Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-09-12
Old Point Comfort.

1t will be pleasant to many Of your
guests, l fancy. to hear some little OF
our great Virginia watering place.
From July 1st to the present date the
Hygeia Hotel has been flooded with
fashionable people from all parts.
Never has Old Point Comfort been
more radiant with beauty. Virginians,
OF course, preponderate among the
guests. But every State in the Union
has its representatives. The life here
is delightful, the climate healthy, aud
the creature comforts Astounding. The
hotel is undoubtedly one of the best in
the country, and with its present addi.
tons can accommodate about seven
hundred guests. 1t is emphatically a
summer building-every room in it
from base to dome has portico front,
with windows open to the floor, and the
sea.breeze as it sweeps in from the
ocean has full play. Mr.. Phoebus, the
proprietor, is untiring in his efforts to
oblige his guests, and his corps OF
assistants are all we'll chosen.
Among these, the "head man" in
the dining.r room is O conspicuous fig.
ure-in appearance and manner a sort
of Lord Chesterfield anil Wellington
thrown into one and richly ebonized.
His Astounding and imperlurbable pc.
likeness might remind one of Mr.. Tur.
veydrop" and the dancing master
school of manners, but MS "Welling.
ton and in command of his sable corps
he is more in his element, and strikes
the beholder with awe. Few people
about hotel are more important than
the head man" in the dining-room.
TO fall from grace in Lis estimation is
most uncomfortable state of ignominy.
The mint julep or the sherry cobbler
that insures his kind consideration is
we'll invested in the start. In the pres
ent case, however, we have no right to
say that the smiles of Henry johnson
could be so lost or won, and we apol-
ogize for having linked his dignity with
insinuations SO congressional and
common.
The bath at Old Point is one of the
most charming that we know ; not that
it can boast at all such 1t surf as Long
Branch or Newport, but when the tide
rolls in it is brisk enough in its attacks
to be invigorating, without bringing to
the timid o sense of insecurity from q
treacherous undertow or uncertain cur
rents. At Old Point even children may
be trusted alone out in the bay, and the
beach is so sloping that even when one
goes far out to meet the breakers there
is a sense of security.
The ballroom at the Hygeia, an i'm
mense pavilion with its two sides open.
ing to the sea, is the finest seaside ball
room in the country. On the break water
outside, hundreds of spectators sit or
promenade in undisturbed possession,
and the scene from eight to twelve is u
charming one.
Boating, sailing and fishing are the
most popular open-air sports. and though
from the sailing expeditions it is not
uncommon for the bellies who go out
fresh and smiling to come back pale and
wan, their lovely heads reclining on
some manly breast in all the wretched
limpness of sea-sickness 4; still it is the
fashion to go, and go they must and
will. The next morning when the mis-
cry is over they talk about the moon
light on the water and the char ming
sail as though old ocean and the mad
cap dance of the pillows had never cost
him qualm. -Bric.a-Brac, IN Home
Journal,