Of course, I have
perceived that it is not convenient for them to go into the sea or the
rivers in winter, as we used to do on the Coral Island; but then I knew
from experience that a large washing-tub and a sponge do form a most
pleasant substitute. The feelings of freshness, of cleanliness, of
vigour, and extreme hilarity, that always followed my bathes in the
sea, and even, when in England, my ablutions in the wash-tub, were so
delightful that I would sooner have gone without my breakfast than
without my bathe in cold water. My readers will forgive me for asking
whether they are in the habit of bathing thus every morning; and if
they answer "No," they will pardon me for recommending them to begin at
once. Of late years, since retiring from the stirring life of adventure
which I have led so long in foreign climes, I have heard of a system
called the cold-water cure. Now, I do not know much about that system,
so I do not mean to uphold it, neither do I intend to run it down.
Perhaps, in reference to it, I may just hint that there may be too much
of a good thing. I know not, but of this I am quite certain, that there
may also be too little of a good thing; and the great delight I have
had in cold bathing during the course of my adventurous career inclines
me to think that it is better to risk taking too much than to content
one's self with too little. Such is my opinion, derived from much
experience; but I put it before my readers with the utmost diffidence
and with profound modesty, knowing that it may possibly jar with their
feelings of confidence in their own ability to know and judge as to
what is best and fittest in reference to their own affairs.
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