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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 56 of 249
Words from 28790 to 29289
of 129941
