The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1886-05-20
An American Summer Hotel.

1t happened to be at the Kaaterskill
House-it might have been at the
Grand, or at the Overlook-that the
Young gentleman in search of inforr2a-
ton saw the Catskill season get under
way. The phase of American life is
much the same at all these great cara
vansaries. 1t seems to the writer, who
has the greatest admiration for the mil
itary genius that can feed and fight an
army in the field, that not enough ac-
count is made of the greater genius that
can organize and carry on a great
American hotel, with thousand or fif-
teen hundred guests, in a short, sharp,
and decisive campaign of two months,
at the end of which the substantial
fruits of victory are in the hands of the
landlord, and the guests are allowed to
depart with only their baggage and
side-arms. but so well pleased that they
are inclined to renew the contest next
YEAR This is a triumph of mind over
mind. 1t is not merely the organization
and the management of the army under
the immediate command of the land
lord, the accumulation and distribution
of supplies upon this mountain-top, in
the uncertainty whether the garrison on
a given day will be one hundred or one
thousand. not merely the lodging, ra-
tioning, and amusing of this shifting
host, but the satisfying of as many
whims and prejudices as there are peo-
pie who leave home on purpose to
grumble and enjoy themselves in the
exercise of a criticism they dare not in
dulge in their own houses. Our friend
had an opportunity of seeing the ma
chinery set in motion in one of these
great establishments. Here was a vast
balloon structure, founded on a rock,
but built in the air, and anchored with
cables, with towers and high-pillared
veranda, capable, with its annex, of
lodging fifteen hundred people. The
army of walters and chamber-maids, of
bell-bovs and solutions and porters and
laundry-folk, was arriving; the stalwart
scrubbers were at work, the store-rooms
were filled, the big kitchen shone with
its FURNISHED coppcrs. and an array of
white capped and aproned cooks stood
in line under their chef; the telegraph
operator was waiting at her desk, the
drug clerk was arranging his bottles,
the newspaper stand was furnished, the
postoffice was open for letters. 1t
needed but the arrival of guest to set
the machinery in motion. And as soon
as the guest came, the band would be
there to launch him into the maddening
gayetv of the season. 1t would welcome
his arrival in triumphant strains; it
would pursue him at dinner. and drown
his conversation; it would fill his siesta
with martial dreams, and it would seize
his legs in the evening, and entreat him
to caper in the parlor. Every thing was
ready. Anu THIS was what happened. 1t
was the evening of the opening day.
The train wagons might be expected
any moment The electric lights were
blazing. All the clerks stood expectant,
the porters were by the door, the trim
uniformed bell-boys were ali in wait
ing line, the register clerk stood finger
ing the leaves of the register with a
gracious air. A noise is heard outside,
the big door opens, there is a rush for
ward and four people flock in-a man
in a linen buster, a stout woman, a lad
of ten, smartly dressed young lady,
and dog. Movement, welcome, ring
ing of bells, tramping of feet-the
whole machinery has started. 1t was
adjusted to crack an egg-shell or smash
an iron-bound trunk. The few drops
presaged a shower. The next day there
were hundred on the register; the day
after two hundred; and the day follow
ing, an excursion Charles Dudley
Warner, IN Harper'S Magazj19e for May.