The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-05-28

TAs Coming Season st che Wassrsax
Keepers.
The sultry weather during the last few
days, and the tide of travel which Is setting
directly towards the metropolis "a well as the
occasional appearance among the gossip Of the
day Of the old, but ever interesting question,
"Wbere are you going this summer" rsmiad
US that it ID quite time for few words of wise
counsel TO that enterprising class Of persons
who keep, in one way or another, what are
called fret class hotels at fashionable water
ing places.
The chief places of resort for the aristocracy
of the model republic are Newport, Saratoga,
Cape May, the Virginia Springs, and those of
Sharon and 81. GATHERINGS. The summer tours
most affected are to Niagara, down the river
ST. Lawrence to Quebec, and thence by rail to
the White Mountains. With the single excep-
ton of railway fares, travelling in this country
is as costly as in Europe. There Is, however,
. marked difference between what you get
here and what you obtain there for about the
same amount Of money. The United States
has progressed very rapidly in many
ways, and in the appliances Of elegance,
refinement and luxury both in public
and private dwellings, particularly The per-
cons who frequent the fashionable watering
places in this country are accustomed to being
lodged and fed exceedingly well. Whether
they maintain their own establishments, or have
quarters in some of the fine hotels with which
the great cities abound, they are surrounded
with every luxury which taste suggests or
wealth bestows. Plenty of room, plenty of
water plenty Of light, good kitchen, expert
enced cooks, and well filled cellar, are things
which are taken as matters Of course. But
when the summer comes and the song of the
mosquito is heard in the land, when madame
and the demoiselles cannot think Of staying in
town another minute, paterfamilias finds quite
a different order Of things. He ascertains to
his sorrow, that the watering place hotel has
not advanced, except in price, in twenty years.
He is still slowed away in small, bleak, white
washed apartment, with no bell, no gas, and no
furniture worth mentioning; he is put on Q
short allowance of water (even at watering
place., towels are exceedingly small and very
scarce, his bed is hard, his apartment hot
and without means Of ventilation; the table is
wretched, the servants impairment and the
charges excessive. No wonder paterfamilias
swesrs harder than the Seward men at Chicago;
no wonder that, after enduring the pains of
purgatory for two or three seasons, he rebels,
and cuts off the supplies; and no wonder that
the receipts of the hotel keepers grow small by
degrees and beautifully less.
All this must be reformed. The hotel keep
ers at the watering places must keep up with
their brethren in the great cities. At Newport,
the hotels had been gradually getting worse and
worse year after year, until their best customers
were actually driven away. Last season the new
Of the Ocean House Uade some i'm
in the table, bedding, &c, and had
q successful season. They promise to do still
better during the coming summer; and there is
still room for improvement. At Saratoga the
hotels are all poor and dear. BY feeling the
servants heavily, and exercising diplomatic
talents for greater than those Of the general
average Of our Ministers In Europe, man may
get decent breakfast; but that IL all. The
apartments are generally small and uncom-
Portable. Sharon Is not 90 crowded, and
there people are much better treated
than OF Saratoga. The same remark
viii apply to st. GATHERINGS. Niagara
is notorious for the multiplicity of isssmall
swindles, and the hotel keepers have not been
behindhand in the work Of skinning tourists
They have been brushing up for the season,
and promise TO do better. The White Mountain
hotels are the worst OF all. They are kept by
O Get OF sanctimonious Yankees who occupy
three quarters Of thek time in devising means
10 shave their customers, and the remainder In
prayer meetings. The scenery of this region
is unsurpassed for beauty and grandeur, and
with moderately good hotels the summer travel
to II would be much greater. The Cape May
hotels are about the same as those Of Newport
The taverns at the Virginia springs are said TO
be tie worst Of all. Bitter complaints are
made Of the cuisine, which Is not one Of our
Southern brethren's strong points The visit
ers are lodged in hut, fed on hog aud hominy,
saturated with grease, treated like niggers, and
charged like princes.
From the above birdseye view Of the
fashionable hotel as II Is Invested Of all the bal
derdash about 'princely proprietor" gentle
manly clerks, /" fascinating boot blacks and
60 On, !. may be readily seen that
Boniface by the seaside, at the springs,
or on the mountain side, is sadly behind the
age. He is humtug OF the fret water. He
ruins peoples digestion with bad dinners, be
roisons them with cheap, adulteraied liquors,
be stretches them on Procrustean couches, he
and his servants MAIN, brnise add maltreat
them generally, and he winds up by picking
their pockets and charging them for frs. class
Accommodations when they have had no accom-
mcdaiiors whatever This viii not answer
Boniface must brush up his premises and do
better In the future. We have an excessively