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1898] 174
more than one family, the means afforded by the washhouses for the
occupiers of these houses to wash their clothes at a cheap rate, comes as
a great boon, and a boon too that would be more appreciated, if their
advantages were more fully and widely known. However, as it is, the
attendance of nearly 120,000 washers is not a bad return for Islington,
although one would wish to see it increased.
The appreciation of the Swimming Baths is the most gratifying
feature of the returns, for bathing, especially when the bather practices,
the art of swimming with it, is not only a means to cleanliness, but to
the development of the muscular system, the expansion of the frame,,
particularly the broadening of the chest, the expansion of the lungs, and
the strengthening of the limbs. It is a most useful exercise, which
perhaps more than any other makes for health.
It is gratifying to know that not only do these plunge baths afford
means for bathing, but they are much patronised for the purpose of
learning how to swim, an art which every man, woman and child should
learn, and have even led to classes being formed for the purpose of
teaching persons how to save the drowning from death. Only within
the last twelve months a gentlemen, who was taught at one of these
baths, while on his holiday at the seaside, recovered a person from
drowning, thanks to the instruction received in one of the classes.
There is no institution which the local authorities of Islington
manage, with which they can be more pleased than with its Baths and
Wash-houses. They are noble institutions, doing a great and good
work for its health, which at present is so good that every
citizen can be proud of it. So long as they are managed with a view
to improving the health of the people, by holding out inducements to
them to be clean in clothing as well as body, and not for the purpose
of making a profit, so long will they deserve every support. They are
the people's baths, erected out of the ratepayers money, solely for the
promotion of health through cleanliness, and therefore, never intended
to be commercial speculations. If ever they should become money
making concerns, then the profits should go to improving them, and by
reducing the prices, to attract the public to them in even still larger
numbers; thereby cleanliness will be promoted, and therefore, improved
health, moral and physical, will be assured.