San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-07-03

In Europe, the hotel is means 70 an end.
In America, it is the end
People travel hundreds, nay thousands of
miles for the pleasure of putting up at certain
hotels Listen to their conversation and you
will find that it mainly turns, not upon the
fine views they have discovered, or the ex-
cursions and walks they have enjoyed, but
upon the respective merits Of the various
hotels they have put up at Hotels are for
them what cathedrals, monuments and the
beauties of nature are for US.
In February, 1855, / went to see the Ameri-
cans take their pleasure in Florida During
the months of January, February and March
flocks of society people from the towns in the
north go to Florida where the sun is warm
and the orange trees are in full beauty of
| fruit and flower Jacksonville and ST. Au-
gustine are in winter what Saratoga, New
port and Long Branch are in summer, the
rendezvous of all who have any pretensions
| to place in the fashionable world
But what do they do at Jacksonville and
st. Augustine, ali these Americans in search
of good timeF You think perhaps that,
in the morning, they set ont in great numbers
to make long excursions into the country or
on the water; that picnics, riding parties and
such out of door pastimes are organized
Not so. They get up, breakfast, and make
for the balconies or piazzas of the hotels,
there to rock themselves two or three hours
in rocking chairs until lunch time; after this
| they return to their rocking chairs again and
| wait for dinner Dinner over, they go to the
| drawing room, where there are more rocking
| chairs, and chat or listen to an orchestra
until bed time. And yet, what pretty en-
virons the little town of Jacksonville has, for
| instance! For miles around stretches villa
| dotted orange grove.
And the table d'hote!
In France we look well at the bill and
| study it; we discuss the dishes, arranging
them discreetly and artIstically in the mind
before making their acquaintance more fully
ON the palate. We are gourmets In America
the question seems to be not (which of these
dishes will go well togetherr but, How
many of them can | manages" 1t is so much
| a day; the moderate eaters pay for the glut.
| tons.
| You see women come down at S to break
fast in silk attire and decked in diamonds.
And what breakfast! First an orange and
q banana TO freshen the mouth and whet the
| appetite, then fish, bacon and eggs, or ONE
| let, beefsteak or chop with fried potatoes,
hominy cakes, and preserves.
"How little you eat, you French peoplel"
said an American to me one day, as was or
| dering my breakfast Of cafe au lait and bread
and butter
you are mistaken" l said, "only we do
not care for our dinner at S o'clock in the
morning"
The larger the hotel is the better the Amer
leans like it. A little, quiet, well kept hotel,
where, the cookery being done for twenty or
thirty persons instead of a thousand, the beef
has not the same taste as mutton hotel
where you are known and called by your
name, where you are not simply No SIS like
a convict; this kind of pitching place does
not attract the American. He must have
something large, enormous, immense. He is
inclined to judge everything by its size.
Jacksonville and st. Augustine boast
score of hotels each capable of accommodate
ing from six hundred to a thousand guests.
These hotels are full from the beginning of
January to the end of March.
| have almost always accepted with reserve
the American superlatives, followed by the
traditional lin the world" but it may safely
be said that the Ponce de Leon hotel, at st.
Augustine, is not only the largest and hand
soonest hotel in America, but in the whole
world. Standing in the prettiest part of the
picturesque little town, this Moorish palace,
with its walls of onyx, its vast artistically
furnished saloons, its orange walks, foun-
tains, cloisters and towers, is revelation,
scene from the Arabian Nights"
Here the Americans congregate in search of
good time" as they call it The charges
range from ten to twenty-five dollars day
for each person, exclusive of wines and ex-
tras The American who goes to the Ponce
de Leon with his wife and daughters, there
fore, spends from one to two hundred dollars
| day. For this sum- he and his family are
fed, played to by very ordinary band, and
supplied with an immense choice of rocking
chairs. On his return to New York, he de-
| clares to his friends that he has had ''lovely
time" The AmeriIa never admits that he
| has been bored, in America specially. The
smallest incidents of the trip are events and
| adventures and be never fails to have his
good time" He is as easily pleased as a
child; everything American calls out his adj
| miration, or at least his interest. Remark to
him, for instance, that to 60 by train to
Florida from the north one has to travel
| Al. Al.