Milford chronicle., 1895-03-22
a TOWEL coLLec4oA.
One who Has Drawn These Adjunets q
Toilet From All Over the world.

One who Has Drawn These Adjunets e
Toilet From All over the World.
Mr. Benjamin R. Dayenport of Asbury
Park, N j., has been engaged for 30
years In the amassing Of this bizarre ex-
hibit, which includes towels Of cotton
wool, linen and silk. He has been ably
assisted by many Of his friends. To shs
acquaintance departing for distant lands
Davenport has been wont to say, Send
me towel from Madagascar, y or While
you are in Patagonia pick me up ono Of
the native towels.
/ By far the greater part OF the collection
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, thfough which one might read
q newspaper, bears the startling legend,
/ indelibly stamped across its limp surfaca
Stolen from the Occidental hotel, Lead
VILE Colo. It is evident that the min
ers had formed the habit Of carrying on
the towels to use as shirt fronts.
In contrast to this economical rag there
is a roller towel, 80 feet In length, secured
in an Illinois washrOom. Il was what
the porter who sold Il to him called the
house towel One set Of seven towels OF
varying thickness and texture, including
a genuine Turkish article that looks Ike
40 cents worth of tripe, recalls the lux
ury Of a local bathhOuse. A square SEQ
tion of jute bagging, such as is used 70
cover cotton bales, was considered quite
the thing in hostelry on the banks Of the
YazOo river A real curiosity is a stih
and infiexible affair found in the oompos-
ing room Of Pennsylvania weekly news
paper. Il was 'the Office towel. I"
There are towels Of softest damAsk, with
daintily embroidered initials that call up
romantic visions, and there is a seotiOn Of
mummy CLOTH brought home from Cairo
which once might have bean used 20 dry the
moisture from the fair skin Of PharaOh's
daughter 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
a. the fluffy bosom OF elder swan, and 9Th
ers could be used to CRATE horse radish up
on. There are dainty French towels and
heavy, square German towels; soft italian
towels that give forth faint OdOr Of gar
lie; cold, heavily starched towels that come
from England; a Scotch towel that Is
made of tweed; an Irish towel Of un-
bleached linen that will take of the outi-
Gle as II it was made Of emery paper; tow
els from the South Sea islands that are
not towels, but are cOcOanut mats; q care
fully dros ed chamois skin which came
from the Alps, jean towel from India, .
japanese towel Of ibrous paper and q
heavy silk towel once owned by Adelina
Patti.
Then there are common towels Of no
particular individuality that are in tbs
collection because they were known 70
have been used by some celebrity or b.
cause there isa tale Of adventure, romance
or sentiment connected with their acQui-
sition. Mr. Davenport's conscience Is never
troubled when he oontemplates bis treas
ures. Very few Of them were accidentally
packed into his baggage. As to the con-
sciences OF the porters and Chambermaids
who assisted In their compilation, that is
another story. Each Of the towels is duly
tagged and numbered, and a catalogue
gives tho history Of each article-Phila-
delphiA Record.