Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1858-02-06
HOTEL LIFE IN NEW YORK---sENsI.
BILE SENTIMENTS OF MR.. CHARLES
MACKAY.


conducted on peculiar system, and in style
of much magnfcence. The British Isles pos
sess no such caravanseras. Even the monster
Hotel du Louvre, in Paris, is not 10 he compared
with such estabi shments as the ST. Nicholas, the
Metropolitan, the Lafarge House, tho Astor
House, and many others in New York. Some
of them make up a thousand beds, and others
from five to six and seven hundred. The coun-
try is so immense, the distances from point to
point are so great-such as from New Orleans
TO Boston, or from New York to Chicago and
the Far West the activity Of commerce IS so in
cessant, and its ramGcations so extensive, that a
much larger class Of people then with us is COM
PEELED by business, public and private, to be cou-
tnually upon the move. Large hotels are, there
fore, o. positive necessity and, were they solely
confined to travellers, would deserve the praise
OF being, what they really arc, the finest, most
convenient, and bes; administered hotels in the
world. 1t is not their fault that they have, in
the course Of time. and by the force Of circnm-
stances, been devoted to other uses, and that
they have become the permanent homes of fam
lies, instead Of remaining the temporary resi-
dences of strangers.
For fixed charge Of two dollars and a halfa
day (about ten siillinCs and sixpcnce Engish)
the traveller has a comfortable bed room the use
of drawing.room, dining-room, reading-room
and srnoking-room, aud the full enjoyment of
liberal tariff. or bill Of larc for breakfast, lunch
con, dinner, tea and supper. The two dollars
and a hall include all charges for servants, and
every charge whatever that can be fairly lnclud-
el under the head of board and lodging, except
wine beer and spirits Being well lighted with
gas, there is no charge for wax lights that far
Ing ptctcNt for extortlon in England. The cook
cry is in general excellent. The breakfast. is
bountcous, and is spread from eight o'clock till
1 4 4. N..al l.
fresh meat and salt meat eggs, omeleites, wheat
en- bread, rye bread. corn bread, corn cakes and
buckwheat cakes (the last far greater dellcacy
than England can show) are literally distributed.
From twelve o'clock ul two the luncheon is
spread with equal profusion and from two 10
six there is a succession of dinners, the getting
up of which, at such hotels as the St, Nicholas,
the Metropolitan. or the Aslor House, would do
credit to Mr.. Francatclli of the Reform Club.
As soon as dinner is over tea commences, and
as soon as tea IS cleared away the cloths are laid
for supper, SO that from IN the morning till md
night there is one continued succession Of icasis,
at which Governors Of ) ates, members of Con-
gress Judges, Generals, eXPresidents Of the Re-
public, the magnaes OF commerce and the law,
and all the miscellaneous and less distinguished d
public, male and female, sit down to parake.
Whether the traveller do or do not pariake is the
same to the landlord. lie may eat once, twice,
thrice. or all day long, if he pleases. The price
is two dollars and a half, even should he take all
his M ,als abroad. If ladies' and families prefer
TO have apartments of their own, the price for
7 lodging varies from three to five or ten dollars
a day according 10 the extent or elegancies ol
accommodation required. In like manner the
board Of each individual, supplied in private
apartment, is raised from two and a half TO four
dollars per diem. The consequences, that very
L. "a
nearly all breakfast, dine, and sup in public, ex-
cept the very young children, for whose conven
fence there is separate table d'hote.
1t will thus be seen that for the travelling com
'munity these hotels are very comfortable, very
| luxurious, very cheap, and very lively. In con
sequence Of the great difficulty that private fam
lies experience in procuring cooks and house
maids in country where menal service is con-
sidered somewhat beneath the dignity Of ma
,ve-born American, where service is called
help 10 AVOID woundIng the susceptibility O
free citizens, and left almost exclusively to ne
groes and the newly-impor,ed Irish, who toe
commonly, more especially the female portion o
them, know nothing whatever, o. exceedingly
little, of any household duties and whose skill
in cookery scarcely extends TO the boiling of {
potato, lie mistresses of families keeping house
on their own account lead but an uncomfortable
| life In England the newly. married couple tax,
house, furnish it, and live quietly at home II
| the cities of America for the rule docs not ap
| ply to the rural districts-lhey take apartment
al the hotel and live in public, too glad to TAXI
advantage of the ready means which it afford
of escape from the nusanccs attendant upon in
efficient, incomplete and insolent service. L,
young wife finds herself relieved from all tn,
cares and miseries and responsibilities of house
keeping, and has nothing TO think of but dress
| roaI;ns, apl n,tIas ,,b,
begin married life in hotels often continue in then
from youth 10 maturity and age, without possess
ing the reslimable advantage and privilege o
any more secluded home. To those who know
nothing of domestic affairs, and TO those who ar
willing to attend to them, but cannot procur
proper &" help in their household, the hotel sys
TEN is equally well adapted. 1t saves trouble
annoyance and expense but at what a cost O
the domestic amenities! Perhaps not above one
half of the people who daily sit down 10 Dime
in these superb establishments are travellers. Tn
remainder are permanent resdens-husband:
wives and children To cat in public may b
desirable but for ladies 10 take all their meal
every day, and all the year round, in the fu
glaze of publicity, to be always full dressed, t
associate daily-amost hourly-with stranger
from every part of America and of the world
to be, if young and handsome, the cynosure G
all idle and vagrant eyes, either at the table dh0i
or in the public dawing-room these are Gel
tanly moi the conditions which 10 an English
mans mind are conducive to the true happines
and charm Of welded life And it is not onl
the influence Of this state of things upon the hu:
band and wife 10 which an Englishman object;
but lis influence upon the young children, VIII
play about the corridors and halls of such mar
sions, and become prematurely old for want
fresh air and exercise, and over-knowing froI
the experiences they acquire and the acquain
ances they contract. Perhaps fast people ma
consider such objections to SAVIOR of " old fog,
ism y perhaps not. The system is peculiar /
, America, and therefore, strikes the attention MOI
torcibly than if it were common to the cvilze
f world.
1t is, doubtless more the misfortune than th
fault of American families that they live so muc
in this style for, without good servants wi
know their duty, aud are not TOO supercilious an
saucy to perform it, it is impossible for lad.
without shortening her life and making herse
worse than slave, to have a comfortable an
happy home, or to govern it with pleasure or a,
vantage either 10 herself or her family Recen
ly the New York and Philadelphia newspaper
have been filed with the details of two scanda