The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1894-12-26
ONE MANS QUEER FANCY.
A NEW Workers. WONDERFUL
COLLECTION OF TOWELS.
They Number More Than 1900, and
Were Gathered From All Parts of
the World.

the World,
~ NE New Yorker has made
| towels fad, and he has gath
Y II cred from all parts of the
world an unparalleled assort-
ment Of them. Benjamin B. Dayen-
port, lawyer, better known az the
publisher of several books, is the pos
SCISSOR Of this unique collection, and
at bis home at Asbury Park he proud
Iy displays his store of the towels of
all nations, v Lich number 1912.
Mr.. Df;enPlrt has been engaged for
twenty years in the amassing of this
bizarre exhibit, which includes towels
Of cotton, wool, linen and silk. He
has been ably assisted by many of his
friends. To the acquaintances de-
parting for distant lands Davenport
has been wont to sayi "Send me a
towel from Madagascar" or "While
you are in Patagonia pick me up one
of the native towels"
By far the greater part of the col
lection was picked up in the hotels of
the United States by Mr.. Davenport
personally. They vary in size and
texture. A thin, sleazy cotton rag,
through which one might read
newspaper, bears the startling legend
indelibly stamped across its limp sur
face: "Stolen from the Occidental
Hotel, Leadville, Colorado" 1t is
evident that the miners had formed
the habit of carrying off the towels to
use as shirt fronts.
In contrast to this economical rag
there is roller towel thirty feet in
length, secured in an Illinois hotel
wash-room. 1t was what the porter
who sold it to the collector called "the
house towel"
One set of seven towels, of varing
thickness and texture, including q
genuine Turkish article that looks
like forty cents worth of tripe, recalls
the luxury of local bath house.
A square section of jute bagging,
such as is used to cover cotton bales,
was considered quite the thing in a
hostelry on the banks of the Yazoo
River. A real curiosity is stiff and
inhexible affair found in the compos-
ing-room of a Pennsylvania weekly
newspaper. 1t was "the Office towel. "
There are towels of softest damask,
with dsintily embroidered initials that
call up romantic visions, and there is
section of mummy cloth brought
home from Cairo, which might once
have been used to dry the moisture
from the fair skin of Pharaoh's daugh-
ter, or possibly have been tucked
under the chin of the infant Moses.
There are towels that are as small
as napkins, and towels that would
answer for bedspreads. Some are as
soft to the touch as the fluffy bosom
of the elder swan, and others could
be used to CRATE horseradish upon.
There are dainty French towels
and heavy, square German towels,
soft italian towels that give forth q
faint odor of garlic; cold, heavily
starched towels that come from Eng
land; Scotch towel that is made OF
tweed; an Irish towel of unbleached
linen that will take off the cuticle as
if it were made of emery paper ;
towels from the South Sea islands that
are not towels, but are cocoa mats; a
carefully dressed chamois-skin which
came from the Alps; jeans towel
from Indiana; ahomespun towel from
Kentucky a Japanese towel of fibrous
paper, and heavy silk towel once
owned by Adelina Patti.
Then there are common towels Of
no particular individuality, that are
in the collection, because they were
known to have been last used by some
celebrity or because there is tale OF
adventure, romance or sentiment con.
nected with their acquisition. Mr.
Davenport's conscience is never
troubled when he contemplntes his
treasures. Very few of them were
accidentally packed into his baggage.
As to the conscience of the porters
and chambermaids who assisted in the
compilation-that is another story.
Each of the towels is duly tagged, and
numbered and a catalogue gives the
history of each article, New York
World.