The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1897-04-07
THE CHECK SYSTEM.
Ar English Visitor Tell. tie People ssout
e.. .,t.e-ir-y, xyax

Al I-1f-4.S1 .z.tG- ECtlt TIRE Ieopic @-teHh
tas an.e-iSzn Way.
f'be American constitution has been
called sysicla of checks. Soin Arleri-
can life. Wren yo1 want 70 travel. you
give yous baggage to the porter OF year
hctsl. and he gives you q chick III re-
turn. 81 tho station you reclaim II
with the check and pass il in at ccun-
ter and receive another check. As you
ipproach year destination another tunc-
tionaIy comes along the train, take3
year check and gives you another check
in its place. He fishes ont your baggage
and conveys it TO yeGr hotel-for-a con-
sidsrsiion. Yen have left your third
Gnd last cheel, at the Office ef the hotel
when you enter II. and thence 1t is de-
livored up on receipt of the baggage
At first yoa bless this arrangement IS
tire salvation Of TIE Traveller. After a
few weeks OF il the tyranny of the check
becomes so CALLING that you begin TO
long fort fine cid English method Of
dumping down ycur goods in front OF n
porter and leaving them TO find the way
themselves. You would even hail ii as
a personal triumph If some of yoRr bag
gage would get lost. But it never does.
Sometimes it arrives late, but it always
arrives.
Yet il seldom arrives in the shape in
which it started, if that is any eOnsola-
tion. They who have TO do with bag
gage see 10 that. Yoa very soon discover
why Americans carry their goods in
ironciad trunks. and why il is madness
for anybody to do anything else. l
started out, like on idiot, with "a new
leather pcrimanteau. They ripped the
stout brass lock OF the first week
not for. plumber, apparently. bat simply
because il is the tradition Of the service.
They punched il and kicked and danced
on il. IN softer hours. when literary
inspiration came, they wrote on it Ny
portmanteaa today is an epitome Of the
political sentiment CT the United States
from New York 10 San Francisco. As
q historical document it is beyond
price, and | am contemplating the gift
of il 20 tie library of congress at Wash
ingtcn. As porfmanteau it has both
feet in the grave.
The system Of checks is not confined
to travellers luggage. The conductor of
the train passes carelessly TO and fro
asking for your ticket and giving you q
check in return, CT asking for your
check ard returning your ticket. If you
hand your stick TO boy IN hotel
while yOa write yGur name in the reg
lister. he dashes CT to stow X away IL
some secret place and returns triumphant
with a cheek In ihe very hotel bar,
when you bay sevenpence ha'porth Of
whisky you get u check and walk two
yards across the bar to pay at desk.
But the apotheosis of the check is at
Niagara. When you 60 down 10 the
Cave Of the Winds. you strip OF all
your clothes and leave them, as well as
your valuables, i'll tin box with the
attendant. Then you go down to battle
with the cataract atrired ouly in a suit
of pyjamas, suit of oiIskins and o
check lashcd around your neck and ris-
ing and falling with the beating Of
your heart 10 wonder the American
speaks Of death "a handing in his
checks" Il Is only by death that hecon
rid himself of them. London Mail.