Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1883-12-13
EUROPEAN HOTELS.
Observation Of q Traveller on the
Continent
Not Up to the American STANDARD Of
Comfort md COnveniencc...
some Desirable
Customs.
European Letter in Pioneer Press


European Letter in Pioneer Press.]
Though my experience of hotels on the
continent has been chiefly confined to the
Alpine regions of Switzerland and France
have found them, as a rule good. Some OF
them excellent, excellent-that is to say, ac-
cording to the continental standard, which is
by no means tho best American standard Of
comfort and convenience, to say nothing
Of luxury. We miss, indeed, that
crowning flower of American civil.
zation-the airy and consequential hotel
clerk, with his head Of Adons in oil and his
dazzling opulcnce of jewelry; and we miss
the ubiquitous African, with the broom
brush, who confronts you at evory turn and
corner with his instrument of torture, and
insists upon sweeping you as if you were
street crossing. The BARRIERS shop, too, so
important an adjunct Of even the poorest
American tavern, is nowhere to be found, SO
far as have observed, even III the most ex-
tensvc and pletentious of European hotels
In Chester, where needed the services of
barber ] was directed to shop at some dis
tance from the hotel, which l found with
difficulty, up the back stairs Of haberdnsh-
er's shop For no BARRIERS pole, as is uni
versal in America, was there to serve as
beacon light to the unshorn stranger. Nor
have seen BARRIERS pole in Europe, though
1t is of purely European derivation. But
recognizel the functionry | needed in the
moiest sign "a Hair Dresser" He was only
hairlrcsScr. He was as ignorant OF the
mystery Of tn, art of shaving of the sur
gical operation which was formerly func-
tion Of the barbcrs miscellaneous profess
sion In England, he explained, that every
gentleman was expected to shave himself,
and if he couldn't he should let his beard
grow. This was, of course, an exaggeraton.
There are plenty Of shops in London, and
In continental cities, where the functions OF
barber and hnirtlroSser are united; but they
are relatively far less numerous than with
us, and are generally separated in the smaller
towns in mnny Of which the barber Is un-
known
WINE DRINKING.
But this is Il digression was speaking Of
the Europcan hotels In the list of American
hotel luXurics which many Americans sadly
miss here, should not forget the bar-room.
This most cherished of American institutions
is rarely to he found in connection with Euro
Iean hotels or at the cafes Though wine
drinking is rs universal rs tea aud coffee
drinking with us, it is like the latter, a part
OF the days repaSts-lnore especially of the
dinner. The American custom of pro,niscu-
Gus social tippling of strong liquors. on empty
sto,narh., at all hours Of the day and night,
which the bar invites, and which is the fruit
full cause cf SO much intGmporance, seems to
lie unknown on the continent. The vino
bottle before every guest or family at the
table dhote is supposed to have been taken
freshly from the cellar of the hotel.
THE HEAD PORTER.
But was going to say that the organiza-
ton and regimen of the continental hotels
are as different from those of America as the
social customs Of the people. Here the con-
ciergc, o. what may be called the head porter,
is the most important, or, at least to the
stranger, the most useful Of the hotol func-
tionaritS. He has his bureau or desk, and, in
the more preten.ious houses, he wears a liv-
.ery, and two crossed keys embroidered on the
lapel Of his cont, are the insignia of his office.
Hoe usually a ingui>t of no mean accom-
plibhments. for lie speaks at Least three, and
sometimes four, language ges-French, English,
and either Italian or German, and often
both In either of these languages he
gives you any information you may 10
qtIire for your guidance within or with
out the hotol, posts your letters, sends your
packages to their destinations, hires your car
riages, and earns his modest gratuity by a
thousand little necessary attentions which
are wholly neglected in American hotels In
the hotels of the smaller Swiss towns and
French towns, as generally in England tho
bookkeNper or secretary is n woman, some
times the wife or daughter of the landlord or
hndlady, and bookkecpn. for hotel here is
much more complicated affair than i'll
America. For instead Of single charge
Ier day for board and lodging, it is rmle up
of charges for every it.m of service or CON
sumption-for your bed room, your candles
(for gas or oil lamps are unknown in boil
rooms on this side Of the water, for attend
ance, for your several meals, and for every
article ordered outside the prescribed menu.
THE MEALS.
1t follows from the nature of his duties
that the head waiter or chief butler is also Il
much more important flmctionary than with
us. For he has to take note of what every
guest eats and drinks and particularly of the
eccentrc foreign variations from the pre-
scribed native courses Breakfast, as an
early morning meal after rising, is not one
of these Instead of it you are provided with
coffee or tea or chocolate, and bread and but
ter This is called a cafe on the canpet
though it is regarded as anything but COM
plete by most Americans. The most sub
stantial breakfast, which is taken later in the
day, usually at .ome of the numerous cafes,
and which corresponds at least in the order OF
sequence to our lunch, is called dejeunera a
la fourchette--a delicate implication OF
meats. The table d'hote dinner is the one
grand formal meal of the day, the only one
when the resources of the cuisine are callod
into requistion, and when oil the guests who
avail themselves of its questionable privileges
are expected to bo i'll their designated seats
punctuay at the designated hour Of about
or $50 p III.
TABLE D'HoTE.
The table d'hote guest here is relieved
of the polplcxing task imposed upon him by
the more generous hospitality of the Amer
lean hotel of selecting his dinner from the be-
willerng profuson of viands and vegetables
and side dishes and dessert dainties with in.
comprehensive French names which are dis
played on his bill of fare. His dinner here is
all arranged for him beforehand and consists
of some half dozen simple courses of single
dish each--soup, fish, mutton or beef success
ively-then some usually inexplicable side
dish which is the cooks chef d'Uuvrc then
string beans, then some sort of fowl, usually
chicken with salad, followed by fruit and
cake, and, in Difference to English custom,
cheese. The only article you have the privilege
of ordering Is wine, which is usually poor
This seems to be the stereotyped menu for a
table l'hote dinner everywhere. AT least
from Paris to Geneva, high up among the
small inns of the Alpine mountains and
ravnes, and down in the more pletentious
IL H., IL e 60, Ln.
prevailed with very little variation for loca
nro a. fo prirn which yarip,