Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1893-03-12
MARCH IL. 1873.
nn,eis Tint W. Have Known.

The traveller has agreeable recolloctions OF
the hotels where no found appetizing
meals. cheerful company, and beds which
invited slumbcr; but be Is unforgetful and
u~nforgiving of the houses which dlsap-
pointed his expectations and whose pro-
priotors set before him meals that he could
not eat and forced him 10 accept beds that
chased away slumber and w%eariedthe body.
Su,gsrrAKf. DR.. JOHNSON, Sir WALTER
Scorr, and other famous writers trom
time out of mind and IN instances almost
without number, have paid their tribute
of admiration IN song and story TO famous
inns and Jolly inn-kcepers. JOHNSON
made no bones OF saving that the estaO-
lishment of a good inn was, IN his
Judgment. the greatest good that could DO
conferred on humanity, and SHAKESPEARE,
who had lived much in inns studying hu-
man nature and testing tine liquors
makes one Of Lis great characters speak
lovingly Of taking "miue ease IN mlne
inn" That was bis idea Of happiness.
He wished nothing better. The aims were
the ~club-houses of those days, and there
the latest news Of all notable events found
its way and thence was dlssemlnated'
T~ownspeople anl travellers bothfrcquent-
ed them. The same custom stall prevails
IN many small towns whore no clubs are
maintained and where the coming aud
going Of strangers qulckens the dull lie
Of the people.
Here in Virginia We have hal some n
nous hostelrics. Tho old Raleigh Tavern
ut Williamsburg lives IN Omance and his
tory. II must have been well kept, for
contemporaneous writers speak OF II so
very respectfully. They could no have
written of IT a. they did had the proprie-
tor furnished them with tough bcefstc1hs
or bad bread. OF sent them 10 shabby
chambers. OF hired n man with a homnoor
IN M frillcd sLlrt-bosom 20 give them short
answers 10 civil questions. But even IN
those halcyon DAYS ii had become a pro-
verb that II was work aud worry rcchlesslv
wasted 20 reckon without ones host. And
20 It Is even unto this day, especially IN
foreign lands. whore You are charged with
tallow candles. ietter-uaper, service, DC.
In Virginia, as elsewhere ia these United
States. fashion has run the gamut III hotel
nomenclature until "tavcsu.' nm
house and hotel" have all had their
DAYS. and now Smiths Hotel Is no
longer so called. bat is officially known as
"Hotel smith" Tavern WAS once the
great name here. The Bel Tavern, which
preceded the present -. Charles. was a ia
nous place Of resort when BIED's tobacco
warehouse stood on tho opposite side Of
Main street, and II had a worthy contcm-
porary in the Washington Tavern, which IS
now the ~. Claire. The Eagle Tavern was Of
later date. and was a GranGer house than
the other two. In II LAFAYETTE was enter
tanned in 1924. The Eagle stood on tho
south side OF Man street between Twelfth
and Thirteenth and had an archway-th
port coctere OF the present %day-lnto which
the stage-coaches drove and landed their
Messengers. Fire destroyed 1t early in the
forties. and from the city's need for an
other good hotel the Exchange arose.
The Exchange. the Ballard House, the
Columbian Hotel. the Powhatan (Ford's
Hotel, the Monumental st. Cialre), andt tho
81. Charles and tho Spotswood We're all IN
operation here at one time. The Column
DIAN, WHICH hNoOa IttA OA'AR 0ANh~A1N
Warehouse Con Shockoe Slip now Is, went
down IN the evacuation fire; the Spots
wood was DESTROYED by fire five years
later. All the rest survive AMI prosper,
md some new one have been addeitO the
list.
In many respects the Americans excel IN
hotel building aud keeping. Our tourists
gather new ideas in all quarters Of the
globe. and come home and demand that
the best Of them shall DO adopted by our
hotel men. Abroad old customs are hard
10 change. Here change Is the order OF the
day. The electric light has not yet driven
the tallow candle from all OF the great
hotels Of London. Paris, Rome, Berlin, and
Vienna. Not all Of thom have elevators
Qiftsl. but II is vastly 10 their credit tina,
each one of them has a head porter, who
is gwen a snug little otlice-room, aud Is
always 10 be found there TO patiently
answer ~ question in any language. The
hotel clorkIsno a grand seisnIOrin Europe;
indeed. be - quite often a modest little
woman. whose chief duty IL TO make out
your bill and take your money.
Such magnificent hotels as are seen in
New York, Chicago, san Francisco, and
Florida are not 10 DO found elsewhere in
the world.
Richmond IS soon to have m of these
hotels Of the modern luxurious type. 4
Trankln.street home that mas been the
abode Of ali elegant and refined hospitality
for nearly half q century IS to be RACED TO
make room for IT. II the Jefferson does
for the travelling public what in that old
house has been done tor Richmond society
and for strangers within our gates (from
Presidents DOWN ITS name will become a
p~leasau, sound 10 the cars Of thousands
Of people. And we believe that it Will.
Many and many a fashionable ball do We
erpect "a attend there. Already We fancy
that We are seated at its rlchly-laden
table eating Of the best in tho land. chat
ting with beauties and nabobs 10 tho right
aud LEFT aud hearing the music from the
orchestra IN the roof-garden.
Whilst we welcome d new addition "a
our list Of hotels. il is but just TO say that
some Of those which are now IN existence
fulfil very well indeed the requisites Of the
times. and are equal to any usually found
~ cities OF our sizo. Indeed. persons who
are willing 20 pay New York prices here
can get all that is most 10 be desired IN
New York style. The fact that We are
eoiug to builder rather arc going TO let
three philosophical gentlemen build for
us--a ~palatial hotel IN tho fashionable
West End no more discredits those hotels
which we already have than do the re-
eently-bullt hotels in New York aud Cni-
csgo discredit those already there and
which have long been popular with the
public. II Richmond continues 10 grow
ss she u growing at present we hope 10 be
sole to report tho opening of a fine new
hotel every four or five years. tor. be II
known. the hotol business has long been
successful here. And 1t IL prosperous, We
4. take 1t. because the hotel patron gets his
moneys worth aud wants 70 come again.