The San Francisco call., 1910-02-13
By Bertha II. Smitn

7 doesn't matter whether you have
landed on the other side in Ireland
or Italy, in England or France, your
FIRST bath viii make you realize
more than any other one thing how
many thousand miles you are from
home and mother.
OF course. II you are one OF those
thrice blessed unfortunates 10 whom
money IS no object YOU will go from
one great modern hotel TO another.
where they have hot and cold water
IN the rooms and porcelain tubs, and
your first bath won't be an experience
al ALL Indeed, the big modern hotels
IN the big British and continental cities
are so like our own that II you are
one Of the unfortunates aforesaid you
might as well stay in America for all
you VIII know Of ways and means for
eign-
Tt is the fellow who goes TO the
small hotels and pensions and pays
not more than 81 a day who gets
notion Of what Europe was before
everybody over there began 10 adjust
himself to the needs and desires and
The farther you 80 above that figure
the farther you get away from Europe
aud the more fun you miss. and the
farther you go below that figure the
more you get for your money Of Eu
rope as ii was before the American in
vasiou; incidentally, the more cOnster-
nation you create when you demand
bath.
A daily bath is provided for By the
British constitution. And 50 in his
home. when the Brltisher gets up in
the morning he hauls from under the
he'd a big round shallow tub and pours
iuto II some water from a bis vessel
resembling a sprinkling can He may
have to break the bloomin' ice on the
water with his bloomin' bootjack, but
no matter. Il would be great a
crime TO battle IN warm water as to
eat the wrong kind OF jelly with his
mutton And since it is the law of his
land. he stands up in the center OF his
tub like a spartan and squeezes the
cold water over him with a sponge.
But. OF course. II You are only an
American tourist you are not likely to
see the inside of an Englishman's home.
except, perhaps, the drawing room,
where you are asked for cup OF tea
II you carry the right sort of letters
with you. And in your boarding res
idence." which is English for boarding
house YOU get different sort Of bath
in your room. It is a zinc affair. cut
on the pattern OF an arm chair without
legs. and the maid brings two or three
small pitchers Of water and plenty OF
towels. and leaves you TO figure out
whether to try 70 stand on one foot
IN il. or sit down and III It so com
pietelv that there is 10 room left for
bathing operations
Nowadays all the boarding residences
that cater 10 Americans have put in
bathtubs somewhere in the house. They
look very funny and old fashioned to
one accustomed to porcelain tubs, with
the boxing all around that is so high
YOU can hardly straddIe it, but which
the Britisher holds makes a fine place
10 sit while he bathes and which pre-
vents the possibility of throwing soiled
clothes back OF the tub.
When you learn that the boarding
residences are better equipped for
bathing than most private Residences
in London or Edinburgh or any other
great British cities you do not wonder
that so many people go to the public
baths. London has spent millions Of
pounds on its public baths. which are
numerous IN every borough, and there
they are public in the broad sense of
the word and not merely for the very
Door. as with US. Being always pro-
vided with first and second class swim
ming pools. the first and second class
private baths, they are used by all
classes from M P.s 10 cabbies.
Ireland is not wholly British in its
attitude regarding the bath. Here, as
usual. II is feminist the government"
To Judge by appearances, the only time
Young ireland of the interior gets wet
all over is when it runs out in the rain
with its one little garment on. In the
cities cheap public baths have been