The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-08-26
EUROPEAN LUxURIES.
Necessities to Americans Found Only
In Palaces Abroad,


Necessities to Americans Found Only
In Palaces Abroad.
st, Louis Globe Democrat.
Foreign fcik with one accord declare
| american women, and especially Amerf-
can housewives, to be the spoiled favor
ties of fortune. This In face of the ser
want problem-wheraforc 1t seems worth
while to look little into the matter-far
| enough at least to find out whether or
| not the foreigners have reasonable
grounds for their contention.
| a cyntc has recently set 1t down as his
| opinion that there were more bath tubs
| in the cities of New York and Chicago
| than In all the British Islands This idea
does not In the least square with the pop
1lar conception of the Brfton never d.
yorced from his tub. But those VINO
know say it accoyds infinitely better with
the facts. Running water hot and cold
10 az the service of all our city folk and
o large and quick growing moiety. OF our
windmills, artesian wells and gravity
now, precious few houses need lack it
| while among old ones the force pump in
the corner of the kitchen porch robs the
| cistern of its WEAKNESS. Other countries
| likewise have running water, but the
provision is niggard compared to our
own. where 1t is found even more than
half the time there Is no provision for
| heating save by the kettleful.
coEnate aEgravation of this hot WA
I ter dehcit Is that in many places water
cannot be heated without making up a
| special fire. That is to say there is no
gas stove, nor oil stove. nor alcoholic toy
| stove, over which to make tea boil eggs
or heat q casual sgd iron. The kettle on
the hob which sings and spiutters so al
| novels. Is undoubtedly picturesque--and
1 nish.
Then there are the matters of heating
ana cooling. Where, outside America, do
steam heat, furnaces hot water pipes,
gas logs, gas ranges. and all their kind,
Danish dust and CRIME, and save back
eches. rough hands and goose flesh, not
20 mention more serious ills? Open fires
are nil very weIl-more than delightful
| as decorative aajuncts to a house al
ready sufficiently warm, but intolerably
.ardensome as dependence-fully douh-
tihE, sometimes almost trebling, the
work of Housewife the result Of
| keepjng it In family temperate and
strongly frigid zones. The German haus7
frau with her big hishly-decorated port
In Russia whore the plain people sleep
for the most part wrapped In sheepskin
coats on the brick or stone floor over
the stove. with the ever-ready samovar
| Dubbllng on the chimney shelf above their
heads, the problem of keeping warm Is
reduced to its lowest terms. Americans
would not accept such a reduction, any
| more than they would accept the French
plan OF half freezing in bed to save the
| trouble and expense OF fires, nor the
Italian habit of shivering genteelly
around diminutive brasier full of half
Europe sets awnings upon her palaces,
espscisily upon her pleasure palaces In
| America one finds them everywhere
even upon tenements. That they are not
entirely universal Is due. in large meas
ure to the universal vacation habit. As
| much may be said of window and door
screens. which bar dust and insects and
let IN fresh air But none Of these adj
yentitious aids to summer comforts at
lords half so strong contrast as does
the use Of ice. Here everybody, with
out regard to age, sex, color or previous
something no more TO be- done without
In hot weather than bread or clothes 1t
~ far otherwise elsewhere. London's
bars those which serve iced drinks, pla-
card them as American" Housewives
abre ad get along without it, or, II very
| progressive, manage upon the most SPAR
Ing supply. The buying is often literally
from hand to mouth--no more than sur
ton Such lavish extravaganza as buy.
ing Ice to melt while keeping other things
cool ana fresh. is unheard and unthought
o. There is something pluful in hearing
| that so near US as the West Indies, the
supply of lee is often fetched home
wrapped in a single palm leaf. BY way
Of contrast, In New Orleans artificial Ice
is 80 cheap the levse gangs and rousta-
other with bits Of 1t snatched from their
drinking water. And in the harvest feids
of the West and the middle South a bar
rnl Of ice water constantly replenished.
stands sweating GOODNESS in some conve.
Dtant shade.
Throughout Great Britain, the country
l whose standard of comfort nearly ap-
proscnes o ,sr own msny things which
served for the very rich. Peaches. for
example. Unless imported and tasteless,
as well as dear. they are wall fruit, only
little less fiavorless and dearer still
fruit only on a wall or In glass house,
, The best OF the fruit fetches shillings,
. little more than dollar apiece Ten
4 shillings tho dozen will, in a favorable
n season, buy fne fruit. A basket, mean
. ing maybe four fine beaches, packed in
. | silver tissue paper. cotton wool and osier-
willow. may stand you in guinea. So
, II Is easy TO understand that many among
! even tas well-to-do live and die without
, ever :asting a really fine peach.
1t H. much the same as to melons
France supplies the bulk of those grown
. outside melon houses and cold frames.
English gardeners have the soil and the
| skill. but lack OF sunshine TO perfect them
, in the open. Private gardeners, OF course,
take pains 10 supply the tables of the
great. but only Ia exceptional localities
/ are there market possibilities. In the
case of grapes what has been said of
melons and peaches applies with double
piled, and at more reasonable figures
since grapes from France Spain. Sicily
/ even from California, are brought in,
, reach the consumer in fairly good con-
dition. Green cora, however crown OF
American. summer delights. the Briton in
, the mass knows not He has neither the
, climate nor the palate for 1t, at home, al
though in America he takes II like a ma
tive
OF public and private elevators
lifts John Bull calls them
America has a hundred to one
4 anywhere else. And the bulk OF
these-in hotels. shops, theaters, railway
terminals and apartment houses-exist for
the ease and comfort of womankind
. Thus they come clearly within the cate
CORY of her recognized necessities. which
: an older but cruder, world still accounts
, Injuries. Harnesssd electrioity-for light
heat, cooking, fans and sewing machine
2 motoSs-iS something that can be no more
e mentioned within the limits set Thu
screed.
: There are some few OF the high lights
= Invariably there Is a shadow-one thai
| needs must be written in a whisper, Its
name Is ingratitude. The ladies', God
G | bless them. having so much, want mora
| In strict Justice, however, that must b.
set down against mankind. not them
| selves since mankind has spoiled them
and made them believe the world spin,
: around solely for their pleasure.