The Washington herald., 1907-04-07
DOING AS ROME DOES
Marse Henry WattersOn in
Eternal City Again.
WRITES ABOUT ROMAN RAINS
Says Waters Descend There Same as
in Rome Gas-Swiss Are in Control
Of Italian HoteIs-OId singers Have
Accepted Inevitable ms 10 Tips.
Growth of New Rome.


late. the wheezy old graveI-traln pulled
into the stazlone di Roma Hitherto in
my various migratlons between Genoa
ana the Italian capital I have taken the
night service, but this time the two of
US had resolved to see the Leaning Tow
er OF Pisa, and that meant the gravel
train and twenty-four hours in the sleepy
but ancient town on the banks OF the Ar
no, says Henry WattersOn. In an edito-
rial letter TO the Louisville COurier-Jour-
nal, from Rome. So. we got into Rome
dead tired and erept into "a hotel just
over the way from the station, barely
escaping furious storm which broke as
We entered the door. Did Caesar speak
to LIS in those thunder-tones? Were
those lightning flashes reminders Of the
wrath Of gods and men still lowering
over the Eternal City?
II rains in Rome, italy. precisely as it
rains in Rome. Ca, and in the twentieth
century much as in the first OF the cen
turtles.
The morning dawned fair enough. As
we sdrted the Coliseum on our way to
the COrsO the old pile seemed none the
worse for its wetting. The sky was
crystal and the sun shone bright and the
air blew up from the Tiber crisp, but
gentle as It might have blown upon a
Festival of Minerva three thousand years
ago. or upon a procession in honor OF the
returning Cincinnatus. A ragged descend
ant OF POmpey sat upon the box OF the
rather shaky hacre and drove us past
many ragged groups Of Coriolani ana
Ciceronians, ignorant, / dare say, OF their
pedigree. But, Cassius and Brutus, yea.
Mere. Cleopatra, and Catiline apart, there
IS still ia Rome the need of bed and
board, which must be met
Even as Julius met and olercame the Neryn.
and in some ways hardly less appalling
for al this precise moment when. as Of
yore, all roads lead TO Rome, hotel ac-
commodatiou becomes a serious matter
Swiss Control Hotels.
The Swiss have complete possession of
the hotels Of italy. and when you see
the fine Italian hand Of the switzer. ii
is fine. indeed. There is beyond dispute
a certain comfort. in some of the more
ostentat0us hostelries a kind Of elegance
The service. however. and the whites and
the drink are very much the same. and
tolerably bad. thank you, The trade
mark varies. Just as In buying wine you
pay for statistics-lSS7, and 1892, and 1893,
coming from the identical cask. but priced
according TO the alleged date-do you pay
Tor style and vogue and preJension in
choosing your caravanserai, whole heaps
Of them being under the Identical man
agement, ana all under a most enigh.-
ened and frugal community OF interest
Thus:
The Grand
The QuirinaI.
The
there being nothing 10 mark any essen
ual difference except the outer show. the
fashion. ana the charges. The Royal is
quite good enough for me. Many years
ago, coming into Rome In October before
the swells. the tourists. and the varmints
had begun TO flow in. She doors Of this
house were opened TO US. and for fort
night or more, the two Of us-stiH the
two OF us-wcre its sole occupants and
ever since. somehow. our wanderings in
search of an abode have ended here II
is Swiss to the backbone, German Swiss
at that, but ia many ways Il can be com
mended, and IL has a great clientele We
were greeted cheerily and shown 10 ex-
cellent quarters AT once. The Grand is
only around the corner. The Excelsior is
just below on the next ledge OF rock over
looking the city They are welcome 10
their opulence and their extortions, their
airs and tinsel, the table here, and the
service and nowise inferior, while the
tariff rates are % per cent less; in short
instead Of being all rule and no shirt, il
is plenty OF shirt and very little rule.
Word on Tipping.
Apropos Of hotels, foreign travel, and
be like. a word OF two upon the pour
bois system may not be out of place. 1
see that the matter Of tipping" has be-
gun to agitate the public mind in Ameri-
ca, and that the Missouri legislature has
recently passed an act making il nm
able onense 10 pay a gratuity to any ho-
tel employee. u is an old question over
here. Some years ago the columns of
the European edition of the New York
Herald We're opened TO a general discus
sion, which embraced a great variety Of
opinions. mostly adverse to tipping The
callow tourist has always kicked against
1t. To him it is both oppressive and EN-.
barrassing. To see, wherever he goes,
the servants line up at the hour of his
departure to block his path 10 the omni-
bus-sOme he has seen, and others he has
never seen-become mOnOtonous, and then
aggravating, and in the end positively
eXasperatng. But old stagers long ago
accepted the inevitable.
Ben Ridgely wrote some years ago a
famous story, which has been trans
lated into all languages. anent ''the man
who gave no tips and what happened
TO him. Very many people aliot a GER
tain per eentum of their hotel bills
sometimes 10 per cent, and sometimes 81
as their contribution 10 the poor boy"
Often they pay this TO the hotel man
agement after paying their BILL to be
thence distributed This is satisfactory
eS~ai parties and saves trouble and an
noyance. But resistance is both fatal
and hopeless Monsieur Pourbois has a
way, peculiar 10 himself, of getting at
the travellers pocket, and from this. in
the long run, there is no escape. He
might as well emulate Cap'n Scott's coon
and come down at once. And the sooner
he learns this, the easier his travel
Practice Not ExpeRsiye.
For my own part / have found tip
ping" the least costly Of my OUTLAWS and
the most remunerative, and that very
liberal tipping too. generally even more
than 10 per cent of my bills. The Head
Waiter and the Chef. and he who handles
the wines. are important persons where !
any length of soiourn is contemplated. /
and they never come cheap. A bottle of
the best vintage to the cook will now
and then answer a better purpose than