Mexico weekly ledger., 1886-05-13

~r ~~~
The hoto ,leiN 3,as disappeared, OF
is Disappointing. Ia taithEul ehroni
cler lnust note this sisriiirant change
in American life, ior ii means tho pass.
ing aMas OF a Whole order of things.
And he notes il wttil u certaia sadness.
For though lhlS rIurk was feared by
the general puh,.c, he Was the admira-
ton of the hEmorist There was
never anything in tho world before an
swering to this reSplendeht autoerat OF
sleeping accommodations, this darling
of the flashing PIN. perfumed locks,
impudent eye. and lofty eondeseension.
He was the II being IN existence be-
fore whom the tree-born American
quailed. We have so liItle real aristoc-
racy i'll this country that this lomina-
ting person stood out in relief: no had
power To abaso the proud. and 10 make
the hum BILE crawl into y hole. But
his hour has struck and ho is passing
away. not gone absolutely. for tho
traveller can still fad him here and
there, generally only in those gorgeous
palaces where civilization is new and
has the appearance Of II lacquer. and
Is moi of the substance o. the life. -"
In fact. the kind of civilization hat
produced the hotel clerk is gone. OF is
going also. He belonged to an era Of
smartness and ~pretension which the
foreign traveller did not recognize as II
growing development Of character,
but mistook for vulgarity. He be-
longed to what might be called the
steamboat period. when the steamboat
was as gorgeous aud As beautiful as u
BARRIERS saloon, and its clerk had the
fine and the striking attire of
the gambler. He belonged 10 the era
of the table in the hotel dining-room q
quarter of a mile long, wnere the
walters were all drilled to move like
cloek-work at Il signal from the first
officer, who stood at the head of the
table. We can see them now facing
the table in u shining liue, half wheel
ing at the signal, stretching out stimuli
~taneously over the. heads'of the sub
missiye guests q hundred arms, seiz,ng
the tops OF the vegetable dishes, and
then, tramp. tramp. with the step OF
the soldier, going down the echoing
hoor, disappearing through swinging
doors, and anon returning with the
same military precision to deposit a
pIate tuat Two pouAus, Will u
bang, before each awed occupant of a
seat. As a military evolution it was
nearly perfect, and the American peo-
pie were rather proud of it. 1t was a
magniticeuce which somewhat crushed
them, but they felt they were somehow
a part of it, and it is doubtful ii any
foreign p~otentate was ever served
exactly in that way. 1t vas very
cheap at live dollars a day, and if there
had been any dinner to match the
evolutions, We might still be in that
snowy period of our national develop
ment. The hotel clerk had so SUBJ
dued the spirit of the Traveller that he
had not perhaps much appetite, and
rather preferred magni!iccucc to COM
fort. But in time, with other standards
of taste, this pageansry vanished, and
the traveller began to assert his man
hood.***
OF course there are still traces left
of the old civilization, and when the
traveller finds them. they awake 4 train
OF reflections upon the singular devel.
opment OF democratic life i'll America
Charles Dudley WaFMer, IN Hafper'S
NdgGzine Ter A0cem6eE.