Birmingham age-herald., 1895-09-13
THE TALE OF A TUB
Or Bathing Under Many Difficulties in Ger
 many.
Boston Saturday Gazette.

Boston Saturday Gazette.
 "The story in the New York Sun the other day about the infrequency of bath ing in Germany" said man who spent two years in a German university, "re- minds me of my own experience l went to a town in south Germany and not house in it, excepting, perhaps the brand new palace which had been built in the hope of enticing the emperor there on visit once al year, boasted of stationary tub. I bought tin bath tub as soon as I arrived and set out from my hotel to find lodgings where l could get fresh water enough to make it available. l was prepared, as Americans who go to Germany to live must be, to pay more than the other students, and for run ming water I was willing to give even more But it was not to be had in any of the lodgings l saw. The suggestion that the servant bring up water enough each morning to fill the tub always cooled down the landlady's enthusiasm to secure me as a tenant I and my com panion finally found in one house room which rejoiced in the possession of a thin tube in the wall, and through this under favorable circumstances, it was possible to obtain hesitating, un- certain stream of water. It was water, though so we took the rooms and sent around the two bath tubs, which, owing to their capacity to waste every morning as much water as the family used in week. were regarded with horror by our landlady.
 q used to go every afternoon to a tutor for a lesson in German, and, as it came after the lectures in the university, I was apt to be pretty well played out. This tutor, who was also privat- docent' in the university, had bath-tub and a keg of hot water sent-around to him from the public baths once a week. There were a number of students and teachers living in the house with him, and they all took their bath on the same day, so that the wagon on which the tub and the hot water were carried had to stand for some time in front of the door. The tub always began to do its work on the first floor, and when it was finished there a head and shoulders covered with a towel appeared at the window and beckoned to the man. Then the latter carried the tub upstairs to the next man. In the intervals between the visits of the bath-tub g. very diminutlve china pitcher and bowl did what they could toward filling it's place. Often after our lesson the tutor and I would take supper to- gether He had been hard at work all day, and so had I, but his preparation for supper always had much better re- suits than mine.
 He poured a little water into the bowl and sprinkled it chiefly over his hair put a fresh celluloid collar on his gray flannel shirt, and covered up the shirt with a large plastron scarf. After brushing his hair carefully, and twrling his mustache until the ends stood up furiously he would throw back his shoul- ders and prove perfectly irresistibly to the kellnerin that waited on us. The ar rival of the bath-tub might yet be several days off but this man looked as spick as though he had just stepped out of bandbox People who can look so well without washing might almost be ex- cused for hiring a bath-tub for half a<n hour once a week.
 When we went to Berlin from south Germany the bath-tub came along. to remain a source of wonderland dismay to landladies A stationary tub and run ming water are as rare almost iii Berlin as they are in the small towns. The pub lie baths are everywhere abundant, cheap and clean. Steam baths are to be had even to the small towns and the Turkish and Russian baths, although more nu- merous in Berlin than in New York;, and cheaper, are much less elaborate Any thing like the scrubbing or massage one has in first-class place here is unknown