Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 84, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 April 1916 — New York Bonifaces Are Prepared for Anything [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

New York Bonifaces Are Prepared for Anything

NEW YORK. —"Ask and ye shall receive.” is the motto that can be applied to the big hotels, when guests arrive with meager baggage and want something they cannot buy. The bonifaces are adequately prepared for any-

thing. They have been known to have supplied everything from a toothbrush to an entire outfit. Women guests traveling light, who have received invitations to informal affairs and who have been at their wits’ end how to procure the necessary costume, have told their troubles to the manager and have been made happy. Only the other day a similar case confronted a well-known man from the West. His wife had failed to put his evening togs in his grip. He appealed to the

manager of his hotel and soon he was rigged out with an open-faced BUit, including everything from silk socks to walking cane. Hotel managers are constantly being called on to aid guests in such emergencies. Soma of the requests are amusing. A short time ago a Baptist clergyman arrived here wearing light tan shoes. He was called on by a prominent clergyman to occupy his pulpit. It being late Saturday night he could not buy a pair of black shoes, so he did the next best thing; he told his troubles to the hotel man, who found, a pair of shoes for him, even if they were a size smaller. And one Sunday afterpoon a man who wanted to catch a train crushed his hat in a taxicab. He could find no place to buy another. The disappointed traveler handed his battered headgear to the check boy and within a short time the hat was made to look like new. ‘‘lf a commuter suddenly receives a last-minute invitation to a formal social affair,” said one manager today, ‘‘and cannot find time to make the trip home and back in time, he need not worry: we can fix him up. We do it every day.” In fact, anything and everything is somewhere within the walls of the modern hotel.