Life — December 7, 1922 — page 48: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

LIFE - "JUNIO WiLL JUST GO CRAZY ABOUT “TRIS $° An International Episode HERE'S more electricity, they say, in the American atmosphere than in Great Britain. For all that, my first shock in England last summer was electric,—as it must have been for many another American. None of the many electrical appliances with which my trunks were heavy: would work over there. At home all we have to do is to pull out a bulb, insert the plug of our warming-pan or flat-iron or tea-kettle or whatever it may be,—and there we are. It was really a shock to find it otherwise. But, worst of all, I am straight-haired. And into no socket of British make would my curling-tongs fit. On the boat, I could do nothing. At our London hotel, the electrician could do nothing. And in such a climate, a “permanent” wave becomes little more than transient. A thought struck me. When in Rome . “You might try Mr. Odes,” suggested the electrician, in answer to my question. “Mr. Odes?”—I paused, interrogatively. English proper names are not to be treated lightly by untrained tongues. “Odes,” repeated the electrician:—“Haitch, Ho, Hay. D—'Oads St. Vitus Court. ’E does repair work.” . To St. Vitus Court I took my tongs. Mr. ’Oads was only too ’appy to replace my plug with one of British make warranted to fit the British socket. “You'll ’ave to be careful about your voltage, Miss,” he cautioned when I called next day. “Your plug’s all right, now,—but your tongs can be used only with 100. I don’t know the voltage of your hotel,—but none of ’em’s the same ’ardly. The Splendide, now,—it’s 200; we wired it ourselves. And The Billingsgate’s 250. But Perridge’s is only 100. You should use your tongs at Perridge’s but not at the other two. Best find out the voltage of your hotel, Miss, before you attempt to curl your ’air.” Now, I knew very little about voltage, but I at once saw that here was an opportunity to indulge in my na- tional propensity to reform something,—whether you know anything about it or not. Especially when Mr. ’Oads, warming to his subject, told me that not only hotels but private houses in England have different voltages, Only by chance were any two of them alike, apparently. Why, when a gifl armed with curling-tongs went a-visit- ing in England, her first and safest question was not, “How d’ye do?” but, “What’s your voltage?” What nobler enterprise than the internationalization of electric-light standards! Not alone the straight-haired sisterhood but all travellers whose trunks were heavy with electrical appliances, would thank me. Such a standardization would do much to promote international amity. Before undertaking my reform, I thought it best to ask advice,—and from the highest. We Americans, as his “WAS HIM TRE SWEETES’ SANNY CLAUS ’S EVER WAS is well known, have great respect for authority. It is, too, no slight thing to meddle with the voltage of an entire nation,—the British nation, at that,—and all be- cause one wants to curl one’s hair. Some of the replies to my inquiries were so illuminating that I’m sharing them with Lire. Perhaps others may be interested in them, too. I have omitted from the first letter many dis- envowelled words embellishing the original. Dear MapaM:— Let us face the facts. Would a policy of all-plugs-to- fit-all-sockets, and a common electric-light voltage for both sides of the Atlantic, promote international good- feeling? Or, would it merely make hair-curling easy for you,—and others? Could such standardization be accom- plished? You say, it would strengthen the Anglo-Saxon comicbooks.com