The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-26 00:00:00

'HOTEL LIFE 1N NEW YORK.

How great was the contrast between the Ameri-
can hotel life into which we were now thrown, and
the quiet domestic life at home ! The ladies were
cert ainly :elieved almost entirely from household
cares. There was no marketing, no anxiety about
providing for dinner, no troubles about servants,
no " washing-day." Our meals were served to suit
our own convenience. Breakfast might be obtained
from half-past six till eleven, and on a scale of
which even our neighbours north of the Tweed
have no conception. I was totally unable to do
justice to the good things which surrounded
me, and my waiter consequently manifested a
good deal of anxiety on my account. After
I had partaken of a steak, potatoes, and fried
oysters, and had assured him that I had made an
excellent breakfast, he would gently remonstrate—
" Sure, you want something else ? A little boiled
fowl, or an omelet ? Well, you will have some hot
cakes P" Hot cakes are an American institution
(every custom, I should remark, is termed an
"institution" in America). These hot cakes re-
semble crumpets, and are generally served in a
pyramidal lorm, a large cake forming the base,
and small one the apex of the pile. A little butter
is placed between each cake, and syrup (refined
molasses) poured over the whole. An Englishman
is filled with astonishment when he for the
first time beholds an American taking breakfast
at an ordinary hotel. Before him is placed an
array of different dishes, according to the
season. He will first despatch half a melon ;
this is merely to prepare the appetite for what
is to follow. Next he will take a little shad ; then
a steak, with a few "fixings," in the shape of po-
tatoes, roast, boiled, or stewed ; followed by a dish
of toast immersed in milk, some oyster fritters, and
lastly, by hot cakes. Luncheon is served from one
till two for those who wish to partake of it. In a
small dining room dinner is served from two till
five, and then again from six till eight—the latter
meal being intended for guests who arrive too
late for the principal dinner, which is served in
the large dinning-hall at half-past five. Tea is on
the table from six till nine, and supper from nine
till twelve. The half-past five o'clock dinner at
the Fifth Avenue Hotel is an imposing sight. The
dining-hall is a very large and handsomely-fur-
nished room, and, having no pillars, it presents a
light and cheerful appearance. About three hun-
dred and fifty guests usually sit down, and a waiter
is allotted to not more than five diners. The waiters
are marshalled like a company of soldiers, under a
" colonel" orhead waiter, and a "lieutenant-colonel"
or second head. Having asked each guest what
soup he will take, and received his orders, the
waiters take up a position. The head waiter, at the
top of the centre table, calls " attention" by the
stroke of a bell; at a signal, every cover is lifted
from over the side dishes, each man faces about, and
the whole march out in file. The same order and
precision are observed in bringing in the tarts and
the desert, in clearing the tables of dishes, and in
removing the cloth. Every delicacy of the season
—without a figure of speech—is included in the bill
of fare.—A9nerica as it ls.