In the 19th century England people liked to go to the seaside. In those days, ladies wore long bathing dresses, and men wore bathing suits. Women did not walk about on the beach(沙滩)in their bathing dresses. They hired a bathing machine. A bathing machine was used for changing in, and for taking the bather down to the sea. It cost 2 pence(便士) to hire a machine and an attendant(侍者). When she had paid, the bather climbed up the back steps and got into the bathing machine . Then she changed into her bathing dress. When she had changed, the machine was pulled down to the sea. The bathing machine stoped in the water and the bather went down the front steps into the water. If she did not want to get into the sea, the attendant pulled her in.

bathing machine was mainly used for　_　.