Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1896-01-24
A BRITON'S LUGGAGE.
ATTEMPTS OF AMERICAN iMIrAT0Rs
TO INTRODUCE IT HERE.


teams and Hold Alls-The Baggage On .
Steamship Wharf Is . studylThe Tray-
eler and His Bathtub.
As the travelling Briton is known in
this country by his luggage. so the
American woman was once hated in
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 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
sewed straps on leather trunks, port
manteaus and the like; but, drolly
enough, the whole outfit is merely O 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 ON 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 refreshing scene on board
q Mediterranean steamer bound to Tan
gier or some such Mohammedan 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 S curses
without a sign of reproach, but when
in 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 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
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 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 flimsy 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-
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 a mattress from the
steerage wrapped about the few belong.
ings of the new made American. Again
it is the corded box of the Irish, English
or Scotch immigrant. 1t will be recalled
how important preliminary to Char
lotte Bronte's journeyings out into the
great world from her Yorkshire home
was the cording of her box. The corded
box is as rare among the luggage Of ar
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 it!
contents of old clothes, Photographs
curios, tobacco and long treasured let
tiers from home and the array Of pic
lures from the illustrated papers pasted
ON the inside of the lid.
The elaborate dressing cases thai
some Americans and all well to d.
Englishmen used to travel with are go
ing out of fashion. 1t is almost neces
sity that the traveller with this pretty
piece of luggage take along a valet, fol
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 opel
so as to form desks. The luncheon
hamper that used to accompany ever
traveller across this continent in tn
days before dining cars came into us
has almost entirely disappeared. TIL
California millionaires of early trans
continental travel carried enormous an,
richly laden hampers and dispensed of
ten princely hospitality to their fellow
travellers. The dinner hour on board
transcontinental train was a picturesqu
incident Of travel in those days. TIL
travelling Briton in Europe still some
times carries his luncheon hamper, an
it is often one Of the nuisances of Euro
pean travel.
Some of the English theatrical com
panies have become SO used to trayelin