Evening star., 1924-11-23
The Give and Take of u. S. Travel

combs already, Z shall be glad to hand
these back at any time when the
company cares to send for them.
/ have also Il copy of the Eew Tes-
lament in plain, good print, which is
marked Put here by the Gideons."
and which | believe | got from either
the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal
or the Biltmore in New York. | do
not known any of the Gideons. But
the hotel may have the book at any
time. as l have finished with it. l
will bring it to them.
On the other hand, i shall be very
greatly Obliged if the man who has
my Winter overshoes, left on the
Twentieth Century Limited, will let
me have them back again. As the
Winter is soon coming / shall need
them. If he will leave them at any
agreed spot three miles from a town
= will undertake not to prosecute him.
l mention these matters not so
much for their own sake as because
they form part of the system of give
and take, which plays considerable
part in my existence.
Like many people who have to
travel great deal, / get absent-mind-
ed about it. / move to and fro among
trains and hotels shephered by red
caps and escorted by bell boys. !
have been in SO many hotels that they
all look alike. If there is any differ
ence in the faces of the hotel clerks
can't see it. If there is any way of
distinguishing one waiter from
another | don't know it. There is the
same underground barber surround
ed by white marble and carrying on
the same conversation all the way
from Halifax to Los Angeles. In short
/ have been in SO many towns that |
never know where | am.
Under these circumstances man
of careless disposition and absent
mind easily anneXeS and easily loses
small items of property. In a Pull
man car there is no difficulty what
ever, If one has the disposition for it.
in saying to Il man sitting beside you,
Good morning, sir. 1t looks a beau
flful day" and then reaching over
and packing his hairbrush into your
ValiSe. If he is the right kind of
man he Will never notice 1t, or at
hest he will say in return, "A beau
tiful morning." and then take away
your necktie.
1'HERE is, let it be noticed, all the
difference in the world between
this process and petty larceny The
thlng l mean couldn't possibly be
done by thief. He wouldn't have
the nerve, the quiet assurance, the
manner. 1t is the absolute innocence
OF the thing that does it. For ex-
ample, if a man offers me a cigarette
find that l take his cigarette case
and put it in my pocket. When l
rise from my hotel dinner l carry
away the napkin. When | leave my
hotel room l always take away the
key
There is no real sense in this I
have more hotel keys than ] can use
as it Is. But the fault is partly with
our hotels So many of them put up
"a little notice beside the door that
reads, Have You Forgotten Any
thing?" Whenever I see this | stand
In thought minute and then it oc-
ours to me, why, of course. the
key" and l take it with me.
L am aware that there is class of
persons who carry away spoons and
other things deliberately as SOU
venirs.. But 1 disclaim all connection
with that kind of thing. That is not
what l mean at all.
| would never take a valuable
spoon, unless 1 happen to be using
1t at the table to open the back of
my watch, or something of the sort
But when ] sign my name on the
hotel book / keep the pen. Similarly
and in ali fairness, L give up my own
fountain pen to the telegraph clerk.
The theory works both ways.
III
al this than a harmless give and
take. a sort Of profit and loss account
20 which any traveller easily becomes
accustomed. But at the same time
one should be careful The theory
may go a little too far. l remember
not long ago coming home from a
Iheater in Trenton, y. j., with a
ladys white silk scarf about my
neck.
/ had no notion how it had got
there. Whether the woman had care
lessly wrapped il about my neck in
mistake for her own, or whether l
had unwound it off her I cannot say
But I regret the incident and will
gladly put the scarf back on her
neck at any time. I will also take
this occasion to express my regret
for the pair of boots which L put on
in a Pullman car in Syracuse in the
dark of a Winter morning.
There is a special arrangement on
the New York Central whereby at
Syracuse passengers making connec-
tions for the South are allowed to
get up at four and dress while the
others are still asleep. There are
signs put up adjuring everybody to
keep as quiet as possible. Naturally,
these passengers get the best of
everything and, within limits, it is
fair enough, as they have to get up
so early. But the boots of which
/ speak outclass anything 1 ever
bought for myself and l am sorry
about them.
OUR American railways have very
~ wisely taken firm ground on this
problem of property mislaid or ex-
changed or lost on the Pullman cars.
AS everybody knows when one of
our trains reaches a depot the pas
sengers leave it with as mad a haste
as if it were full of smallpox. In fact,
they are all lined up at the door like
cattle in a. pen ready to break loose
before the train stops. What happens
TO the car itself afterward they don't
care. 1t is known only to those who
have left a hairbrush in the car and
tried to find it.
But in reality, the car is instantly
rushed off to &. siding, it's number
placard taken out of the window so
that 1t cannot be distinguished, after
which a vacuum cleaner is turned on
and sucks UP any loose property that
is left in it. Meantime the porter has
avoided ell detection by an instan-
taneous change of costume in which
he appears disguised as a member of
the Pittsburgh Yacht Club. If he
could be caught at this time his pock-
cts would be found to be full Of foun-
tain pens, rings and current maga-
zines.
do not mean to imply foI a mo-
ment that our railways are acting in
any dishonest way in the matter. On
the contrary. they have no intention
of keeping or annexng their passen-
gers property. But very naturally
they do not want a lot of random peo-
pie rummaging through their cars.
They endeayor however, through