Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-07-04
SUMMER soARolnoHouse.

SUMMER soARDINoHousE.
Moral Requirements of the Model Ia>d.
lord aad Boardsr.
For the jewellers in the city the first
warm spring days brings the thought
OF the summer hegira and the annual
question:: Where shall we go this
year, The summer boarder, whether
ne knows it o. not, has been from the
beginning species Of missionary, rais-
ing the standard of country living and
country thinking, displacin1 the feath-
er-bed by the mattress, and in count
less ways charging the understanding
OF what 10 essential to comfortable Iiv-
ing. 1t is the fashion to denounce the
summer boarder. and one popular
weekly has ranged itself formally on
the side OF the provider of the board.
and has given large space to the rights
OF the country landlord or Iandladv
To keep summer boarders," it an
nounces In one editorial. lone ought
to have good health, good temper. and
unfailing PATIENCE" and then follows
the usual denunciation of the city
'dweller, whose mission it would ap-
pear to be to destroy each and all of
these requisites
What does it mean?- writes one
who has boarded at many points, and
who knows both sides of the question.
Evidently that editor will have NO
difficulty in finding the summer board
ing-house that will satisfy him, and
the clearinghouse keeper will well
come him with joy. When he is look
ing for a room with board, he will not
ask that it be cool, clean, comfortably
furnished, open to the breezes, shell
tered from the sun, off the mosquito
routes; all he wants is that the board
ing-house keeper be healthy, good
tempered and patient For him no
grumbling because there is no fruit
for breakfast, because the fresh vege-
tables smack of the can most heinous-
~. because the cream is milk. whose
origin hints the we'll. The coffee may
be muddier than the unreclaimed Back
Bay lands. and the bread as soggy and
heavy as Monday lecture of Joseph
Cook; the tea of as bad taste as an
1bsen drama; the fish of more than
middle age; the beef. like King Dun
can. fouily done to death; the eggs of
advanced views; the cream hot; the
soup cold as a Boston handshake; but
this easy boarder will not care pin.
What does he want of a bathroom,
so long as his boardinghouse-keep is
healthy? He will go out OF doors and
wash contentedly at the pump every
morning. If necessary, he will dry
himself in the sun. 1t might put the
proprietor out of temper to ask for
towels. After ali, towels are a luxury
for which it is easy to find a su Institute.
1t is better to dry yourself with fine
tooth comb than to run the risk of har-
rowing the patience of your landlord
or landlady.
This Boston moralist," he continues,
with rising intensity, "forgets that the
qualities he insists upon will be even
more necessary in the boarders- At
present few people select boarding
house on account of the moral or phys
ical qualities of the keeper. They try
to find a place where the. food and
drink and service are good, and the
rooms comfortable. Doubtless this is
low and base view of the functions Of
the summer boardinghouse-keep but
it prevails. If the clearinghouse
keeper discharges his part of the
Dy REMAINING IN gOOU
health, good temper, and patience.
where do the boarders come in?
They will need an extraordinary
amount of good temper and patience
to put up with insufficient and ILL
cooked food, and the landlords good
health will not help them. What they
need includes, besides good temper
and patience. an optimistic tempera-
ment and a strong Imagination They
must learn to fancy that the board is
excellent, read over and over again the
story of the pantomimic banquet of
the Barmecide, and. above all, be Sc
verely altruistic. A little practice in
fasting will also be admirable How
they are to keep their health is not SO
clear They are not to be kept in
health by contemplating the prime
condition of the landlord, and it will
not do for them to take much exercise,
or they will imagine themselves to be
hungry. As they are more numerous
than the clearinghouse keepers, the
principle that the majority should rule
seems to require that the boarder's
health ought to be looked after before
the keepers. In short, it Is a prob
lem and it is well that instant solution
is not demanded N. Y. Press.