Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-08-17

late MT. n. w. Lee was written
on Monday, July 1 while In bed at >
the residence Of Frank Mahin, =
United States Consul at Nothing =
ham, England. In subsequent
letter dated July s, explaining his :"
illness, Mr.. Lee said that on the =
previous Monday he was feeling :
good and had boy with type
writer come to his room
SO that he could dictate
the letter given below. Mr..
Lee said that Whom the letter was :
finished he was very hungry and
ate too hearty a supper which )"
caused set back. From this SER :
"ious attack he never recovered. =
This letter 10 MIR. Lees last pub !"
lie writing and Is written In his
cheerful and interesting style
with the wonderful attention to >
detail that was characteristic Of
all his public letters.
= 4
Letter No. 2.
Nottingham, Eng, July i
My former letter was written In
mid-ocean. We experienced no bad
weather until we entered tho Irish
sea, the night before landing at Liv,
erpool. Then we ran into fog and
our SAUNDERS were disturbed all night
long by the intermittent and hoarse
blasts of the steamers whistle. which
In turn would be answered by equally
doleful fog-horns stationed either on
the Irish or English coast. Reflection
Cor rs 1of
safety in the whistles, nerve racking
though they were, and we finally
went peacefully to sleep dreaming Of
circus parade at home and the .mu-
sic" Of the calliope at the end Of the
procession. At noon the following day
we were safely tied up at the landing
stage at the Liverpool dock The
trunks and hand baggage of the pas
sengers were first landed and placed
in rows in the customs house sheds
the Lee" baggage being in the row
marked "L", Walker baggage under
wv, etc. 1t Is necessary that each
piece of baggage be plainly labeled In
order that it may be quickly placed,
and located by the owner England
Is free trade country and inspection
at an English port Is informal and
quickly over. About the only ques.
ton asked is, "Have you any spirits or
tobacco?" An answer in the mega
tive, followed bv a quick glance at the
personnel of our party on the part Of
the inspector, and nothing further
was required. Our baggage was duly
X'ed with green chalk and we were
ready to move on to our hotel "a
four wheeler, is what you want" said
an experienced traveller who had been
q fellow passenger on the ship. A
four wheeler, let us say Is a four
wheeled cab drawn by one horse and
only differing, so far as we couldBsee,
from the four wheeled hacks at home,
by havine little railing round the
top to hold the baggage on But" said
l. there are four of us and we have
three trunks and five or six pieces Of
hand luggage"
That's all right; he'll take care Of
you and land you and your luggage at
the hotel safely"
1t looked dubious to us, but we de.
cided to trust to providence and ego
IT. in real English style. Two strong
porters soon had the trunks and hand
luggage on the top. Then with con-
siderable trepidation we crawled IN
side and "sat up light" all the way TO
the hotel, momentarily expecting that
the horse would balk at the first grade
in the street, and that the slightest
irregularity Of the pavement would
bring an avalanche Of trunks and lug
gage through the top of the vehicle
down onto our defenseless heads.
Neither Of these catastrophies hap
o,oaH ND =
the hotel in safety. AS per schedule
posted in the hack itself. the legal
fare for all this transportation Of bag.
gage and passengers was one shilling
ga cents) with the general policy Of
tipping the driver from two-pence to
six-pence -four to twelve cents) In ad-
dition. After l had Witnessed the un.
loading did not have the face to do
1t. I hastily pulled four shillings (96
cents) from NV. pocket and handed t
to the driver whose face fairly beamed
in acknowledgment Of the tip. He
had struck something easy" just over
from America. On my part felt
easy In my conscience, but could see
at once that the hotel porter who saw
the transaction put me down for an
easy MARYLAND SO was. There ,s
one distinct advantage about the Eng.
fish system Of handling baggage
Your trunks and hand baggage are in
your room at the hotel within ten
minutes after you take possession.
This Is in marked contrast with the
hours Of waiting frequently required
in Chicago. New York, or any large
American city between the time of ar
rival at your hotel and the time Of re-
ceiving your trunks. There Is a
somewhat amusing difference between
American and English hotels that is
at once noticeable to the American
traveller In America the hotel cle:K
is the autocrat of the situation. He
is always prominently in evidence by
means Of his Jewels and otherwise
and is person whom the guests ap.
proaches in fear and trembling. Ii
he happens to tell you what you
want to know it is because he happens
to feel like doing so, and not other
wise.
The Hall Porter.
In English hotels little or nothing
is seen of the clerk-but the hall por:
~, C11ox,oo IL, I'll III