Daily Kennebec journal., 1896-02-13


"The best laid schemes O. mice and men
Gang aft a ley;
And leave naught. but pain and grief
For promised loy.'
And so it was in this Instance. The
Maine delegates stood patiently by and
saw the genial head clerk and his assist
ants, who had evidently planned to handle
the party in two sections, succumb to a
very bad case of rattles. In this lament
able condition they reversed the old time
hotel rule Of First come first served,
and feeling the need perhaps, under the
circumstances, of biblical inspiration,
adopted in its place. the scriptural
prophecy "the first shall be last, and the
last shall be first
As the Maine men stood in the line,
they saw the New York delegation that
had telegraphed for accommodations the
previous day, assigned to rooms, as were
also the members of the Pennsylvania
delegation who had telegraphed that
morning. Indeed they saw gentlemen
who had secured IA place on the preferred
list" of Mr.. Loomis, by passing their
cards to him after they reached the desk
given excellent quarters beneath the
Alcazar roof When the Maine men
UnallY ROU lEt VI tilC SiCth tbtf At
minded him of the applications for rooms
they had sent him, through Mr. Can1ield,
three weeks before. All, yes, he had them
booked He Immediately passed two slips
to colored bell boy who took our bag
gage and headed our procession. We fol-
lowed him in mute amaZement out OF the
hallowed precincts of the Alcazar, across
the road and into IL commodious structure
IL. - &c hxr
no means destitute of architectural
beauty, and its chambers are well fur
nished. 1t is now used only for rooms.
We found that it had been opened up, on
the day of our arrival, for the first time
in year, and its Eonldy rooms and
railways exuded much the odor OF a
Florida swamp We speedily decided that
while the Cordova, under different cir
cumstances, would be unexceptional, we
had, at that time, no desire to spend
night under its roof, at least not until
there had been opportunity to give 1t a
thorough airing. We accordingly lost no
time in giving up our keys, and seeking
accommodations elsewhere. We were the
first of the New England contingent to
engage rooms at the Alcazar, and about
the only members of it who failed to
secure them there.
But seeming Inisfortunes occasionally
turn out to be blessings in disguise, and
so il proved in this case. Across the road
from the Alcazar is she Buckingham, one
of the finest little family hotels upon the
Florida coast. Its proprietor, Mr.. 6. c.
Howe is Massachusetts man, and all OF
his help-all white-comes from Boston.
A spacious lawn in front of the house
relieves it materially from the noise OF the
street. Its appointments throughout are
first class. 1t has all the modern con-
yeniences, and its apartments from top
to bottom are kept with scrnpnlous neat
ness. We found no house in Florida that
set better table, and best of all 1t was
New England cooking. The charges at
this house are very reasonable, and
visitors to St. Augustine will make no
mistake in patronizing it, Our stay
under it's hospitable roof is one of the
brightest memories of our trip.
1t can be said of the generous and
public spirited citizens of st. Augustine
that they left nothing undone for the en- 7.
tertainment of their guests. Every
moment of time outside the convention