THE TRAVELING-BAG
The bag one selects has much to do with one’s comfort in traveling. It should be large enough to hold a nightrobe, a kimono, one’s toilet articles, also an extra shirt-waist and a change of underclothing in case of detention. The size of the bag is important. It must not be so large that it is a burden to carry if necessity compels. It must not be so small that the articles mentioned may not rest comfortably and without crowding within. As with trunks, so in bags, one finds a large variety in values. It pays to get a good bag of nice leather, conveniently arranged for carrying the articles necessary to one’s comfort. Such a bag, one that pleases the eye and in which one may find one’s things without a distracting search for them, gives an amount of satisfaction to a traveler beyond the power of words to convey. One of the most acceptable gifts that can be made to a person who is not of the stay-at-home type is a generously fitted traveling-bag. As thousands of bags are made precisely alike, the stamping of one’s initials at the end or side may save time and trouble.
DRESSING FOR A JOURNEY
One should wear dark inconspicuous clothing in traveling, and of a weight suitable to the season of the year. Beflowered hats, light gowns, light gloves—unless these are washable—and jewelry are in the worst of taste and proclaim the unsophisticated or the parvenu. To be dressed comfortably and modestly is the aim of the experienced traveler. In summer a dark silk dress of light weight with a silk rain-coat makes an ideal traveling costume, as neither holds dust. A woman so attired will arrive at the end of her journey in much better condition than her less experienced companion who clings to white (?) blouses. If a fresh veil and a pair of white gloves are tucked into her bag to be put on at the last moment, she will be charmingly immaculate. A black silk bag for the protection of one’s hat is a good idea though most Pullmans supply paper sacks for this purpose.
If possible, it is well on a journey to carry with one something more in the way of money than one’s traveling expenses. One can not tell what emergency may arise or what unexpected demands may be made upon one. Many women carry the funds not immediately in use, in some sort of pocket fastened on or made into the petticoat they wear. One can buy very pretty separate pockets of this sort made of leather or one can make them of a stout silk fastened down by a clasp on the flap. Elaborate preparation in caring for one’s wealth is the penalty a woman pays for being without pockets in her clothes. While it is wise for her to put the funds unnecessary for immediate use in some such safe place as that described, she should not keep articles which she may be at any moment called upon to deliver, in a spot which it is embarrassing for her to reach. Train conductors and baggage agents have many a grin and sly smile over the woman who must reach under her petticoat before she can deliver up ticket and trunk checks. An amusing instance of this overcaution, so much more characteristic of women than of men, occurs to the writer. An acquaintance, starting on a European voyage, took the most elaborate means for the hiding of her valuables upon her person. In transit she stayed the night at a New York hotel and woke in the morning to discover, to her horror, that she had slept all night with the door of her room unlocked and the key on the outside. A considerable amount of change in a separate purse from one’s bills is a convenience and a safeguard.
MAKING ACQUAINTANCES