Page:Colymbia (1873).djvu/76

70 bodies no stays had compressed, whose legs no garters had indented, whose feet no boots had squeezed out of shape,—these pictures of natural beauty skimming about and around, with more than the freedom of birds in the air, never two consecutive instants in the same attitude, it was a delight to behold; but it was ecstasy to thread the mazes of this watery dance in companionship with one of the bewitching mermaidens.

Immersed in the clear, pure water, all positions are alike pleasant. It does not matter whether head or heels be uppermost, for the equal pressure of the water prevents anything like congestion of blood to the head when our position is inverted.

Although at first these dances appeared to me more like the mad orgies of a set of bacchanals than the amusements of a party of self-respecting ladies and gentlemen, this feeling soon wore off, and I found that it was only the strangeness of the scene that made it appear to me indecorous. As I got more used to these entertainments their novelty wore off, and I saw that no feeling of indecorum or immodesty possessed the performers. The young ladies were as correct in their ideas as those we meet with in the best society at home; and, though their garments were scanty, their conversation was innocent, and their thoughts apparently pure. I found that modesty does not require yards of silk or muslin for its preservation, but may exist independently of flowing robes. Manners and customs that differ from those we are used to we are apt at first to consider improper and immodest, until we find that to those who are used to them they convey no prurient ideas, and lead to no immoral consequences.

While going through these graceful acrobatics with a beautiful dark-eyed mermaid, I endeavoured to