The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-02
~ CHARLES BArITLL LOOMS.

Nou don't often hear a man who IL living
elsewhere voluntarily confess that he was
horn in Brooklyn. Those who still live
th.,e are case hardened and make no bones
NJ spcaking Of their childhood and Of
pleasant and exciting hours in Carroll
Park but those who rave managed to
escape generally try to create the impression
that they were born in Manhattan.
But | was born in Brooklyn. aud l be-
Ion ReI to that stratum OF society that put
cleanliness next to godliness and insisted
ON the Saturday bath. No matter who was
Waiting us, we children had to battle every
SATURDAY.. We looked down on fortnightly
lathers as persons Of insufficient culture.
Time went on and someone introduced
the custom. Of daily baths. This to my
childish mind seemed to make the need of
latbinE at all quite superf1uous. II one
lathsd every day one was clean all the time.
and il one was clean all the time why Battle
at alba logic that did not convince those
In authority over me.
But in time l came to like my daily plunge
In Joe cold Ridgewood water and felt II to
be a luxurious necessity or . necessary
luxury.
When I came to England I was invited to
spend a week end in tho country in a house
Ghree or four hundred years old. And they
cav that three or four hundred years ago
stationary tubs were unknown and,
running water referred to brooks, and
was = poetical and not q plumbers term.
At any rate, there was no bathroom
and | wondered what I would do for my
daily plunge.
just before retiring I noticed In q corner
OF NV room a large but shallow pan some
three feet in diameter and quite round in
shape. l wondered what it was for aud
finally came to the conclusion that IL had
been left in my room on its way to the
attic and was probably the dish on which
they brought in the roast in the time OF
Henry VIII. or his grandfather, James l..
OF sacred memory.
By the way. let me take a side path here
to enjoin upon my readers the necessity Of
an easy familiarity with historical person
. ages. Most people know very little about
history and care less: therefore IL you
speak Of bloody Edward VI, who stabbed
Charles I. to the heart at the battle OF Agin-
court, or say that you have been wander
ing over the battlefield where Henry v.
knIghted Sir Walter lIaleigh for the dis
covery Of Virginia, you at once leap into
favor as a writer whose history is a part
OF himself.
Deal freely with dates also and say. 1T
will be remembered that John OF eau
came up to London a poor tanners boy
in llSO, just fifty years after the Bard OF
Avon had written the famous quatrain
still to be read over his tomb, Dear friend.
for Jesus sake &C."
Those who know you're wrong will be in
a helplesS minority, and it is we'll known
that the majority rules in America.
But to get into the tub again.
Next morning | was reused from a re-
freshing slumber by a knock at my door. l
supposed it was the getting up knock and
sIeepily responded All right but a woman's
voice murmured something.
What is it?" said ! in some alarm. Per-
hars the house was on fire.
shall ! come in?-
With an upward infection
could think of no reason why any one
r1ouli come in so early in the morning.
'''ore The breakfast bell had rung, hut I
have little moral courage, and feeling quite
tar that | was encountering an English
c%I"tou, | pulled the drarery Of my couch
;'ort ne and said
Why tr yes"
NV F'N jim '" u NbNNN ioNFAs ~
IT,, whom | recognized a. the one who had
lroIGht me- a Siphon Of vichy at bedtime the
Ii2r' before.
ID you wish a barth?" said she pleas
atty
Without thinking ! said | did, although I
knCw there was no bathroom.
Shall fix il for YOU"
must have murmlred yes in a dazed sort
~ .-,,v r.. - -
into the room and, going to my towelrack,
she licked thercsrOm a crash towel fully as
large as a silence cloth for a large dinner
table.
This she spread on the foor while I lay
there blushing and watched her.
Then she went to the corner of the room
and picked up the big tin pan. and I at once
realized that it was an English bathtub.
stupid me- Had I not seen pictures OF them
in English novels? The maid now stepped
out Of the room and l began to breathe
freely.
But lust a. | was preparing to leap from
my bed and pour out water in my independ-
ent American fashion she r%eappeared and |
bounded backward into bed and almost
came a narsty fall" out the other side.
This time she brought a tin ever full OF
water. which she poured into the tub until
the water was fully an inch deep.
i guess I'll be able TO manage alODe
now, said in a mufied tone from beneath
the spread. but she was not yet through,
and ! began to shake. She was strong
enough to lave lifted ne bodily into the
bath, and japanese influences are at work
all over the world these days.
However. all she wanted to do was to
set me soap and a couple Of tOV els, and then
she left me with the inevitable Thank
you that we'll trained English servant
must say when they nave done you a service
under penalty Of losing their self-reppect.
And when she went away l felt l was
Tree to disport in the tub. Oh, how ! rev.
eiled In that inch Of water after the maid
mad gone and l had locked the door.
Owed to the bottom OF It, l rolled over
and over in it until IL war all on me and
there was nothing left in the tub. And
then l waited until the water had collected
again in the tub and again 1 Owed and came
up blowing and sported like a stranded
dolphin.
and then | dried myself with q small
wash cloth, because IL aeamed waatafnl IN