At Another Side Of The Hall Is The Bar, A Handsomely Decorated
Apartment, Where Lovers Of Such Beverages Can Procure
"Toddy," "night-
caps," "mint julep," "gin sling," &c. On the door of my very neat and
comfortable bed-room was
A printed statement of the rules, times of meals,
and charge per diem. I believe there are nearly 300 rooms in this house,
some of them being bed-rooms as large and commodious as in a private
mansion in England.
On the level of the entrance is a magnificent eating saloon, principally
devoted to male guests, and which is 80 feet long. Upstairs is a large
room furnished with a rare combination of splendour and taste, called "The
Ladies' Ordinary," where families, ladies, and their invited guests take
their meals. Breakfast is at the early hour of seven, and remains on the
table till nine; dinner is at one, and tea at six. At these meals "every
delicacy of the season" is served in profusion; the daily bill of fare
would do credit to a banquet at the Mansion House; the chef de cuisine
is generally French, and an epicure would find ample scope for the
gratification of his palate. If people persist in taking their meals in a
separate apartment, they are obliged to pay dearly for the indulgence of
their exclusiveness. There are more than 100 waiters, and the ladies at
table are always served first, and to the best pieces.
Though it is not part of the hotel system, I cannot forbear mentioning the
rapidity with which the Americans despatch their meals. My next neighbour
has frequently risen from his seat after a substantial and varied dinner
while I was sending away my soup-plate. The effect of this at a table-
d'hôte, where 400 or 600 sit down to dine, is unpleasant, for the swing-
door is incessantly in motion. Indeed, the utter absence of repose is
almost the first thing which strikes a stranger. The incessant sound of
bells and gongs, the rolling of hacks to and from the door, the arrivals
and departures every minute, the trampling of innumerable feet, the
flirting and talking in every corridor, make these immense hotels more
like a human beehive than anything else.
The drawing-rooms are always kept very hot by huge fires of anthracite
coal, and the doors are left open to neutralise the effect. The
temperance at table filled me with surprise. I very seldom saw any
beverage but pure iced-water. There are conveniences of all descriptions
for the use of the guests. The wires of the electric telegraph, constantly
attended by a clerk, run into the hotel; porters are ever ready to take
your messages into the town; pens, paper, and ink await you in recesses in
the lobbies; a man is ever at hand to clean and brush soiled boots - in
short, there is every contrivance for abridging your labour in mounting up
stairs. But the method of avoiding the confusion and din of two or three
hundred bells must not be omitted. All the wires from the different rooms
centre at one bell, which is located in a case in the lobby, with the
mechanism seen on one side through a sheet of plate-glass. The other side
of the case is covered with numbers in rows. By each number is a small
straight piece of brass, which drops and hangs down when the bell is
sounded, displaying the number to the attention of the clerk, who sends a
waiter to the apartment, and places the piece of brass in its former
position.
Steam laundries are connected with all the large hotels. At American House
the laundry is under the management of a clerk, who records all the minor
details. The linen is cleansed in a churn-like machine moved by steam, and
wrung by a novel application of the principle of centrifugal force; after
which the articles are dried by being passed through currents of hot air,
so that they are washed and ironed in the space of a few minutes. The
charge varies from six to ten shillings a dozen. There are also suites of
hot and cold baths, and barbers' shops.
Before I understood the mysteries of these hotels, I used to be surprised
to see gentlemen travelling without even carpet-bags, but it soon appeared
that razors and hair-brushes were superfluous, and that the possessor of
one shirt might always pass as the owner of half a dozen, for, while
taking a bath, the magic laundry would reproduce the article in its
pristine glories of whiteness and starch. Every attention to the comfort
and luxury of the guest is paid at American House, and its spirited
proprietor, Mr. Rice, deserves the patronage which the travelling public
so liberally bestow upon him. On ringing my bell it was answered by a
garcon, and it is rather curious seldom or never to see a chambermaid.
CHAPTER VI.
A suspected bill - A friend in need - All aboard for the Western cars - The
wings of the wind-American politeness - A loquacious conductor - Three
minutes for refreshments - A conversation on politics - A confession - The
emigrant car - Beauties of the woods - A forest on fire - Dangers of the
cars - The Queen City of the West.
I rose the morning after my arrival at five, hoping to leave Boston for
Cincinnati by the Lightning Express, which left at eight. But on
summoning the cashier (or rather requesting his attendance, for one
never summons any one in the States), and showing him my hill of
exchange drawn on Barclay and Company of London, he looked at me, then
at it, suspiciously, as if doubting whether the possessor of such a
little wayworn portmanteau could he the bonâ fide owner of such a sum as
the figures represented. "There's so much bad paper going about, we can't
possibly accommodate you," was the discouraging reply; so I was compelled
patiently to submit to the detention.
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