Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1868-08-31
s.m,,,,n. ,,.u, Foreign Mo,el..

PANS, July Silt 10 with regret |
have to announce, after rushing through
fifty or more European hotels, that
there is not 10 be found on this side OF
the Atlantic anything that equals II first
class American hotel. The statement
must be made, deliberately though Sad.
", that ia these countries TINT are full
Of palaces, there can be found no Com
unental, or Fifth Avenue or st James,
or anything to equal them, at which an
American traveller can find home com.
forts. Were a model American hotel
&c. up in q European city, 1t would ns.
found the inhabitants. Landlords here
cannot conceive of such Il thing Ms q
hotel %diningroom where all Gun receive
their friends ; or u hotel clerk, who 10 a
walking encyclopedias OF useful knowl.
edge TOR travellers ; or a hotel oil Of
fare containing all the Injuries OF the
! season, from which you can eat TO your
hearts content, such ns we have them.
Even In beautiful Paris, where the
Grand Hotel somewhat approaches the
American idea, all the romance is taken
out of it by the guests, male and female,
being compelled TO enter aud leave the
house By the same cartways and court
yard, where the wagons and horses are
accommodated. 1t is possible IN Amer.
ica for II man to 60 to II hotel aud dis.
cover just what 1t will cost him. But
it is not so here. Things are not gauged
at So, or 81, or SIS a day, us at home.
You ply for what you get-a most ex
cellrnt rulc-in the American interpre.
tation-but, alas in the European in.
terpretatiou one Of the most mystifying
ind vexatiUus of rules.
A forty-eight hour s~ojourn at a for.
eign hotel will produce u bill n yard
long, giving the hieroglyphlcs Of mn
unknown tongue, giving " list OF items
charged for in IN unknown currency,
and added up by an arithmetlcHl rule OF
turning smnll money into large, that is
m ,de to Increase the total, and was
evidently invented expressly for hotel
keepers. IN vain you eudeavor to deci-
pher Tue items among the wilderness Of
Diners %dejeuuers," "vins," etc.,
etc. You pay Tor your room, your Can.
dies, your meals, your attendance, and
everything else, in separate items aud
before you car get away, there is II host
OF ll.conditioned servants, with unex.
ceptionnble clothes, but p~overty-strick.
en- features, pressing about for fees. 1t
costs On IN average twenty-five cents to
look at any one in these hotels.
Then the eating Is at the inevitable
stable d'hote," so utterly unlike the
American system. There is IL regular
Course Of disheS-6rst soup, then au
unknown species Of fish, then some OF
Yesterdays dlnuer done up in pastry,
then a meat, then probably jelly favored
with cheese, then moro meat aud a sala |
winding up with suppositious ice cream
that has never been frozen, and often
had snlt in it, aud fruits. Now each
particular dish may be well enough, but
you are served with 50 many square
inches only, the big man and little
woman sharing exactly alike, and each
person, those with teeth aud those with
out, IS given exactly four minutes and
u half 10 finish the course, aud If moi
done by that time his plate is carried oil,
Dinner begius generally by the chief
waiter demanding, in doubtful English,
and with the mir Of Il h~ighwnymnn, what
wine you will have. The sale Of wine
is important at table d'hotes, aud having
ordered, as is the usual custom, from
tho list OF wines, perhaps you may see
your %brigandish friend ut a side table
labelling your bottle. Nothing easier
or more business.like il the wine is not
in the house, 10 put the right label on e
bottle Of the wrong vino. The first
two or three dinners at u foreign table
d'hote are well enough, but one gets
tired Of the sameness. Dny-in and uay.
out comes the same unvaryIny string oil
dishes. There is nothing new; uo
change; no variety. People ute thus q
century ago, aud will do it n century
hence; tor Europe loves old customs
and stability. Drnner after dinner there
is chicken drawn md qunrttred, nnd
salad with each particular leaf ready
dressed aud oiled. II you try TO umi,
anything, you 60 away from table
hungry, for table d hote rules forbid II
second demand for any mvorite dish,
aud the average human appetite IS pro-
vided for ouly by eating the whole list,
A foreign landlord would be set crazy
at the American idea OF lying so much
II day aud having the right, It you wish,
10 ent up everything IN tue hotel l"rder'
II is lucky for Iur that am but five
and a halt feet high, for / don't believe
that IN Europe there Is II bedste"d SIX
fert long. Europeans Of length, who
60 travelling. must be expert ut SLEEP. ng
On d~iagauals. We have nnd the tner-
momrter up to 100 degrees, but they put
on the Deuistrads IN nearly all the con-
tinenlnl cities, an additional feather or
down bed, OF vast dimensions, rs Il
coverlet, nud any number OF blankets,
probably for the purpose Of Keeping tue
heat out. Tue mp 'rtments are mngniti'
Cent, with frescoed walls and ceilings,
but no carpets, and in Paris the aoors
are wnxed until they are 50 slippery
that the effort to keep up gives one a
kiuk in the neck.
If q room is ordered on the "first
floor" it Is generally discovered to be
OIL elevated one, for these people have
II shnrp trick Of not commencing 10
count until they get up to the third or
fourth story. It Is useless to attempt
to remoustrnte on the subject, because
you nre always silenced with the in
formation TINT the Prince So and so, or
the Lord Knows Who, stopped 1T thut
hotel some fifty years ago, aud was de-
lighted with the accommodations
There is, however, in ull European
hotels IN individual who deserves II
good word. He is known rs the " por-
ter"-n term not used in the American
sense, but in the foreign one, Of the
guardian of the gate-and it is his bust
ness tu run the hotel. He receives every
one, answers all questions, talks IL little
of three or four languages, is polite and
attentive, and is utterly indispensable
to the guests. He is generally II good.
humored parsonage, with a gold band
around his hat, and, out Of England, is
famous for his dislike for the wanderers
who come from that sea-girt isle. Try
ing 10 please and inform the guests, he
| Al f s,n .w.a,NaAS