The Washington herald., 1917-10-22

Urner.
| A rainy, lonely Sunday in a cheer
less hotel roomi DisconsoIately Helen
gazed out at the soot-bla ckensd roofs.
A bit of orange peel lay on the win
dow ledge, thrown out by some care
less guest above.
Raising the window to brush it off,
the wind-driven rain swirled out the
curtain and drenched her sleeve. There
was mutterins rumble from the
blackened, cloud-choked sky.
Turning back into the room she
switched on the lights to relieve the
gloom. A glass-topped desk, with its
hotel stationery. confronted her accus-
ingly-but she was in no mood for
writing letters.
She would wrap up the laundry,
baste a fresh collar on her coat. and
wash her hair-grimy from a weeks
travelling.
As they were to be in Chicago only
few days. every moment of War
ren's time was taken. She had hoped
he could be with her Sunday, but he
had made an appointment with Mr..
Kendall for ten. and had started off
right after breakfast
-Four shirts, six collars. one pair of
paJamas, two suits of underwear. She
was taking Warren's soiled clothes
from the trunk. In the desk drawer
under the telegraph blanks, she found
laundry list. Shirts 25c, collars &c,
pajamas 50c to 75c. The prices were
prohibitivei
The ladies' list was even worse.
Nightgowns 80 cents to s125, under
skirts 30 cents to 500. corset covers
20 cents TO 20 cents. All hotel laun-
dries were high-but this was extor-
ton.
She would send them to an outside
laundry. She had noticed a sign in
the next street, where she would
stop tomorrow.
All her small things-handkerchief
silk stockings and vests-she now laid
out to wash herself. The framed reg
ulations on the bathroom door said
distinctly. mo washing allowed in
the rooms" But every hotel had
that rule and no woman respected it.
a fumbling key in the door. 1t was
the chambermaid with an armful of
fresh linen.
Shall 1 wait til you. go out,
mas amp"
No, I'm going to be in all day
you'd better do the room now"
It's a mean, dark mornin'," as
she stripped the beds.
Helen, admitting that 1t was, took
out her coat and sat down by the
desk light to baste in the fresh col
lar.
Four sheets and four pillow cases
every day for just one room, she
though, watching the girl make up
the twin beds. With seven or eight
hundred rooms-how many sheets
must they use day? And they were
every thread linen, for in the last
iew years all the best" hotels had
seemed to scorn cotton sheets. What
ever other faults In their service,
their bed linen must be linen,
you're not going to change the
spreads toof" as the girl shook out
fresh marseilles spread with the
n0Iel ,,II, crest woven In the center.
Why they're not soiled-we've only
oeen here two nights"
1 Know ma'am, but they're a lit
tie rumpled And the housekeeper's
a"1ui particular; she don't like to see
no rumpled beds"
10 Helen 1t seemed a needless,
"asteful extravaganza. When the
same guests stayed on, fresh bed lin
en- every other day should be suffi-
cIent At home she changed the beds
only once a week-and the sheets
were not liner.
An armful of towels and a fresh
pink-and-white bath mat connIeted
room. i0t 'N1'
surely hotels. even the best hotels.
could De run less extravagantly. In
the craze for economy now sweeping
,he country, how had this waste of
iaoor in the needless laundering Of
motel linen been overlooked?
Tne maid gone, Helen mended a
tear In her coat lining, brushed n
sponged a spot from her skirt, and
lacked the loosened wing on her trav-
cling hat Then rubbing out the
gloves. handkerchiefs, and stockines
that she had put to soak In the wash
basin, she hung them along the edge
OF the tub 'Ae Gus
The arduous task of wa.hinv her
halr came next. Two hot suds one
iukewarm and one cold rinsing. and
she was kneeling before the radiator
urymg the wet, tangled mass with a
thick bath towel