The Douglas independent. [volume] (Roseburg, Or.) 187?-1885, 1884-10-04
AN uNAmERlcAh CUSTOM.
TIp-Giving 10 Policemen, Barber
and Conductors.
New York Sun.

New York SUM-
The disgusting custom of giving tip
has lately grown to be almost as mucl
of an abuse in New York as in Londol
or Paris. Everybody knows how wait
ers are feed. The feeling of policemen
after an ordinary query is not yet com
mon here in the daytime, though it il
by no means unusual for man to droI
quarter into the hand of policeman
if he exerts himself in his interest al
night. Many of them receive regular
tips from men who habitually struggle
home at o'clock in the morning from
their clubs.
Tipping the barber IS now an absolute
necessity in some shops. A recent suit
in the Jefferson Market police court
brought to light the fact that BARRIERS
habitually scrape the customers who de
! not fee them. Scraping is a form OF
crime only too familiar to all men who
shave. When man goes to BARRIERS
chair the first time he is greeted with
great cordiality. The barber makes
some remark about the weather, rubs
his victims chin affectionately, tucks
the cloth in about his neck nicely, and
shaves him with great care If the Gus
toner gives him the 10 cents change he
will be greeted effusiyely by the barber,
and addressed as an old friend, when he
next enters the shop. If he drops the
money in his own pocket and walks out
woe be unto him if he ever falls into
that BARRIERS clutches again.
The elevator boy in the hotel or apart
ment house, or big down-tow build
ing, will always remember your name,
the number of your room, and hold the
elevator for you while you hurry down
the corridor, If you tip him. Very
many men do it. Those who do not
find that people who come to see them
do not readily find their rooms, and that
letters left with the elevator boy are not
promptly delivered Besides, the boy
finds it difficult to remember what time
they went out and when the. are ex-
pected back. An occasional coin
smooths it all, however
1t has long been the custom to fee the
driver of stage when one chambers to
the roof for smoke. 1t is also Gus
tomary to small extent for passengers
to pass their fare to the driver through
the pigeon hole on the roof of the stage
This is the money which rightfully be-
longs in the box. The driver testifies
his appreciation of this by stopping the
stage noa" the gutter when the fee e-giver
alights, or driving toward him when he
boards his stage again.
Occasionally one sees passenger fee
the conductor of the street car by telling
him to keep the change from 10-cent
piece or by dropping a coin in his hand
as retainer, to insure being told when
the car arrives at a particular street.
The housemaid in a particular family
III New York, ten or fifteen years ago,
regarded a tip as q rare and unusual
thing. Many girls who were out at SER
| vice, and wlo had come in from sur
rounding villages to work in New York,
would have refused if fee had been Of
fered. This was particularly the case
with American girls. This sort of thing
has quite passed away with the intro
| duction CT French maids, and now all
the members of the household corps,
from the butler to the cook, will jump at
fee. A man easily learns that coin
left in the hand of a girl who opens the
door will L sure prompt delivery of a
eseiu VI pooqueI anu any message
| which may accompany II.
The solemn and uncommunicative man
at the stage door of theatre almost de
mands tip before visitor can pass be-
hind the scenes, no matter what his err
rand may be or however indisputable
bis right. He expects tip as a matter
OF course, and is SO thoroughly accus-
toned that he doesn't even deign to give
thanks for the gratuity. Even clerks
and messenger boys in some of the great
stores accept gratuities with alacrity.