Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1874-06-08
A STRANGERS NOTEBOOK IN
AMERICA.

SIICp L dII1Nto eSA1N 46NS NV y
managed to do anything more sensible
than to knock about, looking at men
and things, wondering at some of them,
admiring a good many, getting savage
over few others. and generally laying
in a stock of what is called first impress
sions My friends, l am happy to say,
left me alone after having paid me what,
according to their notion, was their duty
of hospitality. They spent probably
about $40 or $50 each in entertaining
me during the first days, and justly sup
posed that they have settled their bill of
courtesy with representative of the
Old World. And they are more than
right, for I would not have done half
so much for them if they had come on
s'the other side
AS is always the case with every new
place, the first things that strike stran-
ger here are faces and prices. The form
er are all that one can wish to see, the
latter are simply horrible. [ wonder
how people manage to get along here.
What costs a shilling in England, and
often less than a franc in Paris, is a dol
lar here. You cannot get cigar under
25 or 80 cents, which is double the
English price for exactly the same quail
lty. To have your boots "shined' costs
you 10 cents, or FIVE times the European
Price. The yearly expense for this little
item alone must thus amount to over
s36, or nearly e9, which is three-fourths
of the yearly salary of an English bar
maid or a second rate nursery governess,
and one-fourth that Of many a London
clerk. Why, the boy who performs this
sort of shining" work, keeping in view
that he can easily shine fifty pair Of
boots a day, must be quite well-to-do
man in couple of years. A box Of
wax matches costs and 10 cents, again
four times the English price. And SC
with everything else. l pay daily sc
cents for a cup of tea, for which the high
est price is sizpence all over England
A hackney cab won't move from his stand
for less than dollar, and anything like
a drive costs you fully an English sover
eign, for which you have in London {
livery carriage and pair for the whole 0
the day. Shelter and food have of cours
to be paid for in proportion. The cheap
est room you can get IN thlrd-rat
lodging house, without board, is $40
week, exactly the price you have to pa
in England for the best accommodate
and best meals in a frst-rate boardin
house. One of the greatest philosopher
England has ever produced, Mr.. He
bert Spencer, lives, I believe, at thu
rate in one Of the Bayswater boardin
houses. But then he is not go-ahea
Yankee, and can of course, neither max
f money as quickly as they do over her
nor is he disposed to spend it in the
fashion. Imet the other day two Frencl
men on their way from New Orleans
] Paris. Being swells and fools, th'
, went to a fashionable hotel in the Fif
q avenue and had to pay over $50 for o.
4 meal and two beds on the fourth stor
o The same sum would have carried the
for a fortnight in Paris.
o However, as no amount of grumbiil
+ would improve matters. one has quiet
to pay what is charged; but one cam
= help asking oneself, How long do tn
T mean to carry on this state of affa
Il here, and how long will they prove
ID pable not of charging what they char
: (this is safe enough,) but of payi
er what they pay?
m Then look again at the amount
money their women must cost them.
ot spend daily several hours in watch
in the elegant and molly crowd on Bro
ad way, and | become more and more C
40 vinced that nowhere in the world can
od witnessed a sight like this. There
do scarcely a woman to be seen that
nd not couple of hundred dollars wo
ad on her, while to some of them the II
10 est silks and the costliest velvets
all laces they adorn themselves with ST
70 to have no more value than piec
for common Manchester goods has for
An English or German woman. On
Ike day afternoon, when they are on t
, [ way from church, the Fifth avenue
my comes regular show. The latest Ere
~ fashions seem to be sent over here
on telegraph at all events l saw sev
ats new shaped bonnets and trimming
dresses which were certainly not ado
nds a month ago by any of the Paris lionei
to Among the few books We had on b
ate the steamer when crossing, fo
aOii Dickens's american Notes prob
me the dullest and goodiest thing he
leo. wrote. but it turned up at a right
ril. ment. and / read it. He says Il
qua among other things concerning
York;
,eti Heaven save the ladies, how
: so dress ? We have seen more colo
xets these ten minutes than We should
q of seen elsewhere in as many days. ]
ex- various parasolsi What rainbow
the and satins What pinking of silk s
onoo ings, and pinehing of their shoes,