'to IIO.M the old-fashiuitd I. luck kittle
I t lie drlftvv (Kid lire down by the creek
W mill the rult-a -1 lib w.ishbnanl, to n
1 tliree iir four-story hullillu: lllleil
with iineer machinery is a long Jump,
yet It fairly represents the evolution of the
lannilry business.
It wasn't always ealleil "lannilry." There
was a time when "wiishln' " was good
enough. That was when our mothers dlil
their own "washing " Then washday was
a sort of n holiday for the youngsters, for
they might roast potatoes or eggs In the
coals underneath the kettle or Indulge In
ninny other privileges not granted on coin
nion days.
In that good old era the kettle was
anchored on four bricks somewhere near
tho swimming hole In the creek, for such
location assured plenty of water. It was
easy enough to build a Hie. for there Is
always "down-Umber" along the creek.
Under this process the rolled garments were
' first boiled in Die keltic, linn llfled Into a
tub, whele they were ruble d yes, evcrv
Inch of them, by hand-and then for a
finishing touch runic a rinsing in clean
water with Just a dash of Indian blue
streaked here and there.
Wringers were unknown in those days, so
that laborious part of the work had to be
dune by hand also, (looseberry bushel and
o'her shrubbery took the place of n elotlpH
line.
Modern Way of Clelilllnu Linen.
The modern lnuiiilr of today is a innui
miith Institution It represents a vast out
lay of capital nud the man who operates It
that Is, the head of tho llrm must know
his business from the ground up -and this
Is somewhat literal, ton, for the basement
, Is one of the most Important parts of n
laundry.
A myriad of pis Jets, ubhue and sputter
ing, take the place of the wood lire and
tho old black kettle is supplanted by yawn
ing vats of great dimension. Nowadays
clothing must go through a dozen or more
different processes before It Is turned Into
the delivery room. Machines are everyj
where through the tmtldliiK n mntiKler for
this and o something else for that. The
mangier Is one of the most Important
of laundry equipment, and It looks the
part After the soil has been eliminated
the clothing Kf.es to the drying room, where
tho temperature Is much hotter than well,
'hail health requires. The Ironing, which
Is no small part of the work, comes after
the drying process, of course. There Is
ono machine to Iron collars, nnnther for
i ulTs. still another for wristbands and
neckbands, nnd so on through.
, Hut It remains for tho up-to-date woman
o get ahead of the inventive laundry mn
IchlnlBt. There, are some fluffy, airy-fairy
I garments of summer wear that cannot be
Laundry Workers and the
1 1-. tu I bj machinci leastwise no man
has over yet made a machine that would do
this partliular class of work satisfactorily
and If he cr dues accomplish the lnvcii
I Inn the ih.dKcs ale Ihal woman will no
still fiirthei and iuent mole complicated
lace and frills.
The IronliiK process uer, the clothing Is
sorted with rcfeience to Ideiitlflcatliin
marks and Is then bundled for dellcry. A
smart young man In a vvngon drives about
town making deliveries nnd collecting
1!! cents for a 3U-ccnt shirt unless the
customer has a "stand-off," and then the
maniiKer makes the collection on the first
pay day Immediately after the llrsl day of
the month.
Illiilcx Xloeli i iliiiiiix Toll,
Men, women and children employed In
laundries have nothing to do hut work.
The old-fnsliioned method down by the
spring house or the creek may have had
Its disadvantages, but the latter-day
washerwoman must work even harder, de
spite the advent of machinery which Is
branded "labor saving. "
It Is In the hot weather that the laundry
worker comes nnre nearly coining her
money than at any other ti The nat
ural heat on i he outside may be so ( x ess
ive as 'o semi strong men staggering to
the gutter, yet the toller in u laundry must
eiiduio in addition to this a pnwciful pres
sure of artificial heat. Almost every bit f
the machinery has a Die concealed about it
somewhere--cither the Mteiini from some
big holler or the rays of a persistent nns
Jet. The ironing department Is always hot
enough to "sizzle."
