The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-02
HOTELS Nv THE SOUTH.
Observations or n commercial TrnveiIer-The
March or Improvement.

HOTEL ~ THE SOUTH.
Observations OF n Commercial Trnveiler-The
March or Improvement.
SALISBURY. n. c.. Dec. 2s.-"w why don't you
get rid OF the rats that infcst this housei"
This inquiry was addressed by an irasciblo
drumme TO tho indolont proprietor of a small
country hotel where no was stopping.
Ibid tho rats bother you last night y asked
the man, whose wife was doing all the work that
was being done about tho hotel.
did they bother moi They scurried up and
down in the walls. over tho ceilings, sometimes
out in my room; all In such n way that / hardly
slept two hours the whole night. With the sur
plus timo you seem TO have hanging on your
hands l should think you would do something
to get rid Of them" This was said with consid-
cradle impatiencc and n tingo of contempt.
Two been erthinking about it myself, said
the hotel keeper, or rather tho man whose wife
and hotol kept him. "Now IL you can just tell
me how 1t can BIO done. I'll certainly try It,"
with pleasure said the drummer. Put
them on the same fare you've got mo on and
charge them 81 a day. II they don't leave then
on the very first train, they must be mighty
queer rats"
Thc Improvement in hotel accommodations Is
one of the marked features in Southern growth
and progress. That type of hotel keeper who
OtS 10 a. anu "ilO uoOD VII lhC NOIh
is rapidly disappearing. The ubiquitous and
discriminating drummer has been q mis-
sionury in bringing about this marked
change. The drummer has u special
faculty. probably the result of necessity
and experience. for finding out where the
best beds and tho best food can be had in any
town. Increasing wealth has made an increas.
ing number of each year. The profit
from those mako the hotel business more at
~tractivc. Many of the younger generation
growing up in tho small towns see in the hotel
business not alone an opportunity to make a
slovcnly living. but also u very respectable
business and good profit. Town after town
could be namel where ten years ago the hotel ac-
commodations were intolcrable, but where now
n person may stay and enjoy comforts fully in
proportion to the money paid. Cheerful energy
has taken tho place Of respondent Incidence.
Clean beds and wholesome fare are no longer
the exception. but have come to be the rule.
4 few years ago n drummer was travelling
in Texas. At a railroad crossing he had to stay
overnight to take an east-bound train. A di-
lapidatcd colored man took him in a dilapidated
hack to a dilapidated hotel. 1t was kept by a
man who had a wife and several children. The
wife and the children made some ~pretcnce at
keeping the hotel. The man kept hounds,
hunted foxes, and loafed. Tho hounds loafed,
also. in the house and out of it. Probably the
vito would have cleaned things up and kept
q fair hotel If she could have got rid of the hus-
band and the dogs and the other %lonfers.
Tho drummer left next morning with a resolu-
tion that he would not stay in that town again.
1t so, happened, however, that in less than two
months he was on the rorth-hound train again
and had to stop over. Leaving the cars at tho
station. he declined the services of the dilapi-
dated eolored gentleman. Going to the station
What other hotel Is here besides the one
kept by the fox hunter
None" answered the agent.
Can You tell nc Of a boarding house where
There's none here" he said.
i: began TO look as IL the fox hunter would en-
terrain, him again. whether or not it pleased
In q buggy near the station.
Where do you live. my boy" he asked.
What does your father do I" he inquired.
Hes dead answered the boy.
u have to stay, overnight to catch the east
bound train; would your mother take mt to
board for two meals and one nights lodgingF
asked the drummer.
Il don't know, sir" he answered.
The drummer went with him to find out. The
widow gave him n clean room and two good
travelled. and heard afterward that she had
come into possession of the entire hotel bust
stayed with her was pleased with the lodgings
and the fare. Thus the hotel accommodations
o! one town were redeemed.
Another town, one in North Carolina, where
the merchants prospered, manufactures were
established, and the farming. lands in the sur.
rounding country increased in value had a
good, name IN every particular except as TO II
hotel, Yet this was the very point OF contact
to II town of n good impression made upon Wis
iting strangers. the business men got together.
subscribed the necessary money. built a neat
petcnt manager TO take charge of it. II is not
now an ntfiiction to visit that town. The new
hotel il comfortable. the food Is wholesome,
and the manager Is polite and attentive.
There are other cases.vcry many other, cases
to fair or good or excellent hotel ~accommoda-
tions. The rule OF the carpetbogger for the first
which the conflict left the south pinch harder
and harder. The hard lines in which tho lot of
most people fell well nigh dried up travel. The
hotel patronage in many small towns was scant
and the livings made were poor ones. When.
however, the rule of the. cnrpetbaggcr ended
there was at once u move forward. and the ad-
vance has continued In a gcomctrically increas-
ing ratio.
There are many up-to.date travellers who
think that tho best railroad eating houses in
America nro in the Southeast on the Pied.
Atlantic Coast Line. Tho eating houses at
Charlotte, Hamlet. and Weldon in this Stnte
are ~ S every ,ro parts UdHrI as vel kept "s the most
The people of tho South were reputea before
the war to have, developed to u high degree the
the knowledge nor the practice Of these has
been lost, In the days Of the carpetbagger the
about railroads and in towns degenerated to
almost unbearablc conditions. But the good
wives IN the homes ana the good Old negro cooks
on the plantations in the country preserved n
knowledge and a practice OF the plantation
cooking.
No better meals can he Ind nywhcrc than
those daily prepared in n wcllregulated South
crn household. The South Is peculiar in that it
has localities where, the cooking. the service.
and living generally are cNccrablc. On tho
other hand, there arc many. many localities
where the cooking. the service. md the general
living arc, ms Il rule. far above the average.
and in many. cases exceptionally good. The
nrpng nf rood living ARC AS rlniIly inprnlAinfr
If the Improvement keeps on, The time is not
far ahead of us when the country hotels OF the
South Will help to make travel IN the South at
t%rRctive.
THE DON'T UIST IT SIGNAL.
A CuInn Geaiurn which IinlInn Ncnahnna I'm