The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-16

@OSA BhSNO - SOAf DAAOoA NNAA
and chair. bare walls or dirty paper Of nom
descript design, threadbare carpet and a
looking glass that makes the human face
a terror. Sometimes there is q full rom
plement Of legs and knobs to the scanty
furniture, but this is only when the house
In new.
WHERE THERE wAs COMFORT.
In the lower bureau drawer are the soiled
paper collars OF the last occupant, in the
small upper drawers empty medicine bot
ties, stains Of all hues. and deserted hair
pins, DC. J
If il Is a so. so and upward a day house
there will be two towels on the rack; down
ward" there will be one and a cake Of soap
that Is warranted to remain. having been
specially made for that purpose. The
one glass or cup, II there be any, is so in
crusted with dirt. that no decent human
being would want 10 use It. l always
carry my own soap and adjustable metal
drinking cup. These things never bother
me beyond the annoyance In seeing them
there.
The bed mostly is a cotton top mattress
worn into a hard hollow by countless &C.
oupants, though sometimes 1t surprises
me by being fresh and clean and COM
Portable.
On the other hand, IN a dollar a day house
In a small Ohio own I found more home
| comforts than in the finest hostelry In
Chicago. 1t was kept by a woman.
Everything was fresh and sweet,
clean and dainty. and in most excellent
tastei from the little dining room, with
It's spotless linen and flowers. its pretty
girls with white roses in their hair and the
perfect breakfast. to the pleasant little bed
| room. with It's simple muslin hangings and
! a bed from which it was a hardship to part.
shall never forget 1t.
CONTRACT HOUSES.
On the whole, perhaps the average Amer
lean hotel is good enough for the average
| American who has no artistic sense to be
offended, whose chamber at home is merely
a place to sleep in and upon whom har-
monious colors, pretty lace and curtains,
pictures and other objects Of vertu would
be wholly wasted.
The theatrical hotel or hostelry freduented
by theatrical people is perhaps the worst
class in this country for other people. Rates
are given to travelling companies, as at
80 called commercial hotels which cater to
drummers at the expense Of any other class
Of travellers.
Contract houses, so called from the con-
tracts made by the contracting agent Of the
show to house and feed the general advance
forces, bill posters, Autograph men, some
times are the best hotel the town affords,
but usually they are dollar a day houses,
which the agents avoid where possible. 1t
NAV be accepted as a rule that the rate
( houses rive no more than the rate calls for
ANYTHING taken beyond the rate is clear
robbery.
As for service, the American hotel is so
far behind its European prototype that it is
both painful and ludicrous to speak OF them
in comparison. 1t is the difference between
an insolent man $3.50 1onte woman.
IF YOU WANT HOT WATER, SAY.
Try once to get a little hot water with
which to shave in one OF our average hotels
or a spoon wherewith to take some medi-
cine. or to obtain anything not on direct
tan. 1t is like moving heaven and earth
sometimes, for it is simply impossible.
II YOU should ask a IA llboy you'd probably
he insulted: il you should ask a chamber
maid she would be insulted.
II would be a question to be carried to the
clerk of the house, and you'd have a good
chm noe to die unshaved IL you waited for its
favorable settlement. As for having a
maid running TO your room with these
thugs and looking after the individual
comfort OF every guest in her section the
American landlord and landlady would
90 into %convulsions at the idea. Yet that is
the family comfort provided by hotels
throughout civilization except in the United
States.
No amount OF ma rble and mahogany and
artistic paint can take the place Of the gentle
and skilled woman. always close at hand
when needed and never in the way, when
IL comes 10 the comforts Of a home. Our
American ideas Of propriety forbid speech
with any woman employee Of a hotel, as
they also forbid her presence in your room
except when you are out.
Bear in mind that the male American
must be a rude and reckless beast, not to
be trusted alone with al unprotected
woman; for that's the way the hotel treats
him. II he should be siok he oan have a
bellboy when the latter isn't busy and takes
a notion to answer the bell; and il he needs
a spoon or hot water or to be raised up or
ANYTHING he can ave another bellboy.
| 10 one is not busy and should take a notion
To come-a new man every time; but never
A gentle touch from the hand of a woman;
the idea is too shocking for our hyper
| critical sensibilities.
EVEN THE BED BADLY MADE.
The American hotel bed is made for
show, not comfort. So the sheets and
spreads are arranged to give an ample
snowy follower at the top. This has the
/ effect Of giving a double thickness around
a mans neck and leaving his feet out at the
bottom.
Double blankets invariably are placed
with the fold at the top. This compels the
occupant OF the bed to Use two blankets
or nothing unless he gets up and rips the
bed all open and remakes it in the manner
that the commonest kind Of common sense
would indicate.
The first thing the experienced traveller
does Just before going to bedis TO rip up the
bed, place the fold Of the double blanket at
the bottom 30 that he can use a single or
double cover during the night as the tenn
perature may require, and then draw down
III n A. so,nx;p0 m nd tt,ol In M tho bottom.