The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-02
A Bath in an English Tub
Charles OaIen LOOms Tells Of a Country House Where Running Water"
Is a pOetical and Not a Plumbers Term.

that England has been having fer the last
five weeks, but enjoyed my PIN lge even
more than l used to enjoy my enforced
baths ~ childhood because OF the terror
and uncertainty OF the preparations for IL
on the rart IL the muscular maid.
l have referred to the English Thank
yOu." II is the most ~overWorked phrase
in use. In the FIRST place they don't say
Thank you' as we do in America, with a
falling infection. They throw IL up In the
air at you with a jerk. -Thang kew" OK
presses 1t phonetioally, but no letters can
express the little jerk of al infection that
they give to the you" There Is not q
spark Of gratitude in il rs It is used by ser
wants and tra~despeople.
A maid brings you q cup OF tea, and as
she hands IL TO you she says -ThAng kew
You meet one in the hall and you say Good
morning. It's a pleasant day and she
says -Thang kew"
l went into a shop on the Strand yester-
day in order to DO heeced. Americans are
fair game and, although I talk In q very
low tone Of voice ION purpOse) and avoid
saying -caow- and guess" they spot me
for an American at once and proceed to do
me.
Messenger says it's because l go without
q waistcOat. When it's hot weather In New
York l 60 without q wRistcoat Cor vest, As
| was brought up to call it), and why
shouldn't l do IL here when It's hOt7 But
/ suppose II does betray my nationality
lmost as much as the wearing Of the STAN
and Stripes would.
I went into this haberdasher's to buy an
outing shirt. The shirt bought, tho mar
said:
Il have some Windsor tics that would
interest you"
Il have all l need
"Thang kew. Carn't ! show you some
'a~ngkerchiefs?"
Not any handkerchief to-day
'Thang kew"
No more emotion in his thanks tia .
professors al migrate wo uld display. Iverily
believe that il l had given way to irritation
at his reiterated phrase and had said, I'll
push your face In, he would have said,
'Thang kew as he proceeded to how me
something else l did o want to buy.
But l want to tell you how easily shocked
the good and aged Mrs. Grundy is whom a
person acts according 10 his inolinations
instead Of according to English precedent.
1 am a warm blooded person, and whenI
tennis or wheel a jacket is a superfuity. In
Connecticut 1 fling hat and jacket away as
soon as | reach the hill country. and no one
says a word unless II is a farmer who fears
l will get a sunstroke.
But Over here, when I clad myself in q
becoming outing shirt and started to get
my wheel / met in the hallway the same
maid who had prepared my bath, and II
-aa At npna har ftnrn m hipaah AhA ahAUiA
faced and retreated to the servants hall, and
l later learned that she supposed that l
lid not expect or wish TO be seen so very
incompletely dressed. " as they say in The
Pirates Of P~enzance."
/ was unconscious Of any wrong doing,
and 1 went on my way rejoicing and joined
the wheeling party at the barn-a party
made up entirely Of Englishmen.
One OF them knows me very we'll and he
said, Go back Inc get dressed"
turned it OF with a laugh and we all
mounted our wheels. but l noticed that all
the met looked s~hocked-much as they
would nave looked IL they had met their
wives in evening dress IN the seashore or
in bathing costume at a dinner.
But We would laugh at an Englishman
who did not dare 60 his own gait in America,
particularly when that gait did not restrict
the liberty OF action OF another, and so |
went riding under the July sun
Very shortly my companions began to
complain Of the heat and to perspire like
bread earners, while l was cool and cOm-
Portable. But whoever we met. were they
farm labOrers or motor cyclists or tramps,
they looked shocked VIXEN they saw me
riding free and easy in a six shilling figured
linen outing shirt. and by the time l reached
the end Of the run l felt that l was a pariah.
But | was such a cool pariah.
would rather be plriah and cool withal
than to dwell in the jackets Of holiness.
Selah.