Connecticut western news., 1901-08-22
WHEN A PARISIAN BATTLES.
The Difficulties He Encounters In
 Taking . Hot Dip.

The Difficulties He Encounters In
 Taking . Hot Dip.
 When a Parisian takes a bath, all
 Paris knows it-that Is, when he takes
 . hot bath. The Parisian has a hard
 time keeping clean. That he succeeds
 so we'll Is very much to his credit. He
 Iabors under 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 it Is used
 on the streets. All day long men with lines of hose which are made in metal He sections with flexible joints, each
 section mounted on wheels, go up and
 down the principal streets and boule-
 yards distributing water with free
 hand. The difficulty is not to get wa ter on the street level, but to get 1t above that level, and after that the
 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 a quart of hot water to your room, but when 1t comes to filling tub he would admit that 1t was beyond the capacity of his establishment. Many Parisians use the big bathhouses along the Seine. In places these houses occupy greater part of the river, but if a Parisian wants hot bath at home he must turn to that time honored French institu- tion, the perambulating bathtub.
 To the American who sees this insti- tuition for the first time traversing the principal streets of the great city it is very mirth provoking. And he will see 1t in almost any part of the city if 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 | tank. On the tank structure Is bal anced 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 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 1t over his head like a hood and
 carries 1t up stairs to your room. Then
 he returns to the street and draws of
 the hot water from the tank into the
 buckets. These he hangs at each end
 of the yoke which he 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 a reasonable time for you. Then he | comes up stairs and empties 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 Parisian and arouses nc
 comment, but to the stranger 1t is 8 | subject of great amusement.