The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1902-02-25
RURAL MEXICAN INNS.
Some OF Their Little Peculiar titles - Lack
OF Public Accommodation.

There are many sorts of inns i'm
rural and interior Mexico. One finds
by the roadside the "venta." where
most eXiguous lot of refreshments may
be bought. but it is hardly an inn as
its namesake was. and is. I'm Spain.
Then there is the "posada." classic
name! still surviving in country towns.
The ''poSada" is quite like unto the
| 'meSon. which is without any pre-
| tonce. merely lodging place for man
and beast. and where in old times the
traveller put up with his beast. and
sent his servant out to find something
| to cook for his supper or dinner. as the
case might be. The "mcson" is frank
| ly humble inn. and IT, by q miracle
somebody blessed with an idea of
| cleanliness presides over its admin
istraton, IL may surpasS the gran
| hotel de Pekin" on the next street To
| see the "ranchero" on his travels. 20
to the "meson." 1t is place where
| spurs jingle. horses neigh and stamp.
and the bed is rude, and sleep cometh
only TO him who is most healthily
tired. for "quien duermo bien no lie
pican las pulgas'-the sound sleeper is
not bitten by fleas!
In many towns the hotels are merely
| slightly better grade "posadas" and
one goes out for meal TO a fonda"
which in Mexico is not a hotel as in
| Spain, but n humle restaurant. The
| word fonda" has n pleasant Sugges-
| ton. coming as it does from the Vene-
tan "fondacco," in which were to be
found many luXuries. But imagine no
vain thing of the rural fonda" You
will be served with eggs forever and
n day, and with chicken. fowl that
never fails for perennial is the polio"
of the interior towns. Beans you may
have and often very good bread. and
there is some attempt. at times. to
| provide a decent course dinner. Nap
kins are also provided, though etiquette
does not prevent your using the mar
gin of the tablecloth The separate
hotel and restaurant system has this
| advantage that one may. without Of
! Tense to his innkeeper, dine all over
| town
Most everywhere the service is prm-
tive; often small boys with slow wo. k
ing brains make n pretence of waiting
| pli Aibltt anu SluIe anu SIllnuCe Ut
the guest. a neat-handed Ind n
"muchacha" is better, but a grown lad
is terror in his phenomenal stupid y
In some pretentious hotels in the IN
terror the walters rush about maLAy,
fairly skating across the floor, vai"ly
| imagining that this is the style of ne
metropolis They do not succeed in
making one fancy that he must bolt
his food or lose some imaginary train,
and so they promote dyspepsia. When
a fiddler or harper is introduced to en-
liven the meal so CALAMITY served one
! feels as if music was no possible aid
to mastication
Many of the really better class ho-
tells of the interior show a marked
lack of the woman housekeeper. If
she exists. she has delegated her du-
ties TO stumbling, ill-shod and un-
bathed chambermen, who SLOUGH
through ones apartment making a
pretence of cleaning up, but leaving
everything worse than beforei Heaven
which keeps n register of human folly
| knows that the gentleman chamber
maid is n delusion. The looking glass
has the CRIME OF ages, and futile is its
attempt to mirror forth your counte-
| nance. TO make its desperate effort
| the more evidently ridiculous, it IS
| placed in the darkest part of the room.
| Often the intelligent caretaker does
not change sheets and pillow cases for
a new guest. He trusts to luck that
the tired traveller will not discern
their crumpled condition. We have
seen modern hotel furniture with much
beveled glass inserted, electric lights
| and unchanged bed clothing. They
| did better than that in the old days
when the General Diligence Company
had its hotel in every city and import
ant town.
But we had no intention of making
q catalogue of complaints. The cry
! ing needs of the rural inn are evident
! enough. once in n great while one
comes upon a little hotel where clean
| illness rules and the goddess Hygeia
! has her home. heaven-born hotel
! Keeper rules over the establishment.
| and if there is a restaurant connected
! with the place, the cook is good, and
! her Seasoning" delightful to the pal
| ate. Thus one comes to feel that there
Is hope OF reform, and that, some day.
this charming land will have all over
| its vast extent hotels as good as those
| Of the Switzerland. or of the Berkshire
/ hills in Massachusetts. not to speak
| of inns I'm other and happy regions
where hotel Keeping is a much re-
| spected business.
The need of this country is system
of good hotels in the smaller places,
towns and cities of from 10000 TO
! 10000 inhabitants. 1t would not be
q too tremendous task to provide. even
! as eating houses along railway
are systematically controlled Mexican
/ Herald.
The Home or the Horned Horse.
Recent excavations in Greece nave