A
Fence Is By No Means A Matter Of Necessity, And Two Or Three Animals Are
Destroyed Every Day From Straying On The Line.
The engines, which are
nearly twice the size of ours, with a covered enclosure for the engineer
and stoker, carry large fenders or guards in front, to lift incumbrances
from the track.
At eight o'clock we found ourselves passing over water,
and between long rows of gas-lights, and shortly afterwards the cars
stopped at Boston, the Athens of America. Giving our baggage-checks to the
porter of the American House, we drove to that immense hotel, where I
remained for one night. It was crammed from the very basement to the most
undesirable locality nearest the moon; I believe it had seven hundred
inmates. I had arranged to travel to Cincinnati, and from thence to
Toronto, with Mr. and Mrs. Walrence, but on reaching Boston I found that
they feared fever and cholera, and, leaving me to travel alone from
Albany, would meet me at Chicago. Under these circumstances I remained
with my island friends for one night at this establishment, a stranger in
a land where I had few acquaintances, though I was well armed with letters
of introduction. One of these was to Mr. Amy, a highly respected merchant
of Boston, who had previously informed me by letter of the best route to
the States, and I immediately despatched a note to him, but he was absent
at his country-house, and I was left to analyse the feeling of isolation
inseparable from being alone in a crowd. Having received the key of my
room, I took my supper in an immense hall, calculated for dining 400
persons. I next went into the ladies' parlour, and felt rather out of
place among so many richly dressed females; for as I was proceeding to
write a letter, a porter came in and told me that writing was not allowed
in that saloon. "Freedom again," thought I. On looking round I did feel
that my antiquated goose-quill and rusty-looking inkstand were rather out
of place. The carpet of the room was of richly flowered Victoria pile,
rendering the heaviest footstep noiseless; the tables were marble on
gilded pedestals, the couches covered with gold brocade. At a piano of
rich workmanship an elegantly dressed lady was seated, singing "And will
you love me always?" - a question apparently satisfactorily answered by the
speaking eyes of a bearded Southerner, who was turning over the pages for
her. A fountain of antique workmanship threw up a jet d'eau of iced
water, scented with eau de Cologne; and the whole was lighted by four
splendid chandeliers interminably reflected, for the walls were mirrors
divided by marble pillars. The room seemed appropriate to the purposes to
which it was devoted - music, needlework, conversation, and flirting. With
the single exception of the rule against writing in the ladies' saloon, a
visitor at these immense establishments is at perfect liberty to do as he
pleases, provided he pays the moderate charge of two dollars, or 8s. a
day. This includes, even at the best hotels, a splendid table-d'hóte, a
comfortable bedroom, lights, attendance, and society in abundance. From
the servants one meets with great attention, not combined with deference
of manner, still less with that obsequiousness which informs you by a
suggestive bow, at the end of your visit, that it has been meted out with
reference to the probable amount of half-sovereigns, shillings, and
sixpences at your disposal.
It will not be out of place here to give a sketch of the peculiarities of
the American hotel system, which constitutes such a distinctive feature of
life in the States, and is a requirement arising out of the enormous
extent of their territory, and the nomade life led by vast numbers of the
most restless and energetic people under the sun.
"People will turn hastily over the pages when they corne to this" was the
remark of a lively critic on reading this announcement; but while I
promise my readers that hotels shall only be described once, I could not
reconcile it to myself not to give them information on "Things as they are
in America," when I had an opportunity of acquiring it.
The American House at Boston, which is a fair specimen of the best class
of hotels in the States, though more frequented by mercantile men than by
tourists, is built of grey granite, with a frontage to the street of 100
feet. The ground floor to the front is occupied by retail stores, in the
centre of which a lofty double doorway denotes the entrance, marked in a
more characteristic manner by groups of gentlemen smoking before it. This
opens into a lofty and very spacious hall, with a chequered floor of black
and white marble; there are lounges against the wall, covered over with
buffalo-skins; and, except at meal-times, this capacious apartment is a
scene of endless busy life, from two to three hundred gentlemen constantly
thronging it, smoking at the door, lounging on the settees, reading the
newspapers, standing in animated groups discussing commercial matters,
arriving, or departing. Piles of luggage, in which one sees with dismay
one's light travelling valise crushed under a gigantic trunk, occupy the
centre; porters seated on a form wait for orders; peripatetic individuals
walk to and fro; a confused Babel of voices is ever ascending to the
galleries above; and at the door, hacks, like the "eilwagon" of Germany,
are ever depositing fresh arrivals. There is besides this a private
entrance for ladies. Opposite the entrance is a counter, where four or
five clerks constantly attend, under the superintendence of a cashier, to
whom all applications for rooms are personally made. I went up to this
functionary, wrote my name in a book, he placed a number against it, and,
giving me a key with a corresponding number attached, I followed a porter
down a long corridor, and up to a small clean room on the third story,
where to all intents and purposes my identity was lost - merged in a mere
numeral.
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