How these women endure It most of the
employes are women -Is a question for tie'
doctors to answer. The managers of laun
dries frankly admit that they do not know
The temperature at times reaches 111" to
130 degroi h worse than fever heat. Vet
these, girls for bo It known that even the
sllvery-h.ilied grandmother Is in shop lan
guage a girl. If she works lu a laundry toll
on from day to day, Jaded, fagged and
feverish. Occasionally a prosiiatii n Is
noted, but they are comparatively f w con
sidering the conditions Iiuuilrvmeii havo
done all within their power to equip their
establishments with nitlllclal mentis for
cooling, but this innovation has n Milted In
but slight relief, since by ill" very natuie of
the business there must be lire.
Hi t weather means Increased work for
the laundry people, for the summer sun Is
ii great despoller of linen. A man who
changes his raiment but once a week In
winter will most likely change three times
as often In eiimmer. And the fust IdlntiR
fellow thinks he must hnve a clean shirt,
collar and ruffs every dav Sotm-tlmix he
nerds It
prominent imnui'v manager who quit
washing soiled linen In the newspapers ho
was a n porter and went at It In the lit
eral way by taking an Interest in one of
the blgg(st laiiudrlis in town, Is authoiity
for the statement that the hot weather In
creased hid volume of business at least -."
per cent all tin way ihri.ugli and on some
arl ii It s of appaicl much mote than that
llgllle
"If nn evidence of our busy rush were
ii (lulled," said the laundry manager, "I
u. klit cite the fact that the owner of our
i stnblishmcnt -a man who could live tho
hakim o of his life on tho compctmrp ho
lias alieady acquired has been making n
full 'hand' ever since the hot weather
stalled I'rom 7 o'clock In the morning un
til ' in i veiling that man has winked at
tin- piactlcal side if our business without
i vi ii taking time fir luncheon at the noon
In or He hn.i (-larch' (1 shin flouts man
aged i he movements of a mangier and donn
a Utile of everything else that Is required
of the help
"Do we have trouble in securing em
ployes? No, not so much as one would
naturally suppose. Laundry workers do not
seem to mi tut ll .xccsslve ileal so very
much, nlthouuh there is no denying that
II Is .1 very exhaust lug work These people
know that they have to toll Homewhere In
order to live ami having become accustomed
to the laundry business they feel very much
at home, I suppose.
"We llnd that colored women stand the
heat much better than their paleface
sisters. We have negio women who work
all da with a song on their lips, and a
happier lot would be hard to llnd, If ap
pearalices may be taken as an Index."
xilll-ee ol Their Trimble,
It Is the "special" that makes the laundry
man's hair turn grav "Special"
means that the man has got to have his
shirt mul collar at once the very same day
they are sent to the laundry. An advanced
price Is charged for specials, and all first
class laundries advertise their splendid
equipment for taking care of sm h work, jet
after all they probably cause more trouble
than the premium on their price warrants.
The l.it'tidry that has the skill to make
collars and cuffs feel like velvet, although
they are not, has indeed struck a keynote
to success, for If there Is any one thing
above another that will make a man Bwear
It Is to have the lower slope of his Jaw
bone J'ibbed by a saw-edge collar.
The Chinaman once cut a big figure In the
laundry work of this country, particularly
In the west. Hut he Is on the wane and
now his patronage Is peripatetic The
Chinaman rubs the dirt out- no mistake
about that, but It Is asserted that his pro
cess has a dcstroylnc effect upon the tex
' tiro of the cloth.
And then the Mongolian ticket system li
Summer Season
uoi always a thing of Joy, foi the loss of
the slip of lileroglyphic-marke l paper moan,
that I. lug I.ee will hold on to (he bundle
In this age of Invention maiiv wiunlci fill
Improvements have come to p:r tint a care
ful review of the entire industrial Held
shows that In no other line h.is there been
a greater departure from original methods
than In the washing of seilnl linen a
prosaic occupation at best, but one which
yields a harvest of recompense
Passing of Famous Hotel
The I!no,nnn loan made from the North
western .Mutual l.lfe Insurance company
by the trustees of the Not thwostern uni
versity, says the Chicago Tllbuno, Is the
first step toward the Iraiisfolinatlon of the
old Tremont house Into an educational In
stitution. Two mouths from im tho pies
elit lessee will retire and I he university
trustees will take possession and law,
dentistry, pharmacy and laboratory work
will take the place of the geneioiiH enter
tainment for the traveler which tho famoiiH
old hotel has furnished so many years.
