped the bay 
into billows and white-caps and assured a full perform- 
ance of the Churn. Likewise, a stream of pedestrians 
came to watch the restless waters seethe and boil in the 
deep, rocky cauldron and burst into spray high in the air. 
But as even the wonders of Niagara pale after a time, so 
the watchers of the Churn were soon satiated and rode or 
walked away, according as they were fortunate or un- 
fortunate. 
Our party was on foot, but not particularly unfor- 
tunate thereby, for we had planned a long jaunt with a 
prowl among the rocks, and a substantial tea, previously 
ordered, awaited us at the little tea house on the last lap” 
of our journey home and was a wonderful incentive for 
the acquiring of a huge appetite. 
So we climbed the rocks until they ended abruptly and 
a lonely, little, rocky beach began. Then progress be- 
came slow and painful, not to say precarious, for there 
was nothing pebbly about that beach; nor were the rocks 
of a size to provide a sure or comfortable footing. They 
turned and twisted or rolled under our weight and we 
speedily decided that if we reached the sandy portion 
farther on without bruises or dislocated joints, we might 
well congratulate one another. 
It was while we rested and collected energy to proceed 
that we saw the tennis court and the players. Farther 
back the beach was pebbly, almost sandy. The tennis 
court was almost level with it, at the foot of a beautiful, 
formal garden that terraced down from the house above. 
Four young people were playing a lively game, the 
girls in white linen, the men in flannels. From a rustic 
seat at one side, a middle-aged woman in an afternoon 
toilette of black and an elderly man in white flannels and 
dark coat, watched the players, 
‘partner to the table. 
While we looked on with considerable interest and 
curiosity, a maid in cap and apron appeared at the top 
of the long flight of steps leading up to the house. She 
bore a tray and made the descent slowly and carefully to 
the court where she placed her burden on a rustic table 
and withdrew. 
The game progressed for a few minutes more then 
one of the girls threw down her racket and drew her 
Each picked up what looked from 
our distance like a stein, and the girl leading, they came 
out on the beach. Her companion seemed reluctant, but 
gathering something from the contagion of her mood, he 
raced with her down the beach to the breastwork of stones 
piled up by the surf. 
Her gestures still urged—we could not hear their 
voices,—and in another second he had evidently accepted 
her challenge, for he laid aside his still untouched stein 
and slipped off his tennis shoes. 
They were in the water before we could gasp and 
down the beach another frenzied pair were hurrying, not 
to be outdone. Steins were laid aside and tennis shoes 
removed and although the surf broke upon the beach with 
considerable force and the rocky floor yielded to the in- 
coming mist and the really stormy waters were necessary 
conditions for an ideal swim. 
It was a novel sight. Someone in our party sug- 
gested an initiation, but there was no evidence of anyone 
directing the proceeding. 
Mentally, I reviewed the strange sights and the queer, 
improvised bathing regalia that daily made its appear- 
ance on “Back Beach,” as the natives called Devereux, 
before the strict enforcement of the law governing bath- 
ing. suits; little girls in abbreviated nighties and faded, 
outgrown dresses and women in wrappers, taking a dip 
in the surf or basking in the sun on the warm sand, but 
never had I been more astonished or amused. Never had 
| seen dainty frocks of linen, a silken sweater and silk 
hose treated to a voluntary ducking for no other reason 
than “just for fun.” 
The amazing sang-froid of the middle-aged woman in 
black, who came leisurely down the beach and_ stepped 
into the boiling surf without removing even her hat or 
the high-heeled shoes, left us speechless. She could swim, 
too, and although the hat tipped to an unbecoming angle 
when wet, it did not seem to be an impediment. 
They were a merry party, and as merriment as well 
as wisdom loves company, the two young men ran drip- 
ping up the beach and the elderly man, who had been 
auietly smiling in the background, was hurried, strug- 
gling and protesting, to the water’s edge and, uncere- 
moniously, dumped in. He took only a dip, and while 
his tormentors made another excursion up the beach in 
pursuit of a girl in a dainty afternoon dress, who had 
just come down from the house, he demonstrated the 
thoroughness of his wetting by wringing the water from 
some paper money in one hand and ruefully regarded 
his ruined watch in the other. 
The dainty little lady and her exquisite hat and 
dress were completely submerged and effectually ruined, 
but she was game and swam a little. We were anxious, 
for she seemed as frail as her gown, but presently they 
all came ashore. Maids appeared with wraps and robes, 
