The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1896-03-12

@ler and His BAthtub.
As the travelling Briton is known in
this country by his luggage, SO the |
American wcman was once hated in
Europe because Of her saratoga trunk. /
The world has escaped the general |
adoption Of the saratoga trunk, but a |
worse thing seems possible, as British |
luggage threatens to become interna- /
tionaL Even now You may buy in this |
town all the impedimenta with which |
the travelling Briton cumbers himself |
and bedevils the rest of mankind. A
Broadway trunkmaker has for some
years past undertaken to fix the thral-
dom of these things upon his fellow
country men and women, and many
travelling Americans, especially the
wealthy and fashionable, are to be rec
ognized by the multiplicity of British
impedimenta that they carry to and fro
III their frequent journeyings between
the old world and the new. More curl
GUS still, those clever and initiative Jap
anese have begun TO produce British
luggage identical with the original in
the minutest details, even down to hand
sewed straps on leather trunks, port
manteaus aud the like; but, drolly
enough, the whole outfit is merely pa
per counterfeit of the real thing.
American imitators of things British,
lacking the fine humor Of the Japanese,
nave made no substitution Of light ma
lerial for heavy, but have taken OH the
full burden of ponderous British hat
boxes, portmanteaus. rugs, bags, hold
| alls and even bathtubs. 1t was travel
| ing American who gave 10 the world an
| account of a refreshing scene on board
/ 4 Mediterranean steamer bound to Tan
| gicr or some such MOhammedan port Of
| north Africa. A British passenger with
his bathtub had nearly pestered the life
cut of a meek, coffee colored Moham-
medan, who accepted the Briton' s curses
without j sign of reproach, but when
in the course of getting the luggage
ashore the precious bathtub fell over
beard and sank like lead, the harmless
follower of the prophet was seen to
pause in his work and dance gleefully
upon the deck, exclaiming i'll triumph,
"Oh, Mr.. Goddam, Mr.. Goddamu" It
is since that incident that travelled
Americans in their aping of British
ways have accepted even the burden Of
The bathtub.
A study of baggage at a steamship
wharf or even at a large railway station
in New York is an instructive lesson as
to the cosmopolitan character of the
civ There is one article Of British
luggage that seldom survives more than
one Journey within the limits of the
United States and sometimes gets no
farther inland than the New York hotel
at which the traveller makes his first
stop. This article is the little trunk or
b. x of japanned tin much used by trav-
} el"rs in Great Britain. The fiimsy trifie
h rdly survives the first encounter with
tie American baggage handler, and
after the first journey Of 600 miles III
e tlis country is battered out of all re-
: somblance to it's original rectilinear self.
1t is an article of luggage not suitable
to the exigencies of American travel
4 A pathetic feature of the baggage at
: TIE railway stations that are doorways
10 the west is the immigrant's luggage.
Sometimes il is a mattress from the
2 Storage wrapped about the few belong
f in,;s Of the new made American. Again
it is the corded box of the Irish, English
OF Scotch immigrant. 1t will be recalled
: how important a preliminary TO Char.
lo.te Brontes journeyings out into the
great world from her Yorkshire homt
was the cOrding of her box. The corded
t t;ux is as rare among the luggage of al
a american traveller as the old hair trunk
though both are occasionally seen. The
seaman's locker, rectilinear for a stable
e stowage and strong against accidents
Z sY, o. SNa
wharves. One knows instinctiyely it,
T. contents of old clothes, Photographs,
S curios, tobacco and long treasured let
tiers from home and the array Of pic
tues from the illustrated papers pasted
e OH the inside Of the lid.
The elaborate dressing cases tina
some Americans and all we'll to dt
Englishmen used to travel with are go
I ing out of fashion. 1t is almost a neces
E sity that the traveller with this prett,
piece of luggage take along valet, fo
the thing weighs like so much lead ant
: is too precious to be trusted TO the ten
der mercies of the baggage department
The travelling desk also has nearly dis
appeared, though some ingenious trunk
makers now produce trunks that opeI
!. so as to form desks. The luncheon
il hamper that used to accompany every
: traveller across this continent in tn,
Il days before dining cars came into MS,
: has almost entirely disappeared. TIL,
: California millionaires of early trans
continental travel carried enormous anC
richly laden hampers and dispensed Of
ten prineely hospitality to their fellow
! travellers. The dinner hour on board
transcontinental rain was picturesqu,
incident Of travel in those days. Th,
travelling Briton in Europe still some
+ times carries his luncheon hamper, anC
it is often one of the nuisances of Euru
pean travel
Some of the English theatrical com