San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-07-05

immense rotunda where the concert is going
on. You stroll through the saloons and cor
ridors, and, taking seat where you can be
seen of the multitude, you listen to the music.
About 10 or II o'clock you beat a retreat and
return to your own hotel Wishing to set
my mind at rest on this matter, | went one
evening, about half past 9, to the Casa Monica
and Florida house. There, in the rooms
where the musicians engaged by the proprie-
tors play every evening, were at the most a
score of people.
Everything is on grand scale, in good
American hotels, especially the bills.
caught the following bit of conversation
at the St Augustine station as was leav-
ing:
Hello! you are off, too" said young
man to a friend who had just installed his
wife in the train for Jacksonville.
my dear fellow, have been here fort
night; the Ponce de Leon is magnificent, but
the bill is awfully stiff"
Never mind. old man." rejoined the other,
you will take it off your wifes next dress
money"
With few exceptions, the walters in all the
great hotels are negroes You are served
slowly, but with intelligence and politeness,
No "duchesses' in the great cities of the
north or the fashionable resorts of the south.
Those good negroes have such cheerful,
open faces! They seem $50 glad to be alive,
and they look so good natured that it does
one good to see them. When they look at
one another they laugh When you look at
them they laugh. If a negro sees another
negro more black than himself he is de-
lighted; he calls him "darky" and looks on
him in patronizing way. Their great dark
eyes that show the whites so, when they roll
them in their own droll fashion, the two
rows of white teeth constantly on view,
framed in thick retrousse lips; the swaySng
manner of walking, with turned out toes
and head thrown back; the musical voice,
sweet but sonorous, and so pleasing compared
to the horrible twang of the lower class peo-
pie in the north, all make up picturesque
whole. You forget the color and fall to adj
miring them
And how amusing they are!
At the Everett hotel, Jacksonville, one
day went to the wrong table
you've come to de wrong table, sah," said
the attendant darby. Then, indicating the
negro who served at the next table, he added:
Oats de gentleman dat waits on you, sah"
Immediately recognized my gentleman"
and changed my seat. The fact is that all
the negroes are alike at glance. 1t requires
as much perspicacity to tell one from another
as it does to distinguish one French gendarme
from another French gendarme.
never met with such memories es some of
those darkies have.
AS have said, the hotels of Florida are be-
sieged during the winter months. At dinner
time, you may see from six hundred to a thou
sand people at table. The black head waiter
knows each of the guests. The second time
they enter the dining room, he conducts them
to their places without making a mistake in
one instance. If you stop but day, you
may return a month after. and not only will
he recollect your face, but he will be able to
tell you which little table you sat at, and
which place at that table was yours.
AT the door of the dining room a young
negro of 1G or IS takes your hat and puts it
on a hat rack. l have seen hundreds thus in
his care at a time You leave the dining
room and, without moments hesitation, he
singles out your hat and hands it to YOU 1t
is wonderful when one thinks of it. give
you the problem to solve. Several hundred
men, most of whom you have not seen more
than once or twice before, pass into a room,
handing you their chimney pots or wide
awazes to take care Of They come out of
the room in no sort of order, and you have to
give each the hat that belongs to him. l
have tried hard and often, but never succeed
ed in finding out how it is done.
Another negro in the hall goes and gets
your key when he sees you return from
walk No need to tell him the number of
your room-he knows it. He may have seen
you but once before, but that is all sufficient
he never errs.
And the negressesl good, merry looking
creatures with buxom faces and forms, sup
pie, light, graceful gait and slender waists,
aping the fashion, and having very pretty
fashions of their own, coquetting and mine
ing, as they walk out With their "tic'lars'
particulars, The enjoyment of life is writ
ten on their faces, and one ends by thinking
some of them quite pretty. have seen some
splendid figures amongst them. You should
see them on Sundays, dressed in scarlet or
some other bright color, with great hats
jauntily turned up ON one side, and tanning
themselves with the ease and grace of Bel
rrr,y.ia,, 1oIias