The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-12-30

E
 I dered into Russia, and Russia is en- toying a particularly severe spasm of anarchy, which is no respecter of per-
 sons, passports or the protection of l this or any other flag I decided to | fbide a wee in little old New York" 1 T can understand your wanting to 1 get out. of Russia and back to New
 York, but what brings you into this part if it-that's the puzzie?' declared Smithfeld. 1 I'm in search of a bath!" returned
 Hudson, with a ghost of a smile.
 Smithfield stlrieked. 1 You certainly are the limit" he de-
 clared finally, "to seek bath in Hester 1 street. Look about you, ann. Do you see any signs of bath written on these dirty necks and faces, in these matted long boards? I could take you into any of these tenements and in nine dwell 1 ing places out of ten we'd find the bath tub filled with anything under the sun from coal to. rotting vegetables-but not
 with water
 Nevertheless, I'm searching Hester street for a bath, and if I find the man who can give it to me I'll be the
 happiest being in New York. Perhaps
 you can help me, sn1ithfieid. Do you
 happen to know any native of Tifiis in I this cosmopolitan collection that the, East Side holds?p l smithfield is good at geography, es- pecially the map of Enrope, but he did not place Tifis readily. Hudson
 explained that 1t is the capital of a ] lieutenancy in Transcaucasia, some 2,OOO miles southeast of St. Peters 1 buhg. 'I can lead you to Armenian bath l ing masters" offered the settlement
 worker, "and if you'll cross the new
 bridge with me I can put you through 1 a most invigorating Norwegian bath proposition, but I'm switched If ever heard of your Tifiis brand. Whats it 1 like?"
 "Tifis was for many years one Of
 the strongholds of Eastern Christian l ity, and 1t still supports a museum
 with many rare manuscripts" Hudson began. Tt was to examine these that l I made the long journey through the 1 mountains. At the little clubhouse on l the right bank of the Kura, which is we'll maintained by the officers of the Russian garrison, I first heardl of the | wonders of the Tiflis bath.
 l After a day or two found cour-
 age enough to visit a bathing parlor which, like the other houses of Tifiis,
 Is highly embellished with carved ] woodwork. both within and without. From the little anteroom where I l stripped off my garments I was led to | TA %oI 4n 5n-
 gree which. made nakedness comfort
 able, and from every door and window
 frame quaint idols of wood grinned
 down. In the ecenter of the room was J mat about the size of a double bed. "On this I sat down, while the bathing master put before me one of ] the curious pipes one smokes in Tiflis, a pipe three feet high, with a l metal base and stem at least two | feet long, AS l puffed away at this pipe the attendant drew on gloves f rough as sandpaper and began to give my body a dry SCOUT. At times | the pressure made a squirn and here
 and there little flakes of skin arose
 from the rubbing, but on the whole ! the sensation was pleasant.
 ! put A1Ay ILeblluo OIl AtlS and on them the bathing master stood \ while he rubbed my back with all his strength. There followed & series of l exercises to timber up the shoulder | and back muscles. He kneaded them with his knees and moved my should ! CTS about until the joints cracked, l much after the fashion in which a
 schoolboy pulls and cracks his l knuckles Every section of my spine felt this pulling process, and the pain \ at times was great, but I had been 1 forewarned, and was persuaded that 1 the reaction would be ample reward. l His bare feet were next brought into l play tramping out the small back I muscles. From time to time he tugged l at my arms and my legs until the l shoulder, elbow and knee joints cracked ' to his satisfaction. It reminded me of 1 football scrimmages of college days, l dan I would have laid odds of 10 to 1 i that I would not be able to walk for 8 1 week after the bath was over. From l time to time he applied warm water to | the smarting flesh and achign joitns, 1 and finally rubbed me from head to foot 1 with a sweet smelling oil and slid l gracefully down my spine.
 This ended the violent exercise.
 He then started gentle rubbing and 1 after he had worked over me this way l for while g. feeling of drowsiness 1 came over me. His constant rubbing | finally put me into a sound sleep, annd
 when I finally awoke I was refreshed
 beyond measure I felt like a new 1 man, and it seemed that nothing but a 1 climb to the top of one of the peaks
 of the Caucasian Range would quiet the energy the bath had aroused. I l gladly paid him sum in Russian
 money which would equal about four l American dollarss and was surprised l on looking at my watch to find that
 I had been at the bathhouse fo ra little
 more than three hours"
 "Never hear of anything like it ir i this quarter, said Smithfield when the other finished, land guess you'll have to go back to Tiflis if you insist
 on return engagement, unless y',u