Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1901-08-31
WHEN A PARTISAN BATTLES.
The Difficulties He Encounters In
Taking Hot Dip.

Tho Difficulties He Encounters In
Taking IL Hot Dip.
When a Partisan takes a bath, all
Paris knows it-that Is, when he takes
hot bath. The Partisan has hard
time keeping clean. That he succeeds
so we'll is very much to his credit He
labors unGer the disadvantage Of hay
ing no adequate supply Of water There
/ Is plenty of water in Paris, to be sure,
and an enormous quantity Of 1t Is used
on the streets. All day long men with
lines of hose which are made In metal
lie sections with flexible joints, each
section mounted Oh wheels, go up and
down the principal streets and boule-
wards distributing water with free
hand. The difficulty is not to get wa
ter on the street level, but to get 1t
great difficulty Is to get it hot. All but
the very newest of modern houses in
Paris have water only on the street
level This water Is carried to the
! upper floors OF houses In buckets as
needed. This is true not alone of pri-
vate houses, but of hotels of the older
type. These abound in Paris. and the
comforts they offer to the traveller are
almost confined to the table.
Moreover. though water may be
drawn In any quantity on the ground
floor, there are no facilities for heating
water A hotel keeper may put ket-
tie on the range and send up n quart
of hot water to your room, but when 1t
comes to filling a tub he would admit
that it was beyond the capacity of his
establishment. Many Parslans use the
big lighthouses along the Seine. In
places these houses occupy a greater
part Of the river, but if a Partisan
wants hot bath ut home he must turn
to that time honored French institu-
ton, the perambulating bathtub.
To the American who sees this lnsti-
tuition for the first time traverslng the
principal streets of the great city it Is
very mirtb provoking. And he will see
it in almost any part of the city II he
stays there long enough and moves
about the streets, for the bathman's
houses are distributed all over Paris.
From the bathing establishment the
bathman goes forth in harness. This Is
nothing unusual in Paris, where well
dressed men are seen drawing small
wagons of all kinds The bathman has
two straps over his shoulders. and he
stands between the shafts of two
wheeled cart. On this cart Is mounted
q tank. On the tank structure Is bal
anced n substantial bathtub which Is
provided with casters. In front Of the
tank are two large metal buckets and a
yoke. The bathman draws this appara
tus through the streets to your house.
When you want hot tub. you order
one for a particular hour Of a particu
lar day. The bathman comes around
with his apparatus at the hour named.
He stops in front Of your house, and.
lifting the tub from the top Of the tank,
he puts it over his head like q hood and
carries it up stairs to your room. Then
he returns to the street and draws off
the hot water from the tank into the
buckets. These he hangs at each end
of the yoke which lie carries across his
shoulders, and in this fashion he con-
veys the water to the tub. When the
tub is full, he retires and waits for q
reasonable time for yOu. Then he
comes up stairs and emptles the tub by
means of his buckets and carries the
tub and buckets away. His passage
through the streets is an everyday
sight to the Partisan and arouses no
comment. but to the stranger 1t is a
subject of great amusement