"I have never understood this craze for bathrooms myself," he
continued; "I think it far more comfortable to have the maid bring
the tub into the room at the same time she draws the curtains and
lights the fire, for then one takes one's bath in comfort, rather
than go into a cold closet. Nor do I like to lie down in a tub. It
makes me feel as if I were ill--at Harrowgate or some such place,
don't you know. More than that, I suspect there is a lot of talk
about bathing that does not amount to much. There is a daughter of
one of my tenants who went as housemaid to one of the great hotels in
Chicago--the Blackamoor, I think it is called. She came home to
visit her mother a year ago, and I asked her if it were true that
many rooms had private baths. She said that every room in the place
had its own bathroom, and that the very bag-men, if you please, would
swagger in and say, 'Room with bath,' but that days would go by
without their being used! Just ordered them to put on side. She is
a very shrewd girl, and she explained to me why it was that Americans
have so many bathrooms. She said the ladies insisted upon it because
they did not wish to be seen going along the passages in the flannel
gowns they all wear. She said if they had handsome bath-robes, such
as English ladies wear, they would not be ashamed to be seen going to
the bath."
Don't you think that girl earned a good tip? But perhaps you, like
my garrulous old friend, will think I am trying to "pull your leg,"
but I give you my word it is all true. I am not sure whether you
will say "Aren't they the limit?" or "Can you beat it?" I said both!
John came in in a penitent mood, as I knew he would, and brought me a
superb bunch of roses--a sort of "sin-offering." What should I have
done had I married a saint!