New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1885-12-09
The Passing Of the Hotel Clerk.

The Passing of the Hotel Clerk.
Charles Dudley Warner in the November
Harper's.
The hotel clerk has disappeared, OF
is disappearing. The faithful chron'
icIer must note this significant change
in American life, for it means the pass
ing away of a whole order OF things.
And he notes It with q certain sad
ness; sor, though this clerk was feared
by the general public, he was the adj
miration OF the humorist. There was
never anything in the world before aa''
swering to. this Respondent autocrat
of sleeping accommodations, this dar~
ing of the flashing pin, perfumed locks,
inpudent eyes, and lofty condescen-.
sion. Hewas the one being in existence
before whom the free-born American
q,1ailed. We have so little real aris
tocracy in this country that this dom
mating person stood out in relief; ne
had power to abase the proud, andto
make the humble crawl hato hole.
But his hour has struck and he is
passing away, not absolutely, for the
traveller can still find him here and
there, generally only in thosegorgeous
palaces where civilization is new and
has the appearance Ola lacquer, andis
not Of 1.-The substance of the life.
f. 4 X
In fact, the kind of civilization that
produced the hotel clerk is gone, or is
going also. He belonged to an:era OF
smartness and pretension which the
foreign'traveler did not recognize as a
growing development of character, but
mistook for vulgarity. He belonged
to what might be called the steamboat
gorgeous and as a BARRIERS saloon, and
its clerk had the fine manners and the
striking attire ofthe gambler. He be-
longed to the era of the table inthe
hotel dining room a quarter OF a mile
long, where Tire walters were all drilled
to move like efock-work at a signal
from the first officer. who stood at
the head OF the. table We can see
them now facing the table in shining
line, half wheelngat the signal stretch
ing out simultaneously over the head
OF the submissive guests a hundred
arms, Selling tbs tops of the vegetable
dishes, and then; tramp, tramp, with
the step of tEss, soldier going down
the echoing floor, disappearing through
swinging doors, and anon returning
with the same military precision to de-
post platethat weighed two pounds,
with a bang, before each awed occu-
pant of a seat. AS military evolu-
ton it was nearly perfect, and the
American people We're rather proud OF
it. 1t was a,.magnificence which some
what crushed shem, but they felt they
were somehow.a part of it, and it is
doubtful If any foreign potentate- was
ever served exactly in that way. II
was very cheap at five dollars day,
and If there had been any dinner to
match the evo}utions, we might still
be in that snowy period OF our nation
al development. The hotel clerk had
SO subdued the spirit of the Traveller
that he hadn perhaps much .appe-
tite, and rather preferred magnif-
cence to comfort. But in time. with
other standards of taste, this pa
geantry: vanished. and the Traveller be-
gan to assert his manhood. y
OF course there are still tracee.left of
the old civilization, and when the
traveller finds them they awake train
of reflections upon the singu-
lar development OF democratiaslife in
America.