The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-03-18
ferom the London PaIl.Msli Gsze,te.l
mOTEg, COMPANIONS.

! hoseis loads ne into odd companionship. No
where csu NC make better study OF human
nature THAI IN those hotels abroad where
peop,e live en- pension and stay Tor montns
at a stretch: whereby first the STIFFNESS. tben
| the reserve, and lastly the self.restraint OF
straugencss. peel of like so many coats OF on
onion, leaving the core clearly revealed 10
all. We can gauge the depth to which our
real civilization has gone, and apps se a,
their true value hat We are pleased 10 cav
liberal education and correct manners pet
ter in these caravmserias than anywhere
else. Here all are on an equal Ioot-
ing, and all pay alike for their priyl'
lcges. No hostess imposes laws when
good breeding forces her guests TO obey
without remark, hut each man feels that be
must fight for his own hand, aud that he i
| justified In gathering for his own private
nest more than his righiful amount OF sticks
and straws " he can. There is no question
of selfsacrifice for the good OF Others 10 an
| hotel. A feiIow-creaiure may be lying dan
gerously III in the next room, but the music
lesson must be taken all the same. Has II
not been included in the quarter, 10 be PAID
for al the end whether taken or not! and
who can be expected 10 forcgo that pur-
chased right OF annoyance merely because
other side OF the lath.snd.plaster par
titiony Indeed, II is considered TO
| be both selfish and. ineonsderate that
| such request should be made as that prayer
! for one DAYS cessation OF scales and runs.
PeopIe WHO come to an hotel must take
| what they can get, and no one ought TO eX-
! meet individual consideration. An episode
OF this kind comes like an apple OF discord
into the society OF an hotel, breaking II mp
| into two hostile parties, one of which sldes
with the invalid and the other with The mu-
| sician; aud after a split has once been made
| il is next 10 Impossible to bring the tGlns
together again. But the administration rs
| the general enemy and the manager tue
common Ishmaelite whose hand i against
every man and every mans hand Is
against him. Disparaging comment on
\ the food, the service, the arrangement all
through; complaints OF unfair charges :;
comparison s Of conveniences and discoveries
| OF unequal appointments 90 on IN perpe-
| tuity among certain Of the elder ladies'
those wandering Christians who live IN no.
tells on pensions all the year round; who
know TO a centime the cost OF all the e.taD-
lishments In city, and who waste ihelr
strength in The vain endcavOr 10 make E3O0
a wear do the work Of EG00. These arc the
worst enemies Of the management, and the
most tireSome as we'll as the most discon-
tented Of all y0tr hotel companions. They
worry about the doors and the windows,
the gas aud the food the chairs and the
fires, the smells and the drains, till the
manager is distracted, and The whole
company in fume. In sir0cco they In
sist on every window being shut and fresh
logs thrown on the fire. In tramontana
they open both doors and windows wide,
and say the salon is like stove-house. Now
they smell gas and now they smell fire; and
nothing will persuade them that they are not
in danger of being blown 10 atoms in an
explosion, or OF being burned in their beds
by a confla9ration which will wrap the whole
house in flames before they can unlock their
bedroom doors. They are the Cas.andras
OF the company, prOphesying woe at every
turn, till perhaps some cheerful Tiresias
proves their reading false and snuffs them
out with undisgulsed ridicule. Then they
subsde; but they never forgive, and there
is war between the two for the whole OF
their joint stay.
The great people who come TO hotels are
naturally exclusive and invisible. 1t would
never do for high-caste BrahmD, conSe.
Grated by title TO superiority over his fel-
the same table. aSt the mcaner herd. And we
English, who love lord better than our
brother. respect, il we lament, the fine
spirit Of excusiveDess which keeps my lord
and nv lady invisible 10 our petty selves,
hedging them round with a divinity which
takes its pattern from that Of royalty. But
others beside The high-ca.te Brahmns OF tie
peerage are also exclusive. PeIsOnages in the
intellectual world are as stiff and stand0fish
as those of the ari>tocratic, and woman
who owns celebrity as her s0n.n-laW,
and whose house is the resort where all the
stars at present above the horizon cOngre-
gate, would as soon think OF shaking hands
with her housemald As OF exchanging hotel
courtesies with the ordinary hotel cOmpan-
ions. How can you associate with such
odd people Z" she asks, lifting her chin, if
she sees you on those super6cially genial
terms which commi: you 20 nothing, which
give YOU deeper insight INTO human nature,
which please those TO whom you talk, and
from which, il you are wise and obseiv want,
you yourself may gain both profit and amuse-
ment. For her part she shuts herself up in
her own apartment: and II she dimes down.
stairs at all, she dimes at a separate table,
aud 10 keeps her moral ana intellectual er-
mine unspotted from un9s,hctic contact.
In strong contrast 10 these exclusives are
those solitary females who are like nothing
so much as octopods putting out their arms
in search OF something to which they can
stick. They are comparatively poor, and
they find that carriages and the like, un-
shared, make bigger hole in their finances
than they can well afford. Hence they are
on the lookout for partners who will take
the second seat and halye the general cost
and their restless feelers are ever searching
and never still. You have TO be careful.
Before you know where YOU are you
are within their folds, and find yourself
drawn into a daily association which may
or may not be to your liking. In general.
these people are not renal kable for nteli.
gence or extensive reading; and, for the
most part, their mIsiortunes and want Of
means have sOured them so that their tenn
pers are, to say the least Of it, " CLANCY" !
Hence they are not very amusing cOmpan- |
ions, and really you do not want to know
how they lost their fortune when YOU are |
standing breathless IN st. Peters, OF clear |
ing your eyes Of the mist which gathers |
over them as YOU look at the pathetic face |
OF the Ceuci. For among your hotel com. |
panlons YOU may count on finding |
the widow OF straitened means, who was |
once wealthy, and who insists on telling |
you all tie most private details Of her life
the woman who, knowing 10 human being |
in Rome, in Florence, in Vienna, in ORES. |
den, where YOU meet her, does, by her own |
account, know half the peerage in London, |
and is connected by marriage in some !
mysterious way with at least two thirds.
All the same, she is glad 10 fasten on you, |
4 stranger. for her temporary companion, |
md would. if you would too, join with you |
'or the rest OF your stay abroad. Then |