East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1864-12-07
AMERICAN HOTELS.

The following article appeared in Put
nam 5 Magazine more than ten yearsago
but is so pertinent to the present time
-InU riI'sv VI s'-.~- i.s.'i..e VOnS'O.~I
rather to expand than molly the os-
tcntatious pcculiaritses of the hotel
business in America-therein men,
toned that we copy it as some
thing decidedly fresh in the line of
clippings:
To the stranger no more character
istic evidence Of our material prosper
ity and gregarions habits can be i'm
a,yined than that afforded by the large
snowy and thronged hotels of our
principal cities. They are epitomes of
the whole country; at a glance they
reveal the era of upholstery, the love
of ostentation, the tendency to live in
herds, and the abscense of subdued
and harmonious tone Of life and man
ners. The large mirrors and bright
carpets which decorate these resorts
arc entirely incongruous--the bril-
liancy of the sunshine and the stimu.
lating nature Of the climate demand
within doors predominanee Of neu-
trail tints to relieve and freshen the
eye and nerves. The extrayagant
style upon which these establishments
arc conducted is another national feat
ure, at once indicating the compare
tive ease with which money is acquired
in the New World, and the passion
fiat exists here. for keeping up appear
anoes' 1t would be useful to investi-
gate the influences Of hotel life in this
country upon manners; whatever may
be the result as to the result of tho
coarser sex, its effect upon women
and children is lamentable, lowering
the tone, compromising the taste, and
yielding incessant and promiscuous
excitement to the love of admiration !;
the change in the very nature Of
young girls thus exposed to an indis-
criminate crowd is rapid and COM
picte; modesty and reiinemena are
soon lost in overeconsciousness and
moral hardihood. But perhaps tho
most singular trait in the American
hotel is tho Difference paid to the
landlord instead of being tho SER
want of the public, he is apparently
the master: and q traveller who
makes the now rapid transition from
IL Now York to a Liverpool hotel,
might think himself among differ
ent race the courteous devotion-al-
most subserviency, in the one case be-
ing in total contrast with tho noncha-
lence and even despotism Of the other.
The prosperous security of the host
with us, and tho dependence Of his
guest for any choice Of accomoda-
ton, is doubtless tho most obvious
reason for this anomaly; but it is
also, i'll a degree at least, to be
referred to tho familiararity with
which gentlemen treat the inn keep
ers; to use "A vulgar. phraze, they de-
scond to curry favour and minister to
the self esteem of u class of men in
whom it is already pampered beyond
,ndurable bounds; no formula OF re-
publican equality justifies this be-
haviour; and it usually reacts unfa-
vourably for the seli-respect of the in
dividual. Some foreigner remarked,
With as much truth as irony, that our
iristOcracy consisted of steamboat cap
idins and kotel keepers; and appear
ances certainly warrant the sarcasm.
IL was not alwaysthns. When Wash
ington lodged at the old Walton Man
sion House, which had been convert
vi into an inn, tho old negro who
kept il was tho ideal of host an
air Of dignity as well as comfort pre-
yaded the house; through the upp T
open half Of the broad door play cd
the saashins upon The san lcl thrcsh-