Promiscuous and Public Bathing.
By Editor
Bathing frequently is a good thing. We would by no means condemn in all cases public bathing with the persons of each sex having separate apartments or bathing at different times, but the commingling of the sexes at such times, in this licentious age, is productive only of evil. We do not understand how refined Christian people can indulge in indiscriminate public bathing. Prof. C. C. Lewis, of Union College, Nebraska, well remarks: "Among people of the world the subject is a stock matter of jest; and it furnishes frequent material for the illustration of such sensational publications as the Police Gazette. In the nature of the case, a bath should be private, and I would much prefer that a daughter of mine should accompany a gentleman to a dance than to go a-bathing with him, which does not mean that I would countenance either." Many who make no profession of Christianity at all would not feel free to take part in promiscuous bathing. We are well aware that these remarks will be considered narrow, perhaps fanatical, by some, but so plain gospel truth has always been considered. In the early age of Rome, when Roman virtue meant something, promiscuous bathing was, even among men, practiced with considerable delicacy. "It was deemed indecent for a father to bathe in company with his own son," says Anthony, "after he had attained the age of puberty." "But virtue passed away as wealth increased." We are in many things living Rome's dissolute life over again. Let not the followers of Christ indulge in the debasing customs of heathendom.