The Tiemont house Is otic of the land
marks of Chicago It i linnet hoist such
antiquity as the old Saiigiinash, where
lleaulileti fiddled and Klnzlc and Hub
bard and I'Viuaiido Jones gave primitive
dinner parties, but it shares with the City
hotel, long since dlsappeaied the reputa
tion of being the swell hotel of early days
Many notable events hav nred In It
It was fiom this house thai Thalbolg, the
great pianist, then on a com cri tour with
VIcllxtempH and others, suddenly disap
peared with his Inamorata bemuse of the
equally sudden appearance of Mine. Thal
berg Upon the scene. It wa- ill the Trc
iihiii I Dial Adellna I'attl made her Chicago
debut The diva, then a child lu panta
lettes, was nl the house, accompanied by
her parents and her nude. Maurice
StrakoBch, who were passing through the
city. The guests, desiring to hear the
"Infant phenomenon." she was lifted to
the center of the dining table, where she
sang like a lark and was rewarded with
sweetmeats. It was at the Tremont hotel
I hat Ceneral Wlnllebl Scott In the 'HOs bad
a hi 1 1 1 c reception. He was pa slng through
the (Ity to the I'aclflc coast as a commis
sioner to sottlo the dlfllciill; aiislng from
the disputed boundary line of the United
States and llrltlsh America through the
Straits of I'u en. Chicago hail novor he
fore and has never since and may never
again see such a combination of gold lnci
nnd feathers or such a martial figure a
that of tho pompous old Mexican hero.
The Tremont house, I ml 1, was the
sviionyin of hospitality and g I rheer nnd
once a year rose to extraor linary epic
ureaii heights in John Draki game din
ner-- ll was tin- I ' m 1 1 1 1 i en 1 1 hotel of tin
pel led and Ceoi ge Cage us lis landlord,
with .li hll Inake for stewaiil, kept tip a
friendly llvalry with the Sherman lionsi
where David Cage enlei tallied democrats
Hut I licit' was one gie.it ileuiocial who ill' 'I
within its walls, Stephen A. Douglas, "tin
little giant," whose last testimony was an
earnest plea for the union. I'or many ymrs
It was the heart of the city and at a lime
when Chicago was small. In two month
more It will have dlsappeaied, leaving onlv
pleasant memories of the old das, when
everyi knew every other and the city vva-
joung and handsome and clean and g I
Pointed Paragraphs
A dearth of news Is no news to tho editor
Women with a past never refuse a pres
t-iit .
one wash necktie doesn't make a Hiimmei
suit.
liven a liar respects veiaclty lu tin
other fellow.
After n girl gets married hIio eats fewi i
pickles ami more onions.
Women dislike a womanly man an mu b
as men hate a manly woman.
If you have social aspirations now
your chance to got lu tho swim.
Tho chlldien of a wealthy widower al
ways object to his second man Inge
Consistency may bo a Jewel, but It will
not stand the pawnbroker's acid test.
Any man can make himself conspicuous
by carrying a string of fish up the street.
When people begin to whistle a popular
air all tho sentiment Is blown out of it.
Tho pen starves more poets to death in a
year than the sword exterminates lu tweutv
cenllllleB.
If tho engagement Is a success a girl '.
willing to take chances on her marring'
being a failure. ,
The actor who s mi i of a Job always
claims he Is resting. I'lidiahly ho Is from
the effects of a long walk.
The average man thinks It Is a specla'
dispensation of Providence when ho gel
something good that rightfully belongs l.
somebody else.
His Advantage
Huston Transcript: "I hnve played a des
penile game and I have lost," remarked the
stage villain Just before his Dual dlsap
pearance
"Hut vou are a darn sight better olf than
we are," murmured a tired looking man lu
the front row; "wo paid money to gel In "
