I’ve been reading Dickens’ Pickwick Papers and in it, Pickwick wanders at night through an inn where all the guests have placed their shoes outside their doors, in the hall. I’ve read of such practice before, and was wondering why it was done, and why we have left off doing it?
The hotels where providing overnight shoe shine service to the guest. You just left your shoes at the door and you picked them up the following morning, all shined.
NINJA
I wouldn’t try it now though. Most likely your shoes would just be gone in the morning.
IIRC, in Pickwick the character of Sam Weller (rather the star of the second half of the book) started out as a bootblack. It’s still a common practice at nice hotels.
–Cliffy
terrible joke hijack
Roy Rogers arrives in town, checks into a hotel and leaves his boots outside the door to be cleaned.
Next morning he awakes to find his boots torn, ripped and shredded.
After complaining to the staff a trap is laid. Roy leaves another pair of boots out that night whilst a staff member hides and watches. Presently a feline comes prancing and dancing down the corridor. It sniffs the footwear and then begins to do normal
cat playiny things.
The staffie pounces, grabs the cat by the scruff of the neck;
pounds on the door, and shouts as RR opens the door:
“Pardon me, Roy. Is this the cat that chewed your new shoes?”
thank you thank you
That was a terribly corny joke. 
I dont get it…
ANYWHO… I thought leaving your shoes outside the door was a way of notifying the brothel you were in that the room was occupied… probably an asian brothel if I remember correctly.
though I could be totally wrong and embarasing myself.
Hi, Gopher,
It’s a play on an old song…
"Pardon me boy, is that the Chattanooga Choo Choo"
Pardon me, boy
Is that the Chattanooga choo choo?
Track twenty-nine
Boy, you can gimme a shine
I can afford
To board a Chattanooga choo choo
I’ve got my fare
And just a trifle to spare
You leave the Pennsylvania Station
‘Bout a quarter to four
Read a magazine
And then you’re in Baltimore
Dinner in the diner
Nothing could be finer
Than to have your ham
An’ eggs in Carolina
When you hear the whistle blowin’
Eight to the bar
Then you know that Tennessee
Is not very far
Shovel all the coal in
Gotta keep it rollin’
Woo, woo, Chattanooga
There you are
There’s gonna be
A certain party at the station
Satin and lace
I used to call “funny face”
She’s gonna cry
Until I tell her that I’ll never roam
So Chattanooga choo choo
Won’t you choo-choo me home?
Chattanooga choo choo
Won’t you choo-choo me home?
OH good grief… I was supposed to GET that??? LOL… bad bad!! booooo hisssss!!! 
Well, I got it.