Englishmen are proud of being able to sponge themselves with cold water all through the winter. I have known one who used to lie down in ice-cold water every morning; others boast of a morning plunge in sea or river at Christmas time, and they continue the habit as long as their constitutions will hold out.
Concealed Dirtiness.
Efforts of the Poor towards Cleanliness.
English physicians are severe on the concealed dirtiness of many people in the middle classes, who seem clean with their false collars and cuffs and their washed faces and hands. One does not expect much cleanliness amongst the labouring population of any modern country, but the working classes in England deserve great credit for every effort they make in the direction of cleanliness, because they have not the facilities of the rich. I myself have often seen colliers in Lancashire naked to the waist and giving themselves a thorough wash in plentiful hot water with soap, and when greater facilities are given in the shape of public baths they make use of them. It would be easy for manufacturers to encourage cleanliness by having baths at their factories. Some have actually done this.
French Warm Baths.
Effects of the Warm Bath in France.
Consequences of English Example.
The state of England with regard to personal cleanliness may be considered as partially satisfactory, and it is improving. As to the French, their strong point is their excellent institution of warm baths, which are to be found even in the smallest towns with a complete service. A tired Frenchman, arriving at anything like a town, looks to his hot bath as the best restorative. If these baths are a pleasure to a man he will be clean; if he does not like them he will not be so clean as the Englishman who sponges himself by way of discipline, whether he likes it or not. However, English example has had a wonderful effect in improving the apparatus of cleanliness in French private houses. English baths, ewers, basins, and other complicated toilet arrangements are copied extensively in France. If you visit a pot-shop in a small provincial town, quite remote from the Channel, you will find English washstand services of full size, or good French copies of them; and if you go to the ironmonger’s you will find all kinds of baths for domestic use, including English “tubs.” In French houses, where the old small ewers and basins are retained, they are now almost invariably supplemented by a capacious tin water-jug on the floor. In fact, the French are becoming a cleaner people, thanks to the example of their neighbours, who are about forty years in advance.
Cleanly Appearance of French Crowds.
Reasons for it.