St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-08-28
SUMNER COMFORTS.
A Disinterested and Unpreju-
diced View Of the Sea-
side Lodging.
The Boarding House Chicken
as a Notable Example Of
Longevity.
Where the National Dish Of
Pie Is Spurned for
Pudding.
An Abrupt Transition From
Such Topics to That Of
Fashions.

accustomed TO the boarding mouse OF the
popular American watering place. | am
still able to look upon it as luxury that
i don't know very we!l-that l am not
able to afford much of-aS complete
novelty.
1t is one of the pleasures of life which
l have not drained to the dregs; have
decided that do not want to drain it to
the dregs. To drink halfway down is
sufficient for me.
suppose that every rose has its ac-
companying thorn. Every one says SO,
but it always seems to me that it would
be truer saying if it implied that
sometimes collection of thorns is &C
compancd by rose, sometimes not.
There was more than one thorn In the
boarding house l stayed at. though the
placid lady help who stripped my bed
and left it and untitled my water jug
seemed TO consider that they were so
many trifes not werth mentioning.
The attainable bedroom of the sea-
shore Boarding house is always high up,
and generally has stairs that lead I'M
eXpectedly and irrelevantly into it, so
that If you get out of bed in the dark
you are precipi1ated down them into
meath. 1t abOunds in windows; there
were eight to the one which Occupied.
] used at one time when reading Sir
Walter Scott's novels to wish that
/ could occupy an eight sid
ed room with mullloned win
dows. | have now experienced 1t
without the mulliOns). and it certainly
reads better than it feels. The win
dows certainly let in lots of fresh air,
4c Il ~,
mosquitoes. with good working light.
This octagOnal room contained nothing
like hooks or even nails, so clothes had
to repose peacefully on the floor. A
water bottle and jug were considered
SupertuouS luXurieS, and the looking
glass was an effective sermon OH vanity.
Undisguised surprise was visible on
the landlady's face when l asked for
bathroom.
The sturdy and thlck-sklnned animal
known as the clearinghouse chicken
flourjShed here in great profusion, and
there were no specimens tasted during
my stay that the gods had loved. Con-
versation was impossible when one of
the expressing animals was on the
board. The dignity of labor was Illus
trated then, and that passage of Script
ure which says IF a man do not work
neither shall he eat'' was forcibly illus
trated.
At the mountain boarding house milk
is the speciality. Three kinds were
displayed on the table. i. e., creamy
milk, drinking milk and tea milk. Their
names proved no guide to their quality.
They all tasted like tea milk. | do not
know if the mountain boarding house
keeps three degrees of COW, but ascer-
tanned that it contained among is staff
of assistants one hen kept on purpose to
keep the house supplied with new-laid
eggs.
l have lived so far simple and un-
sophisticated lite, so that when first
entered the Seashore boarding house
the particular kind of pie that gains it's
name thereby was only a word to me
in an undiscovered field. 1t is more
than that now. 1t is real tangible
thing, hard and solid, it is more like
stone quarry than a field. | noticed
that when the waitress asked the board
erS nonchalantly which they would
take, pie or rice pudding" as though
she didn't care (she was a little TOO
Indifferent l remember, to nave been
thoroughly naturaD the boarderS all
answered with feverish and what
seemed unnecessary haste, "Rice pud-
ding and wondered at such unan-
imOus choice. | know now, l was the
only one who said pie, with the excep-
ton of the wiry and ravenous man who
said "Both"-under the breath-but
with an air of untried determination
that marks the hero. have heard since
that that wiry man was 4 consumptive
patient, and had been pronounced by
the doctors as hopeless case, so he came
there to end his days. He was utterly
reckless. 1t seems wicked to tempt
Providence in the way he did.
The parlor of my boarding house was
kindergarten school. and the piazza a
registry Office. The appearance and
expression of clergyman and his wife
at the table kept every one from asking
tor beer. If that couple could be used
as originals to produce thousands of du-
plicateS from, there would be no need
of prohibition anywhere in the United
States. That clerical couple could be
distributed about instead. Only it would
be bad thing for DR.. Keely.
As / said before, sea shore boarding is
only Il half-tasted cup of pleasure to
me, but there are some cups that it is
best not to drain. And this is one of
them.
The Vatican pleat has been pro-
nOunced to be quite unsuitable to walk
Ing costumes, SO probably we shall see
1t no more on coats and cloaks.
The wheel shoulder" that is high
standing frill around the upper part of
the armhole. promises to be as popular
as the universal sash. Large Viennese
collars are the correct thing to wear
with the popular full velvet elbow
sleeve.
The lovely Gainsboro is likely to be
again worn with general approval. This
will perhaps help to abolish the upright
plumes that have so aggressively held
their own i'll millinery for SO long.