The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-02
Uses OF BAGGAGE LABELS.
Marks of Travel Which Are Priced
and Carefully Preserved.
New York Sun.

Il suppose" said the middle aged man,
that most of US are rather pleased than
otherwise to have our baggage defaced
with steamer labels and sucn evidences Of
foreign travel. l know that | don object
to 1t myself. i do not know that | should
care to have quite so many labels on my
trunk at once as We see on SOme-conl-
pletely covered with steamer and hotel
labels, round, square, Jhree-cOrnered, OBJ
long, oval and every other shape and of all
colorS-but L should dearly love 10 go
where those trunks got the labels; and |
treasure the labels that l have because of
the pleasant recollections they bring up
and because they mark my admission to
the order of travellers.
piece of foreign baggage was in Canada; a
customs inspection label. L had been
passed through Canad in the night | was
asleep when the customs offlcerS went
through the train, and knew nothing or
their presence until found the label on my
handbag, which was all the baggage had,
in the morning. 1t was a slick Httle label
with a blue border, oblong in shape. with
Clipped-ofI corners, ia size such a label as
might be pasted on a four-ounce bottle.
There were two or three lines on it, making
blank spaces TO be hlled in by the customs
officer. 1t was an adhesive label, like a big
postage stamp, and it had been neatly and
securely put on. 1t was pasted on the bot
tom of the bag, SC. as not to mar the bag $
appearance. The bag had never been
opened by the officer, / was sure of that,
but there was no reason why it should be,
and l was equally certain that the customs
officer knew that, too. III his bones.
while this label was pasted on the bot
tom of the bag, yet it did not speedily wear
off. The bag had fiat brass knobs on the
bottom to protect it from wear, and the
bottom arched up a little, too, due to a
slight warp, and where the label was pasted
on it was turthest from the ground. 1t was
a good bag. that lasted for years. \ corner
of the label got ScTaped OFF in some way
soon after it was pasted on, but the rest
of the label lasted as long as the bag did,
and it was a source of pleasure 20 ME al
ways. -
got was q steamer label. / had no trunk,
only a good stable VaLise. The day before
our arrival at Liverpool or on the same
day we found at a convenient place at the
entrance to the saloon a lot of labels bear
ing the c~ompany's distinctive emblem. and
each also one of the several letters of the
alphabet. l picked out a label with my
initial letter on it and pasted 1t on the SIDE
of my bag. Not exactly in the center, but
a little below the horizontal center me
and a little to the west, so to speak, or the
vertical center line; it was placed thus TO
give it the appearance of having been slap
ped on kind of careless like, but moist
ened the mucilage on the back with great
care and pressed the label down carefully
ali over. so as to make it stick firmly; and
/ had placed it below the horizontal mid
die line rather than above 1t so that. 1t
would get some further slight protection
from being under the bulge of the Valise. l
wanted the label to stay there.
."The bag was taken ashore TO where the
baggage was to be inspected by the GUS
toms officers and placed on the floor in the
StALlAil u ~ Ltk +G5'2 - NS 49,
ter. When the customs officer had com
pleted his inspection he pasted on the side
of the bag an adhesive label OF about the
same size as the steamer label, and l was
delighted. with the manner in which he put
it on; just tapping over the edge OF the
steamer label, but not obscurlng 1t a bit.
This label was really put on sort of care
less, and the bag began to look now as
though / was accustomed to running, over
to England about twice a week, at ledSt.
But what pleased me most was a label he
put around the handle of the valise. This
was a sort of ribbon label a narrow strip:
with perforated edges, which he tore out
of a book of labels and molstened slightly
and twisted around the handle. OF course
/ knew this wouldn't stay there very long;
it was bound to wear off soon under the
pressure of the hand at the center in car
rying it; but the ends of this long spiraIly
twisted label, or. one end rather, reached
down pretty nearly to the END OF the nam
die by the frame, and that part / preserved
as long as could, but it didn't last long.
THE other label which the English Gus
toms officer had pasted on stayed there, 1
guess, three months before the last of it
was worn off, The steamer label CURED up
once or twice in some parts, but l remo1S-
tened it and pressed IL down again. 1t was
printed on good paper md the mucilaSe
fast that 1t was practlcaly incorporated
with the leather itself; it didn't peel or
tear off any more, but from that on it wore
away gradually.
II was going TO spend two or three days
in Paris. l didn't need my big Vaiise, but /
did need a handbag, and bought one that
caught my eye in a shop window in a love-
Nv inland town i'm England. l expected, Of
course, to get some sort of French travel
mark on that bag in the custom house in
France. At the French port We landed and
| marched with the rest Of the passengers
through a sort of gateway from a room
into the railroad station. The customs Of
fcer there never so much as looked at my
bag. and l thought maybe he had over
looked it. After I had got into the railroad
station | went around back into the other
room and came trough the gate again,
but it was no use; he wouldn't even look
at my little bag. and ] didn't feel that L
could do any more about 1t, and so went
on To Paris.
THE big bag. with the steamer label on,
I've logged around Q good deal since in
and South as far as Mexico, and around
considerable. and it looks like a Travelled
bag, which is what like 10 see. But the
mark OF travel about it that pleases me
most is the little remnant Of the old steam
er label, which, perhaps. could not now, be
distinguished as such by one unfamiliar