The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1878-06-13
tune of cies blue gros grain and damasse

tune of cies blue gros grain and damasse
for S22. A handsome black silk, fully
trimmed with the same material and
RAINBOW or clair de lane beads, for $40.
Now, let us take peep into the thea
tiers. will not talk about the plays or
the players, except to say that | have
seen very much better acting at home.
But there are several impositions that
are so dreadful that am glad
to say we have none of
them in America. Under rule mex
orably enforced, no lady is permitted
to take seat in the Royal Opera-house
or any of the first-class theaters, in
boxes or stalls, without removing her
bonnet. This practice leads to many
Inconvenience; some ladies come with
their bonnets, which they must take of
in a dressing-room before admission,
and pay the woman in charge an extor-
tionate fee; others must leave their
coats, and pay for them. But your
troubles are only beginning; as you adj
vance to your seat bill of the play, or
programme, is forced into your hand !;
remembering the courtesy of theatrical
attendants at home, and also that you
paid about twice as much for ticket as
you do in Philadelphia or New York
you innocently accept the programme,
but when you are told you are to
pay sixpence for it (12a cents of our
money land try to return it, you are in
suited by the remark that you must
keep it, because you received it. This
nuisance has become so intolerable that
several of the theatrical managers have
taken arms against i, one of them with
great success-Mr. Henderson (the hus-
band of Lydia Thompson), the pro-
prietor of the Criterion and the Folly.
From the theaters we 20 to the res
taurants. Here find the same system
of swindling.
Beware of cheap dining-reoms. Sup
pose we go for a IS. Cd. dinner (about
87a cents of our money)-cheap enough,
and yet enough, especially if you have
a denni bottle of claret at IS, which
makes your meal S1.37a. This is fair
price, but you are surprised, when you
pay your bill, to find I'd. added for at
tendance, which brings your bill up to
$3.50. But it is not all over, for as you
go out the waiter stands and quietly says,
Something for the WAITER" but you
say, 81 paid for attendance in my bill -
when he tells you that he never receives
any of that, but it goes to compensate
the orchestra; and you drop him six
pence, and try another place the next
day, only to be swindled again.
OF course you can get shilling dim
ners, and dinners for Is. 3d., but they
are not for ladies; and even for men
they are only useful as showing that the
man who economies in his food gener-
ally starves for his pains. The truth is,
England is the land of the almighty
shilling" and the system of getting it
has been reduced to science; it is at
once curse and custom. You 90 to
church, and the janitress looks for a
sixpence as she shows you to the pew
you hire cab, and ruffian rushesfrom
the sidewalk to open the door, and holds
out his dirty hand for penny; you
cross street, and the beggar who
sweeps it demands his tribute; you ride
in the railway, and the well-dressed
guide looks for his fee as he points you
to your carriage. In the hotels you are
literally besieged; even the landlady
who sees you are indisposed visits you
in your chamber, proffers you her be-
nevolence, insists upon sending you
refreshments; and at the end Of the
week, after you have praised her to all
your friends as a model of her kind,
you find her hospitality put into the bill
at double the cost if you had bought it
for yourself. These are some of the
peculiarities which are sure to strike the
stranger. Very rich and very luxurious
and fastidious as these English are sup
posed to be, and really advanced as
they are in the arts of civilization, there
are some things in which we surpass
them. We live better, cheaper, and,
indeed, more luxurious in the United
States than they do.
OF course do not mean what are call
ed the superior classes, with their pal
aces, their retinues, and their banquets,
and all the other results of constantly
increasing revenues. mean England
as far as have seen her in her hotels,
restaurants, and private houses. They
are not good cooks. There is not in
London a single hotel or restaurant
which can equal the best hotels in New
York and Philadelphia, and in the mat
ter of cafes there is nothing that ap-
proaches Delmonico's. This general
remark applies all over England, and
the same may be said of cooking in the
private houses.
The English ruisine proceeds upon
the assumption that food must not be
seasoned, and so no luncheon and his
midnight supper; and you have only to
look at his strong, sturdy, red-cheeked
wife and daughters to realize that their
inclinations are the same-Harper's