The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-11-07
London Letter in New York Post.


commercial house The latter occasionally
puts out a temperance sign, but the ortho-
COX commercial hotel probably retains more
of the old inn flavor than any other class
of English public house. The snug bar and
pretty barmaid are still picturesque fea-
lures. So is the clubroom where local So
cieties meet for & jolly evening The place
is as pertinaciousiy old-fashioned as it was
in Dickens's day, still scorns new inventions
and modern ideas, and clings to feather
beds and penny cradles with loving persist
ency. Boots" still tiourishes and is a char
acter 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 welcome as in the time of Shen-
stone Here are the cosiest corners filled
with easy chairs, the finest old furniture
rubbed to mirror-like brightness, those
sideboards and tables of solid mahogany
without which an OLD English inn is mere
hollow sham Here the glowing CRATE in
yites the tired pilgrim TO toast his cold feet
ON the fender and read his paper at perfect
ease and with a delicious sense of home
like snugness. The commercial room is The
chief source of profit TO mine host-the bag
mans kingdom, where he meets ms 1rlendS
and clients, and consumes ms chop and
heer without dread Of the invading woman,
new or old.
THE COFFEE ROOM.
The "coffee room is given over to both
sexes Occasionally an uncommercial trav-
eler, an American, perhaps, coursins
through England on his wheel, prefers the
coffee room to the exclusive domain of men.
Country gentlemen are also sometimes seen
there who prefer an atmosphere free from
tobacco smoke, and do not object to the
sight of a 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 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 Acknowledgements old engravings, bits
OF rare china and pieces of oak and mahog-
any furniture, brass mounted, so delight
fully quaint one longs to at once begin 70
bargain for them with the landlady. Inc
parlor is an agreeable contrast 10 the SOUL
less featureless room found in our Amer
lean hotels of the same grade. L nave IN
my minds eye delightful OLD mn IN a
small English town, where the parlor is a
low to behold. This lovely room, lofty and
beautifully painted in soft tints, opens into
a conservatory filled with palms and ferns,
al nd is hung with fine water-cO!Or drawings,
supplied with books and magazines, and has
ali the aspect of a similar room in a re-
lined home. But this is exceptional.
The bedrooms are Open quaint and old
fashioned, without beng altogether com
Portable The prevalence of the feather bed
I have already mentioned, and it is often
a sad surprise to the weary traveller The
English are more conservative in their ways
of cooking and serving than in their devO-
ton to old modes of furnishing. In Lon
don and other large towns French cookery
has been adopted in the large hotels, in
half-hearted, tentative fashion. The very
bill of fare gives evidence of an apologize
attitude in reference to foreign innovation
Where dishes are dainty and appetizing 81.
paris. they are apt to be scrappy and unin-
yiting in London. The bulk of the nation
still with characteristic independence
clings to the old-established order, which is
singularly uniform in all parts of the ISL
and as if one bill of fare supplied the needs
of whole people.
NATIONAL DISHES.
The national dishes are as pervasive as
the national sentiment. They appear with
varying degrees of excellence on most mid
die and even upper-class tables. A meat
diet with rather small garnishing of vege-
tables and fruit supply the bone and Drawn
of England. The old inns are sturdy up
holders of the old system. The breakfast
is a stereotyped affair of bacon, eggs, salt
fish, toast and tea or coffee The luncheon
is doubtless the same meal, substantially,
that prevailed in Queen Elizabeth's time.
a cold round Of beef, leg or saddle of NUT
ton, with an occasional salad, or a gar
nished dish of boiled fish, set out upon the
sideboard, where it is the Englishman's
proud privilege to go and cut for himself
a portion, thick or thin, fat or lean, as he
may prefer. One or two hot vegetables are
added, cooked in the simple, unimaginative
style common to the smaller inns. For q
sweet dish there is the almost inVariable
tart of cherries, plums, or gooseberries,
sharp enough to set the teeth on edge, and
thus fulfilling the prophecy of it's name.
English bread is foury, heavy compound
when compared with the crisp and delicious
French product. 1t is not a little singular
that, living so near the great and famous
country of good bread a country celebrated
for this manufacture even in the fourteenth
century, England still remains content with
its solid loaf.
English mutton is still the hest, juiciest,
ana tenderest of mutton kind. The grilled
cook cannot be excelled But English beef
is fast disappearing. The American product
arrears on nearly every dinner table,
wheat. American butter and cheese, which
furnish relish for the bread, and American
apples to garnish the dessert. The English,
cook seems not to know how to season food
chat delightful art in which the old-fash-
loned American hOusekeeper excelled the
art Oh making tasty ana SdVOfy dlSneS, with
a delicate infusion of pepper, salt and
other condiments; hence, the fiatness and
tastelessness of hotel viands.
THE INEVITABLE TEA.
But the English are still experts in brew
ing what DR.. Johnson called dish of tea
The afternoon tea habit has become uni
versal and has been carried by the Travelled
English to all parts of the continent, and
has even invaded the railway train, where
enc frequently sees the tea kit compactly
put up, consisting of spirit lamp, tea-caddy
cups and saucers, and all other essentials
to a hot cup of the adored beverage. On the
summit of Swiss mountains in the shadow
of the Pyramids. by the border of the
Italian lakes, wherever the English traveller
rests or sojourns for an hour, is found the
tea equipage and the cheering beverage
In railway travelling in England the ar
rangemenLs for luggage are extraordinarily
haphazard. You are mentally oppressed bv
the weight of your luggage; your trunk is
always on your mind. When delivered at
the station il is simply labeled with bit
of gummed paper bearing the name of the
place where you intend to alght You re-
ceive no token of any kind, brass check or
registration ticket, to show that you are the
owner of any indicated piece of baggage
marked by a number other sign. If you
change a dozen times in one day you must
go personally to see that your belongings
are properly transferred and placed in the
luggage van; otherwise they may be left
behind on the station platform. AS soon as
the train halts at the place of destination
YOU are forced TO rush to the van to claim
your property, otherwise it may be claimed
through mistake or by design by the wrong
person. Why half the people travelling in
England do not thus lose their baggage is
inexplicable. Certainly the means OF steal.