The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-11-16
THE OLD ENGLISH INN.
Not All That Fancy Has Painted
Survival of Two Types.

NoL AL IHaC Fancy Has PAINTED
Survival of Two Types.
SO much has been written about the
old-fashioned English inn, it's comfort,
| its snugness, it's home-likeness, the de-
lightful welcome of the jolly publican
| and the rosy-cheeked, buxom landlady,
the imagination is apt to play one rath-
| err an unkind trick when one comes
| face to face with the blessed old Eng
| lish inn and finds it not to be all that
fancy painted The ancient tavern of
| queer, corrupted name, and queerer
sign, has made noble struggle to hold
| It's own even in the larger cities, but
| has slowly degenerated into the eating
! house or drinking place, and retains
| but the outward show of its former
SELF In smaller places of a few thou
sand MISUNDERSTANDING towns, mar
| ket towns, little university cities-the
effort at survival has been most sue
| cessful, though the old hosiery has
| gradually given way to two distinct
| classes, each of which retains some of
| its features-the quiet family hotel and
| the commercial house The latter occa-
sionally puts out temperance sign, but
| the orthodox commercial hotel proba-
| than any other class of English public
| house
The snug bar and pretty barmaid are
| still picturesque features. So is the
| club-room where local societies meet
! for jolly evening. The place is as per-
| tinaciously old-fashioned as it was in
Dickens day, still scorns new inven-
lions and modern ideas, and clings to
| feather beds and penny candles with
| loving persistency. Boots" still -four
| ishes and Is a character of Importance,
| as he was in the time of the dear old
| "Holly-Tree inn." The commercial
room is the center of comfort and cheer,
| where the "bag-man' and the purely
| business traveller find the warmest well
| come as in the time of Shenstone. Here
| are the contest corners filled with easy
| chairs, the finest old furniture rubbed
| to mirror-like brightness, those side
| boards and tables of solid mahogany
without which an old English inn is a
| mere hollow sham. Here the glowing
CRATE invites the tired pilgrim to toast
| his cold feet on the fender, and read his
| paper at perfect ease, and with a deli
| cious sense of home-like snugness. The
| commercial room Is the chief source of
| profit to mine hostile bag man s
| kingdom, where he meets his friends
and clients, and consumes his chop and
beer without dread OF the invading wo-
man. new or old.
The "coffee-room" is given over to
both sexes. Occasionally an uncom-
mercial traveller, an American, perhaps,
coursing through England on his Wheel
| prefers the coffee-room to the exclusive
| domain of men. Country gentlemen
are also sometimes seen there who pre-
| fer an atmosphere free from tobacco
smoke and do not object to the sight of
| woman's face. The coffee@room has
| generally a worn and faded aspect
| though in some Of the better class OF
inns it takes on the appearance Of a
| pleasant morning parlor with plants in
| the windows and flowers on the table, a
| goodly array of morning papers and
| easy-chairs. The inn parlor generally
has something pleasant in it's decora-
| tions-quaint old engravings, bits OF
rare china and pieces of oak and ma
hogany furniture, brass mounted, so de-
| lightfully quaint one longs to at once
begin to bargain for them with the
landlady.-London Correspondence OF
the New York Evening Post