Hot? Well, rather. The senses become numbed and dulled under the great heat, but the sensation is delicious beyond description. Lying full length on the couch, fairy visions float before the mind. Try to think connectedly and the effort will be a failure. The mind becomes a strange jumble, in which people and events, real and imaginary, mix themselves without volition of yours in a kaleidoscopic mass of pleasant pictures. A copious and wholesome perspiration breaks out at every pore. After awhile even the strongest of us has had enough of it, and another stage of the process is reached.
The bather is now laid full length on a marble slab, with a blown-out rubber pillow under his head. A stalwart negro takes him in hand. He is rubbed, pinched and pounded and kneaded with a vigor that at any other time might be unpleasant. In the drowsy languor of the moment, however, it is all right, and when the servitor presently smears him all over with sweet smelling suds only to rinse him copiously a minute afterward with a bucket of tepid water the subject of the operation would not change places with the king of Siam or any other potentate of whom he has heard great things. This done, he is led to the shower bath, where the gentle stream falls over him for a few minutes, at first warm, then colder, until he rushes out from under a veritable stream of ice-water. Acting under instructions he plunges without hesitation head-foremost into the big swimming bath that stands ready to receive him. In this he may sport and gambol at will until he is tired, and in the cool embrace of the spacious tank the fever of the hot-room is forgotten and his body brought back to a normal temperature. Emerging from the swimming-bath he is rubbed perfectly dry by an attendant and escorted to a couch in a large, cool room, where, wrapped in a sheet, he may lie as long as he lists in the sweet, dreamless sleep of the happy and the just. If it is his first experience he will vow on leaving the place that, as well as being refreshed and revivified he feels cleaner than he ever felt in all his life, and, as cleanliness is said to be next to godliness, this is something by no means to be despised. A Turkish bath in a first-class place costs $1, though there are plenty of places where the charge is lower. Most Turkish bath establishments have an apartment especially provided for ladies.
Massage—a good deal is contained in the word. There are massage parlors in Chicago and again there are—massage parlors, or at least those called such by their proprietors. There are legitimate massage parlors conducted by competent physicians, employing skilled male operators who treat the applicant with every consideration. Massage—which consists of rubbing weak or otherwise affected parts of the body with the hands—is recommended by many physicians as a cure for rheumatism and kindred ailments. The applicant seeking such treatment, however, should assure himself that he is going to a place where he will receive such treatment as he needs and nothing else.
For there are so-called massage parlors—extensively advertised in some of the daily papers as employing lady operators—that are nothing more or less than improper resorts in disguise. There have been times when the “massage” question has received critical and analytical attention from one or more sensational papers, and the disclosures that have been made from time to time have been anything but edifying. The visitor will receive a sort of a Turkish bath at the hands of a “lady” operator, but other entertainment will not be difficult to procure if he should express a word or two to that effect. From a standpoint of morality as well as prudence it is a good plan to let such “massage” (?) establishments as brazenly advertise their employment of “lady operators” severely alone.
“Manicuring,” by which term is signified the treatment of the hands, is an industry that is only mentioned in this chapter by reason of its bearing on the care of the person or the toilet. The manicuring establishments are in every way respectable. For the sum of one dollar a pleasant-faced young woman washes one’s hands in a preparation of her own manufacture and so trims, polishes and fixes up one’s fingernails that the average customer does not recognize them as his own after she has finished the delicate task. Aside from the neatness imparted by the operation few men object to the sensation produced by having a pretty woman manipulate scientifically and dally with his clumsy hands for half an hour or more.
CHAPTER XV.
HACKMEN AND THEIR WAYS.
There is a well-grounded suspicion in some quarters that only the hackmen of Niagara can compete with the hackmen of Chicago in their fondness for extortion and their success in practicing it. Yet, while it is very true that most Chicago hackmen are imbued with a praiseworthy desire to earn all they can, and are none too conscientious in their ambitions to acquire riches rapidly, there is a very easy manner in which to avoid disputes, namely: make your bargain with your Jehu before you enter his vehicle. If, after such an arrangement, he endeavors to impose upon you at the end of the ride, you may be sure he is trying to give you the worst of it. In such a contingency, which may arise in very rare cases, pay him nothing whatever until you have called a policeman. It is part of every policeman’s duty to familiarize himself with the schedule of legal cab fares, and he will settle the dispute in very short order. It will be found, however, that most of the public hackmen are pretty square fellows, a little bit prone to try for the best it, maybe, but always amenable to reason,—particularly if it be a uniformed officer who talks the “reason” to them.
As a general thing it will be found that the street-cars provide ample facilities for transportation to any given point in any direction. There is a uniform fare of five cents on all the lines, and for this trifling sum one may ride many miles on any of the cable lines. These lines run direct to all the parks and most people choose this inexpensive mode of traveling. Occasionally, however, parties desire a more luxurious mode of transit, preferring to visit the parks in a carriage and drive about in the pleasant intricacies of the leafy aisles instead of traveling afoot; in which case an understanding with the driver before the start is made becomes an imperative necessity. But in order that there may be no mistake it is just as well to set forth briefly the legal rate for cab-hire established by the city ordinance.