Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1896-01-03
A BRITON'S LUGGAGE.
ATTEMPTS OF AMERICAN lMlTAToRs
TO INTRODUCE IT HERE.

AS the travelling Briton is known in
this country by his luggage, so the
American woman was once hated i'll
Europe hecause Of her saratoga trunk.
The world has escaped the general
adoption of the saratoga trunk, but a
worse thing seems possible, Gs British
luggage threatens 20 become ilterna-
tional. Even now you may buy in this
town all the impedimenta wi,h which
the travelling Briton cumbers himself
and bedevils the rest Of mankind. A
Broadway trunkmuLer Las 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
in 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
sew,d straps on leather trunks, port
manteaus and the like; but, drolly
enough, the whole outfit is merely pa
per counterfeit of the real thing.
Amer can imitators of things British,
lacking the fine humor of the japanese,
have made 10 substitution Of light ma
teriaI for heavy, but have taken on the
full luIden Of ponderous British hat.
/ boxes, portmanteaus, rugs, bags, hold
I II a
ing American who gave TO the world an
account Of refreshing scene ON board
Il 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
in the course of getting the luggage
ashore the precious batbtub 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, exclniming in triumph,
ooh, Mr.. Goddam, Mr.. Goddam !" 1t
is since that incident that travelled
| Americans in their Rping Of British
ways have accepted even the burden Of
/ the bathtub.
A study of baggage Mt a steamship
wharf or even at a large railway station
. in 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
one journey within the limits of the
| United States and sometimes gets no
farther inland than the New York hotel
at which tho traveller makes his first
stop. This article is the little trunk or
box Of japanned tin much used by trav-
elcrs in Great Britain. The flimsy trifle
hardly survives the first encounter with
the American baggage handler, aud
after the first journey Of GOO miles in
this country is battered out Of all re-
semblance 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 immigrants luggage,
Sometimes it is mattress from the
steerage wrapped about the few belong
Jugs VI Aio INV iiitA'lt 1AllNllNtns hEdlD
1t is the corded box of the Irish, English
OF 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 tie coTding Of her box. The corded
box 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 q stable
stowage and strong against accidents,
figures in the luggage at steamship
wharves. One knows instinctively its
contents of old clothes, Photographs,
curios, tobacco and long treasured let
ters from home and the array Of pic
lures from the illustrated papers pasted
ON the inside of the lid.
The elaborate dressing cases that
some Americans and all well to do
Englishmen used to travel with are 60
ing out Of fashion. 1t is almost a Deces-
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 baggaSA 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 a princely hospitality to their fellow
travellers The dinner hour ON board a
transcontinental train was picturesque
incident OF travel IN those days. The
travelling Briton in Europe still some
times carries his luncheon hamper, and
it is often cue Of the nuisances Of Euro
pean travel
Some Of the English theatrical COM
pauics have become so used to travelling
in America that they have adopted our
methods with baggage They accept
with grace the great American trunk,
dispense with the hatbox, the bathtub,
The rugs, stsw! straps and the rest and
,almly see their belongings carted of
by a stranger, who leaves behind as cTi-
dence ouiy bit Of brass bearing few
letters aid numbers. New York sun,
As It Should BE,
The curtain will be rung down on the
Atlanta exposition by the same bells
that will ring out the old year and ring in