The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-07-29
The Decline Of the Great Watering.
Place Hotel.

1t Is becoming more and more manifest
every summer that the vast and expensive
watering place hotels are not increasing in
popularity among the sort OF people who
formerly freQuented them. They are rather
regarded with less favor, though the num-
Der OF families able to stand their charges,
and who can afford to take pleasures without
regard to the cost, is many times greater
than 1t was when they were in the heyday Of
their consequence as fashionable resorts.
The monotony OF the routine OF life at
such places tires out men. and young men
especially. They are bored by the little
round OF amusements at the hotels and want
freer and more manly recreations. Young
women are apt to encounter there only in
sipid fellows and consequently they, too,
are no longer attracted thither particularly
II they have formed their social standards In
New York. At most, they care for no more
than q very brief stay at one Of the water
ing places Of the old-fashioned sort.
Both young men and young women are
giving themselves up to outdoor pleasures
and sports far more than formerly. Then
over dressing and promiscuous dancing. once
indulged in at great watering place hotels,
do not appeal to their tastes, but seem vul-
gar to them, or, II not that, at least silly and
stupid. II there is crowd at those resorts,
1t Is usually made up chiefly OF others than
the representatives OF fashion In New York.
1t consists largely of people who find at such
hotels the greatest opportunity they get
during the year to display their wardrobes
and obtain social gayeties, to extend their
acquaintance, and exercise themselves in
fashionable ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The resorts which OF late years have most
appealed to New York fashion are very
different. They are those where summer
cottages furnish more or less exclusive So
ciaty. and those where men and women al
ready acquainted, or belonging to tho same
social circle, can live in familiar intercourse
and pursue common pleasures without inter-
ference from other people. The old watering
places, with their crowded hotels, are rcpul-
sivc to them. They want only hotel, if they
| go to hotel. where they are sure Of meeting
many Of their own kind, and where they can
keep aloof from the rest. 1t is notable that
ut the resorts OF the highest fashion, such as
Newport, Lenox, and Mount Desert, the ho-
tells are either OF little consequence or are
very simple and inelegant establishments in
comparison with those at Saratoga, for in
stance, charging moderate prices and fur
nishing moderate fare.
Meantime New York people are preferring
summer places within easy travel OF New
York. 1t has been found that nature offers
there attractions not cxcelled elsewhere and
that. besides. the opportunities for pleasure
are greater. The watering place hotel at a
great distance is usually bereft of men dur
ing the chief part OF the week, whereas at
the seaside resorts near town men are found
in large numbers every evening. and the
prevailing amusements are such as appeal
to manly tastes and to those OF healthy and
spirited young wome,. SO far as comfort
goes, too Long Island, for instance, is prefer
able to many Of the distant regions by the
sea or in the mountains to which people
formerly felt obliged to go. Nowhere else
can cooler, fresher air be found.
1t is very obvious that the fashionable
glory OF the great watering-place hotel OF
the old sort is rapidly departing. And it is
well that it Is so. 1t is sign of improved
sense and breeding, that people have got
tired OF the life OF artificial and spurious
and more or less vulgar gayety and display
which has distinguished those places.