Dear Billy:—
Not having traveled overly much it is not to be supposed that you are higher than a three-spot when you switch on to this subject, but “tipping as she is tipped” is one of the up-to-date accomplishments, Billy.
I propose in this letter to throw my little piece of radium on to it and show it up to your tender eyes, for it certainly dazzles me. I heard a street preaching guy telling about the advancement of all things and he named over everything he could think of but left out the drum major of the bunch, the cap sheaf, as it were, the one great and only that heads the procession. There is an art in tipping but the art is soon learned; one of the lost arts, however, is to get along without tipping. The more I see of tipping the more I am convinced it is the correct thing, and the guy who started the anti-tipping club needs to roost high or he will get his tail feathers clipped. Just the same, I believe in the anti-tipping club. I wish that seventy-five per cent or more of the travelers would join it, then I would keep on tipping and be a true enough top-notcher.
There is only one tipping rule for the man who travels, and that is to tip and keep tipping, particularly if you desire to get what is coming to you. Some methodical dubs have adopted the rule of giving to the waiters ten per cent of the amount paid for a meal. My plan is to give something if nothing but a cussing, but to give according to what I receive—and a good cussing is all that is coming to some of them, according to my rule.
I found a waiter in Shanley’s once who had been spoiled by the ten per cent habit. I dropped in there with a piece of calico and the bill came to six dollars and fifty cents. I gave his nibs seven dollars and when he brought back the half, I said:
“Keep it, old man.”
He lifted it on the plate and cocking one eye, said:
“The bill was six fifty,” meaning that I ought to come down with fifteen cents more.
“That’s right,” said I, “sixty fifty is enough for any dub to pay for a dinner,” and I pocketed the half and walked out.
I think he fainted,—at all events, I heard something fall as I walked away. The girl asked what the trouble was and I said: