The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-02-13
TOWELS AS A FAD
The Funny Fancy OF . New York
Man Who Has . Collection.
Wipes Of Every Descriptien from Al
Lspds Some That Are Clean and
Some That Break when They
Are Bonded.

A New Yorker with a strange fancy
fad, and he has gathered from all parts
of the world an unparalleled assort-
ment of them. Benjamin L. Daven-
port, a lawyer, better known as pub
Usher of several books, is the possessor
of this unique collection, and he proud
" displays his store of towels of all ma
tons, numbering thirteen hundred and
twelve.
Mr.. Davenport, says the Philadelphia
Record, 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 acquaintance departing for distant
lands Davenport has been won't to say:
l"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 tex
ture. A thin, sleazy cotton rag, through
which one might read a newspaper,
bears the startling legend, indelibly
stamped across it's limp surface: ''Stolen
from the Occidental hotel, Leadville,
Col" It is evident that the miners had
formed the habit of carrying off the
tow els to use as shirt fronts.
In contrast to this economical rag
there is roller towel, thirty feet in
length. secured in an Illinois wash
room. 1t was what the porter who
sold it to him called ''the house towel"
One set of seven towels, of varying
thickness and texture, including gen.
uine Turkish article that looks like forty
cents worth of tripe, recalls the luxury
of a local bathhouse. A square section
of jute bagging, such as is used to
cover cotton bales, was considered
quite the thing in hostelry on the
banks of the Yazoo river. A real Gu
riosity is a stiff and inflexible affair
found in the composing room of Penn
eylvania weekly newspaper. 1t was
i'the Office towel"
There are towels of softest 6amask.
with dsintily embroidered initials that
call up romantic visions, and there is a
section of mummy cloth, brought home
from Cairo, which once might have
been used to dry the moisture from the
fair skin of Pharaoh's daughter, or pos
sibly have been tucked under the chin
of the infant Moses.
There are towels that are as small as
napkins and towels that would answer
L l.
the touch as the fluffy bosom of elder
swan, and others could be used to CRATE
horseradish upon. There are dainty
French towels and heavy, square Ger
man towels; soft Italian towels that
give forth faint odor of garlic! cold,
heavily-starched towels that come from
England: Scotch towel that is made
linen that will take off the cuticle as if
II was made of emery paper; towels
from the South Sea islands that are not
towels, but are cOcoanut mats; care
fully-dressed channels skin which came
from the Alps; a jean towel from In
diana; japanese towel of fbrous pa
per, 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 used by some celebrity or
because there is a tale of adventure,
romance or sentiment connected with
their acquisition. Mr.. Davenport's con-
science is never troubled when he con-
templates his treasures. Very few of
them were accidentally packed into his
baggage. As to the consciences of the
porters and chambermaids who assisted
IN their eompilation-that is another
story. Each of the towels is duly tagged
and numbered, and catalogue gives
the history of each article.