The Colfax Chronicle

WHERE DO THE CLOTHES GO?

Here In a Possible Explanation of Disappearances of Garments in Country Houses.

The tendency of various articles of dress belonging to guests to disappear in country houses is undeniable, and there is scarcely a visitor who has not his story of a missing coat or pair of trousers or some similar article to tell. It is never known just how these things get away, but they go, and the circumstances of the loss usually prevent extended investigation.

The experience of a guest at a country house recently opened his eyes as to the possible reason for some of these mysterious disappearances, says the New York Sun.

"When the valet came to the room to unpack my bag," he said, "I found that I had come off without a most necessary part of my wardrobe. I had all my dress suit excepting the trousers."

My host was exactly my opposite in figure, and there was no hope of relief from that quarter. None of the other men stopping in the house had any extra garments, and as it was only a short time before dinner the situation looked critical. Then the valet came to my assistance and said that he thought he could find a pair of trousers to fit me. He brought a pair and they were all right.

"After I had tried them on he told me that he had another pair that had braid on the seams, if I liked that better. Of course when I left I gave him twice as large a tip as I would have done had I not been indebted to him for his trousers.

"I did not ask him the source of his supply, but it occurred to me that the inexplicable way in which visitors' garments disappear at times in country houses might be explained by the collections of emergency garments that the valets have on hand."