El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-05-01
May | Is Still the Great American
Moving and Changing Around Occasion
Nowadays Moving Great Task It Formerly Was
and Not So Destructive.

fONG before daylight this morning,
huge moving vans, ordinary two
horse teams, and even one-horse
carriers carts. all heavily laden with
household furniture began to throng
the streets in every city in America
FOR this is American moving day and
thousands of families will tonight WOO
slumher under different roof than
that which sheltered them last night.
Just why May first should be so popu-
lar for changing domiciles no one seems
TO know, but it at least has a prestige
OF long standing. A real estate agent
claims that this date is the dividing
line between cold and warm weather
and therefore marks the beginning of
g new year, In every town this day
has been in the minds of express and
moving companies for weeks past, and
special preparations have been made
to meet its demands
May Day Moving Still General
Where apartments are rented by the
year IN many towns the new leases
date from May l. Even where it is
customary to date leases from October
l, May-day movings still are frequent.
There are numbers of people who viii
break the stiffest kind of a lease
rather than remain in an apartment
after the first really warm sun of
April arrives. So the TRANSPORTATION
companies are quickly communicated
with and the fitting arranged for, to
an apartment which may or not give
greater degree of comfort than the
one vacated
In New York the majority of. leases
on both apartment and houses begin
May l. This may be due to the old
Knfckerbocker influence when the
earliest pr7fc = t., ~,
country fixed this day for closing the
stately town residence and taking
their families into the pastoral fresh
ness of their Long Island farm. II
really would prefer to stay in my
town home a couple of weeks longer
said New York woman recently, "but
my husband feels that we must move
today even If we go to a city hotel, so
the same moving companies that
packed for his mother have been ia
charge Of our house for weeks II it
seems too cool for US to go to the coun-
try on the first of May we will go to
downtown hotel and stay, but move
we must on May first. simply because
his mother, his grandmother and 1
don't know how many other ancestors
fixed that date as moving day"
Moving Terrors Lessened.
To the wealthy woman the terrors
Of moving have become to large de-
gree abated by the application OF
modern business methods She no
longer breads the fuss and ineon-
venience, as the skilled mover and his
trained packers have reduced family
moving to a fine science When a
millionaire family desires to move,
an expert is placed in charge of the
home. He visits the new house and
by conference with the head servants
secures information as to the placing
Of each piece Of furniture Then he
begins operations upon the house to
be vacated. An inventory is first care
fully made and then the packing is
begun, always in the least used parts
of the house, so that the usual routine
is preserved to the last Quite fire.
quently skilled packers do this work
at night so that customers are not in
any way interfered with
A Chicago hostess arranging for a
series of dinners did not permit the
trifling incident of changing her resi-
dence to interfere with her plans The
night before moving she gave dinner
to twenty-four guests. For the day
following invitations had been issued
for similar affair at her new resi-
dence and it was completed satisfac-
lOt1-S- the guests naQ
left THE house to be vacated, the
movers took charge Of the dining
room. and it's contents were carefully
packed into large vans that night.
The family took breakfast in the room
adjoining the next morning and went
ont to various pleasures during the
day They assembled in the evening
in their new home. placed in perfect
readiness for them, even to the floral
decorations in the dining room. This
incident, presents rather a strong con
trast to the multitudinous cares of the
housewife a generation ago who for
weeks before moving worked fine lines
in her face over the china which no
one. must pack but herself, the preser-
walton of her cut glass and the safety
OF her silver. not to mention the larger
articles of even greater value.
Little Damage to Furniture.
But even to the hOusekeeper in
moderate circumstances moving is less
burdensome than formerly. The great
increase in the family movings each
year is responsible for this. The old
saying: Three movings are equal to
a fire. is no longer true, at least so
far as damage to furniture is con-