The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1890-10-09

cold and rather dismal. Large sailing
vessels, very broad and Dutch, were an
chored near the shore, pounding away
on the sand as the breakers lifted them,
sure wreck on our coast. The beach
was lined with the queer wheeled bath
ing houses, so common on beaches
abroad, which are drawn out into the
surf and the occupant goes down the
steps into the water. Hundreds ofgreat
wickerwork seats with high backs and
round tops, looking not unlike an old
style gig top, were scattered about the
beach, the queerest looking things i'm
aginable. Very few people were bathing
as it was quite cold, and the men on
guard, dressed in red pants and blue
coats, were so fussy the fun was spoiled.
The sand was almost like flour, no stones
and very few small shells. While bath
ing the men wear only short trunks, |
imagine the effect on the powers that be
at Ocean Grove, if bathers there dressed
the same way.
Very few of the old costumes are now
worn in Europe, it is only i'll Holland
and the Black Forest in Germany that
many can be seen, nothing to those seen
few years ago, and soon they will all
disappear. The common Holland cos
tune is a peculiar white head-dress, set
ting out several inches at each side, queer
silver iewelry, little shawl about the
shoulders, and dress of bright colored
stuff. The costumes worn by the girls
and bows were exactly the same as those
of their elders, and so dressed they ap-
peared like little old men and women,
cOmical enough the youngsters looked as
lot of them ran to school in their
wooden clogs At the English Church
the Rector prayed for the President OF
the United States as well as for the
Queen, very nice thing to do as so many
Americans attend, but something l had
never heard before, though it was done
at English churches in other places after
ward One New York gentleman hid he
doubled his scontribution on that account.
At The Hague we made the acquaint-
ance of the table ThOte dinner, the slow
formal, principal meal of the day, occur
ring sometime between and 8 O'Clock,
D. m. The prices of rooms depend on
whether you go to table FhOte or not,
more is charged if you dine outside. The
guests gather in the parlOr just before
the time set, dinner ready they are
solemnly ushered into the dining room
and seated, generally, at very long ta-
BILE. Knives forks and plates are changed
with each course, no course being served
| to any one until the head waiter rings
his bell. All this fuss takes time, from
an hour and quarter to two hours; the
the knowing ones save time by coming
i'm when dinner is half over, and soon
catch up with the courses. Each waiter
serves SO many guests, beginning with
great impartiality first at one end OF his
row, with the next course at the other
end, each guest helping himself to every
course, except the soup, as it is passed
to him with the eagle eye of the waiter
closely watching. The almost invariable
rule is, first soup, then fish, next pate
or some fancy thing, then a roast of some
kind with vegetable or two, following
this one vegetable all alone, generally
string beans, then turkey or chicken, cut
into such funny pieces apparently with a
hatchet, and always with lettuce as
salad next dessert, finally fruit and
black coffee. Variations to this are very
slight You are asked at breakfast If you
will be at table dh0te, and they count
noses SO carefully the waste at a
European Hotel must be next to nothing.
The roast is never seen the meat being
brought on in slices; if you take more
1
ously to any dish, some one else will suf'
| fer. II Continental hotels do not make
, money there are none that do, for
| found that few if any give their walters
! a salary, the tips serving as pay, while
/ | in some, the walters actually pay the
, hotel keepers for the privilege OF serving
, the tables, the poor guests footing the
: bills. In Great Britain you find attend
, ance charged for in your bills, a mean
, sneaking way of making their patrons
pay the help. Very few hotels have al
elevator, or lift, as they call them, and
/ those they have are exceedingly primi'
r tive, often not more than two can be
, taken up at time; many hotels have nc
bath tubs, some quite large ones will
have one. They are far behind the age
, but do not know it; it would richly re
D pay American tourists if they raised 9
: fund and brought all the foreign hote
! keepers over here and let them see how
: things are done, repay them in the mucf
5 greater comfort they would get. 1t wa:
/ exasperating to hear all over Europe
! when l asked people why they did no
travel in America, "Oh every thing is sc
E dear over there, your hotels and ALL We
n could not afford it." told them wher
Y a person went to an American hotel ant
: paid so much per day he knew exactly
: how much it would cost him, and woult
v get many times as much to eat as theI
gave, while no man could tell what hi,
D bill would be at any European hotel, be
1 tween the tips, and the extra charges fO
everything. Mark Twain says "Amer;
O cans have told me they have risen salts
f fled from table dhote dinner, but thel
+ you know there are Americans who will
/: lie."
< Even in England you will find larg
s hotels having the halls lighted with ga
e or electricity, furnish only a candle o
e two to make the darkness visible IN you
r. room. On the Continent you will almOs
s always find the candles charged in you
10 bill at from half franc to franc and
d half each; if you tell them not to ligh
|. any because you have your own candles
, they will charge franc for the privileg
o of burning those, and it will have to b
q paid. heard of gentleman who wa
n charged franc each for candles, so h
lie laid them away, each day in his valisC
and fresh ones were put in his room. o
d leaving, finding the walters all lOokin
d for fee, he said he saw by his bill cal
,e dies were worth franc each, so he CAV
!. five to the head waiter and one each
)f the others. Nowhere on the COntiner
m is soap to be found in the rooms, and
Is you have forgotten to bring some an
ie order it, you will be surprised to fin
id how valuable soap is in Europe.
se The usual breakfast on the COntiner
Is is rolls and coffee, all they furnish {
s, hotels for the price charged in the
id schedule. If you feel the need of an!
us thing more it will be charged extra, an
as as you nowhere find bill of fare liR
ye ours, you will not know how much exit
I'd until the bill appears at your departur
ne For instance, in oxford we asked fC
nv strawberries'at breakfast; as usual thel
a were none in the hotel and they sent OF
no and got some which found charged
he the bill at 80 cents, i had bought the san
AT amount the day before for 10 cents.
ct A gentlemen told me he bought
at newspaper of a boy in Edinburgh for Il
nd usual price one penny, but overheard al
other boy say to him, "He is an Amer
,v can, why did you not charge him fol
pence?" All over Europe, particular
-or In Italy they imagine all Americans mu
% be millionaires because they travel /
% ,%ts much, and possibly because they gi'
oJ such unnecessarily large fees. 1t is vel
To hard for an American accustomed
m 'ro dealing at home, to get used to beatir
~ down prices at hotels, shops or wherev
~ :, he may be, but almost everywhere it
ri absolutely necessary, unless one wish
Sa TO pay twice or three times as much