The San Juan islander. [volume] (Friday Harbor, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1911-11-03

| w d1 mtu communicates lLS0u 10 HIS
cold bones If it is winter they are
sure to be like icicles-he discovers
that it is deceptively light and deli
clously comfortable In Switzerland
the beds attain little more height.
but 1t is in Germany that they become
of such an altitude as to necessitate
pair of steps to mount them.
Tricks Played on the Traveller.
Sometimes in European hotels the
tourist Is taken solemnly to one side
and told that by paying few francs
or lire more he can have the royal
bedchamber. A certain hotel in Sor-
rento, where a dozen or more royal
heads have lain in one season. is even
more generous, for II the rooms are
empty they make no extra charge.
And the traveller lives to recount when
he is back on his native heath how his
cheek pressed the same pillow that
had been used by the little queen of
Holland or the king of Saxony. But
that is not a purely European custom.
for to this day in certain Boston no.
tel the sacred chamber occupied by
Prince Henry of Prussia Is listed at
about $40 day more than any other
room in the house.
Most American travellers on their
first trips abroad are astounded when
upon the day of their departure from
hotel they are presented with their
bill by the head waiter instead of by
the landlord or by his chief clerk But
1t is the custom and this important in
dividual is thus assured of his tip.
The traveller thinks it a little
strange that coffee is always extra at
luncheon and dinner, but when he or
ders coffee. at an average of or s
cents extra, the cup, 1t is freshly made
expressly for him and is not the cof-
fee that has stood for hours in the
pot. Another thing that strikes him
as funny is the fact that there are ele-
vators to go up, but that he cannot
use them to go down. One European
sign in small hotel reads: mo one
is allowed to descend in the elevator
but invalids and the aged" In the
larger hotels the lifts are used as
they are in America. but so leisurely
are they that one usually prefers to
run downstairs on shank's mare.
Economy in lights is another trait,
and where. az usual, there are two
electric lights in the room. one over
the bed to read by and another in
the ceiling, one cannot be turned on
without turning the other of. But a
young American engineer solved the
difficulty by unscrewing the porcelain
cap Of the switch and sticking in
hairpin to make the connection. He
had two lights, and no one was ever
the wiser. And his conscience? It
never troubled him at all; 1t was one
of those elastic ones you read about
It does not take long to remember.
after you once know, that II you
want to buy salt in Italy you must 60
to a tobacco shop to get it; for both
salt and tobacco are government mo-
nopolies. And it is pleasure to learn
that in France you can buy stamps
and postcards at tobacco shops. which
are under government Jurisdiction
there as well. Also that in both coun-
tries you can send kilograms at as low
rate as IA. cents for ten words, and
that special delivery letters will go
for cents in Paris IL you remember
to write across your envelope "Pneu-
matique," which means that the letter
will be shunted through pneumatic
tube in no time at all. and delivered
almost as soon as telegram.