The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1896-01-21
A BRITON'S LUGGAGE.
ATTEMPTS OF AMERICAN IMITATORS
TO INTRODUCE IT HERE.

AS the travelling Briton is known in
this country by his luggage, so the
American woman was once hated IL
Europe because of her saratoga trunk.
The world has escaped the general
adoption of the saratoga trunk, but
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 tine
wealthy and fashionable, are to be rec
ognized by the multiplicity of British
impedimenta that they carry to and fro
in their frequent journeyiDgs between
the old world and the new. More curl
ous 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 and 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,
have made no substitution of light ma
terial for heavy, but have taken OH the
full burden Of ponderous British hat
boxes, portmanteaus, rugs, bags, hold
alls and even bathtubs. 1t was a travel
ing American who gave to the world an
account of a refreshing scene ON board
Mediterranean steamer bound to Tan
gier or some such Muhammedan port Of
north Africa. A British passenger with
/ his bathtub had nearly pestered the life
out of a meek, coffee colored Moham-
/ medan, who accepted the BritOn curses
/ without a sign of reproach, but when
( i'll the course of getting the luggage
ashore the precious bathtub fell over
board and sank like lead, the harmless
/ follower Of the prophet was seen to
pause in his work and dance gleefully
upon the deck, exclaiming in triumph,
"Oh, Mr.. Goddam, Mr. Goddamr' 1t
is since that incident that travelled
Americans i'll their aping of British
ways have accepted even the burden Of
the bathtub.
A study of baggage at Il steamship
wharf or even at a large railway station
III New York is an instructive lesson as
to the cosmopolitan character of the
city. There is one article of British
luggage that seldom survives more than
che journey within the limits of the
United States and sometimes gets no
further inland than the New York hotel
at which the traveller makes his first
stop This article is the little trunk or
box of japanned tin much used by trav-
elers in Great Britain. The fiimsy trifle
hardly survives the first encounter with
the American baggage handler, and
after the first journey of 600 miles in
this country is battered out Of all re-
scmblance to its original rectilinear self.
1t is an article of luggage not suitable
to the exigencies of American travel
A pathetic feature of the baggage at
the railway stations that are doorways
to the west is the immigrant s luggage.
Sometimes it is a mattress from the
s;eerage wrapped about the few belong
ings of the new made American. Again
il is the corded box of the Irish, English
or Scotch immigrant. 1t Will be recalled
how important a preliminary TO Char
lotte Bronte's journeyings out into the
great world from her Yorkshire home
was the cOrding of her box. The corded
Eax is as rare among the luggage of an
American traveller as the old hair trunk,
though both are occasionally seen. The
seaman's locker, rectilinear for a stable
stowage and strong against accidents,
figures in the luggage at steamship
wbarves. One knows instinctively its
contents of old clothes, Photographs,
cnrios, tobacco and long treasured let
ters from home and the array of pic
tures from the illustrated papers pasted
on the inside of the lid.
The elaborate dressing cases that
some Americans and all we'll to do
Englishmen used to travel with are GO
ing out of fashion. 1t is almost a neces-
sity that the traveller with this pretty
piece Of luggage take along a valet, for
the thing weighs. like so much lead and
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 open
so as to form desks. The luncheon
hamper that used to accompany every
traveller across this continent in the
days before dining cars came into use
has almost entirely disappeared. The
California millionaires of early trans
continental travel carried enormous and
richly laden hampers and dispensed Of
ten princely hospitality to their fellow
travellers. The dinner hour ON board a
transcontinental rain was picturesque
incident of travel in those days. The
travelling Briton in Europe still some
times carries his luncheon hamper, and
it is often one of the nuisances of Euro
pean travel
Some Of the English theatrical COM
| panies have become so used to travelling