Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-08-17
LAST LETTER WRITTEN BY
A. w. LEE TO HIS PAPERS

carry your luggage. The best OF it Is
that he does not put on the lordly and
mighty airs of the American hotel
clerk. He expects tip and he gets
1t because he earns the money. All
IN all no Is a good fellow and ono Of
the best features of the English hotel,
In contrast with the average big
burly Jim Corbett like, flannel shirt
ed. head porter Of an American hotel,
he is a gentleman of high degree.
The American hotel run on the
European" plan is much to our lik-
ing. You pay for your room with
complete service, light and heat; you
obtain your meals when and where
you please and you pay for just what
you get and only what you get.
Strange to say the European" hotel
run on its own plan is very different
kind Of institution. You engage your
room separate from your meals but
the price agreed on sometimes In
cludes light and service and sone-
times 1t does not. You find out when
you get your bill. Heat Is always ex-
ira and costs from one to two shillings
per day But 1t is the meals that are
the great surprise and disappoint-
ment. Instead of restaurant where
you can order just what you want,
much or little, and pay for it, there
is table d'hote breakfast at from
2-6 to 3-9 eco to 80 cents eacn).
luncheon at about the same figure
and heavy table d. hote dinner at
from five to six shillings ($1.20 to
$1.44.) All this is expensive and I'M
necessary and is calculated to bring
on severe attacks Of indigestion. In
the larger cities you can obtain at the
hotels few things on the la carte
system but nothing like what can be
done on the 80 called European"
plan in America. In some of the
smaller cities frequented by tourists
Il have now specially In mind the
city of Chester) the hotel requires you
to take at least one table d'hote meal
per day In the house, or pay double
price for your rooms. After trying
the meals l did not wonder that they
sad to force their guests to take them
by imposing penalty II they went
elsewhere. also BERN to realize what
George AIDE meant when he told in mis-
European correspondence Of the
studied and persistent effort on the
part OF himself and party to dodge
table d'hote dinners" Living for the
tourist at least In English hotels SO
far as we have gone, is fully as ex-
pensive as American hotels. and In
our Judgment the living is not 80
good.
English Money.
AS soon as a ship leaves an Amer.
lean port for England, English money
Is used and the tourist should ex-
change his American money before
started. The ships purser will gem
orally give you one pound for five
dollars, whereas the banks charge
only $4.S7 for the same amount Of
English coin. To change suddenly
from the American decimal system OF
reckoning money to the arbitrary
English system Is not easy, especially
Tor the business manager Of q party.
One goes back in memory to the old
school days and recalls that twelve
pence make shilling, and twenty shil-
lngs one pound. Thus far 1t Is easy,
50 long as you keep 1t mind that an
English penny is equal to two Ameri-
can cents. The shilling silver piece ID
about the same as our quarter and the
tWo-sh1lling piece about the same az
our lalf-dollar; but pretty soon, in
making change, somebody gives you q
little larger piece and says significant,
ly, that's 2 and g." You regard the
matter suspiciously until you find that
this means two shillings and sixpence,
(sixty cents) but one Is never dead
sure In his mind which Is the 2 and 6
piece and which is the shilling piece
The situation is still more complicat-
cd when you find that there Is four
shilling piece and a five shilling piece
(96 cents and $1.20.) But when they
begin to talk about crowns and half.
crowns. guineas and half-guineas, for
ms and double forms, then your real
trouble begins. Now a pound Is twenty
shillings and guinea, it seems, Is
twenty-one shillings. though there is
no coinage to represent that amount
but 1t is a habit they seem to have ac
CURED over here to quote prices to
tourists in guineas, because, forsooth
the aforesaid tourist will tnen pay one
extra shilling every time. Gradually
the tourist learns to add and subtract
and even multiply English money. but
to divide ft-there Is the test. For in.
stance, the other day, purchased
three and a half railway tickets from
Chester to Nottingham ana paid one
pound. seventeen snillings and seven
and half pence for the Same. Ia
order to keep my expense aocoun,
straight it was necessary for me to
divide the total by three and hall
and thus get the cost Of each full
ticket. A half hours work found me in
a state Of mental collapse and utter be
wilderment. Suddenly startled my
fellow passengers by exclaiming
"Hurrah hurran, have got it at last
"How did you figure It out?" was
quickly asked. II did not figure it OUT
at all, found the price OF each ticket
printed in plain figures on the ticket
itself. and I've got the answer without
| discovering how to get It. know It's
right, because when multiply the
| price of one ticket by three and hall
1t makes the total amount paid for the
ticket" If the reader wants to work
out an interesting problem in arithme
tic and obtain thereby little mental
| healthy exercise, just try to divide one
pound II shillings. and sevenpence