No More Skinny Dipping
The Chief of Police issues a strict mandate to local youth regarding appropriate canal attire.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
No September Morn poses on the banks of the canal will be tolerated. You kids, who have been going in swimmin’ in your birthday suits, please take notice. Chief of Police Copeland says you must cut it out. If you want to take a plunge, get an old pair of overalls and cut them off right up close to the pockets and then don’t forget to put them on before you dive off the bank. Remember: no pants, no swim.
“Remember: no pants, no swim.”
This colorful notice captures the era's tension between the free-spirited nature of frontier town youth and the encroaching social order of a maturing city. While public swimming rules are less colorful today, the 'No Pants, No Swim' mandate remains a classic example of turn-of-the-century municipal paternalism.
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