The suburban citizen., 1901-10-05
wAEN a pARIslAN eArAEs.
Che Difficulties lie Encounters I'm TakinI
Hot Dip.

Che Difficulties He Encounters I'm Taking
Hot Dip.
When a Partisan takes a bath all
Paris knows it-that is, when he takes
4 hot bath. The Partisan has hard
time keeping clean. That he sue
ceeds so well is very much to his
credit. He labors under the disad-
vantage of having no adequate sup
ply of water. There is plenty or
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
metallic sections with flexible joints,
each section mounted on wheels, go
up and down the principal streets
and boulevards distributing water
with free hand. The difficulty Is
not to get water on the street level.
but to get it 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 private 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 heat
ing water. A hotel keeper may put
n kettle on the range and send up n
quart of hot water to your room, but
when it comes to filling a tub he
would admit that 1t was beyond the
capacity of his establishment. Many
Parisians use the big bathhouses
houses occupy a greater part of the
river but If a Partisan wants q hot
bath he must turn to that time hon
ored French institution, the perambu-
lating bathtub.
To the American who sees this in
stitution for the first time traversing
the principal streets Of the great city
it is very mirth provoking. And he
will see it in almost any part Of the
city if he stays there long enough and
moves about the streets, for the bath
mans houses are distributed all over
Paris.
From the bathing establishment the
Dathman goes forth in harness. This
is nothing unusual in Paris, where
well dressed men are seen drawing
small wagons Of all kinds. The bath
man has two straps over his shoulders
and he stands between the shafts
of a two-wheeled cart. On this carr
is mounted a tank On the tank
structure is balanced substantial
bathtub which is provided with cas-
ters. In front of the tank are two
large metal buckets and yoke. The
bathman draws this apparatus
through the streets to your house.
When you want hot tub, you
order one for a particular hour Of a
particular 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 put 1t over his
head like a hood and carries 1t 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 he carries across his
Oh gy, ,s, O., H..
veys the water to the tub. When the
tub is full, he retires and waits for a
reasonable time for you. Then he
comes upstairs and empties the tub
by means Of his buckets and carries
the tub and buckets away. His pas
sage through the streets is an every
day sight to the Partisan and arouses
no comment, but to the ranger it is
4 subject of great amusl nent.