The Ordinary Charge Is
Five Dollars, Or One Pound A Day!
A guest intending to stay for two
or three weeks at a hotel, or perhaps for one week, may, by
agreement, have this charge reduced.
At one inn I stayed a
fortnight, and having made no such agreement, was charged the full
sum. I felt myself stirred up to complain, and did in that case
remonstrate. I was asked how much I wished to have returned - for
the bill had been paid - and the sum I suggested was at once handed
to me. But even with such reduction, the price is very high, and at
once makes the American hotel expensive. Wine also at these houses
is very costly, and very bad. The usual price is two dollars (or
eight shillings) a bottle. The people of the country rarely drink
wine at dinner in the hotels. When they do so, they drink
champagne; but their normal drinking is done separately, at the bar,
chiefly before dinner, and at a cheap rate. "A drink," let it be
what it may, invariably costs a dime, or five pence. But if you
must have a glass of sherry with your dinner, it costs two dollars;
for sherry does not grow into pint bottles in the States. But the
guest who remains for two days can have his wine kept for him.
Washing also is an expensive luxury. The price of this is
invariable, being always four pence for everything washed. A
cambric handkerchief or muslin dress all come out at the same price.
For those who are cunning in the matter this may do very well; but
for men and women whose cuffs and collars are numerous it becomes
expensive.
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