Bryan daily eagle and pilot. [volume] (Bryan, Tex.) 1909-1918, 1910-03-26
OLD TAVERN CHARGES
Cost Of Living at a Turnpike Inn
Near New York In 1916.
LOW PRICES THE RULE THEN
The Regular Tariff For a Dinner Was
10 Cents, and Wedding breakfast
For Six, With Twelve Quarts Of Oats
on the Side, Cost Just S1.69.

10 Cents. and Wedding breakfast
For Six, With Twelve Quarts Of Oats
on the Side. Cost Just s1.69.
Guarded AS carefully as any of the
guests jewels that lie beside 1t In the
big safe Of n great and gllttering
Broadway hotel In New York city and
treasured by the proprietor more than
its weight In gold Is an old cashbook.
The entries run from March to De-
cember, 1916. They record In quaint,
descriptive phrases the comlngs and
goings of the travellers who stopped at
a waysIde inn on turnpike road less
than 100 miles from New York. This
tavern was kept by the Broadway ho-
tel proprietor's grandfather The build
Ing Of the railroad, the passing Of the
stagecoach and the changes of more
than half a century have oblIterated
this once famous old Inn at South Dur
ham, and now all that remains Of 1t Is
this ancient book, which served not
only as a record Of cash received, but
tool the place of the modern hotel
register.
The prices charged by this innkeep-
or of long ago are as far removed
from those exacted today as this an
Client hostelry is from the gorgeous
summer hotels of the countryside
where 1t once stood. The regular price
for a dinner was 10 cents, but even
this appears TO have been ''cut" to fire.
Quent travellers. For instance, there is
an entry Of Candy peddler from AL.
bany, two meals and lodging, 81
cents" Almost every entry is brief
description Of the individual traveller
and what he got-for example. Free
kle faced, eagle nosed boy, hay, sup
per. lodging and grease. 81 cents"
This boy was probably driving horse
and wagon, which would account for
the hay and grease. Another man who
was described as fellow with tired
colt" got hay. lodging and breakfast
for A cents.
Every few days there came along,
according to this ancient register, a
Connecticut man." He invariably
spent Just @ cents for food. and that
was for pie On two occasions there
Is an additional charge for "greasing
wagon, O cents" There were no the
atrical companies touring this turn
pike RI half century ago. but a
phrenologist appears and vanishes. 1t
being recorded that for hay, 0 quarts
Of oats, lodging and breakfast" he
gave up SO cents. Once In awhile q
real spendthrift would come along.
like the gent with three ladies and
two children" They had six dinners.
For these. the hay for the horses, the
meals for the dog" and the ''segar"
for the man SIPS was charged. There
gas a wedding breakfast at this
quaint tavern too. II Is set down as
wedding. Rae lifts sister. O dinners.
L. quarts OF Oa,s, SlG9.'
People "went west by wagon In
those days from the thickly settled
east to seek their fortunes. Some did
not find what they expected and came
back again. One such group, an "em-
igrant family returning east-seven of
them"-spent 81 at the inn. Three
cents worth of candy" is a frequent
entry. Probably the candy peddler
from Albany" paid for his food and
lodging in sweets. There are but two
entries Of anything stronger than lem
0pade, and those are for beer-fcur
quarts for 0 cents. Oysters were
cheap. too. for six plates of them in-
creased the contents of the tavern
keepers money box by just 10 cents.
Among the journeyers along this
turnpike road whose passage is record
ed In this age yellowed volume is "Old
Particular" Doubtless he was some
cranky old codger who kicked about
everything and whose goings the inn
keeper sped as much as possible. Then
there was the "Whistling Man." the
"Stiff Arm Man." the "Dispeptic Man"
Che had four quarts Of teal and the
Hen Man." who ate a piece Of pie
and traded roosters with the hotel
keeper. Other travellers along the
highway are thus described: "Aboli-
ton Man." "Mean Fellow" Gent
With Noble Horse" LADY With Cry
ing Baby" Hank Days Likeness"
and "Cravat Peddler" (fooD.
Occasionally an old acquaintance
would pass by or some dignitary, for
1t Is set Gown that friend from
Lexington" had hay and lodging one
day 4; the inn. Who knows but he
might have been a son Of one Of the
''embattled farmers" who kept the
bridge that April morning of the ride
of Paul Revere? The Grand Juror
and His Wife" tarried for a meal at
the inn the same day as did the ''Dom-
inie's Wife and Child" On Nov. 8. SO
the careful chronicle says, the pro-
Nieior event to York." where he re-
manned six days. He must have had
q roaring, roistering time Of it while
in the metropolis, for the next entry
in his handwriting is somewhat shaky
and says, "Sundries while at York, 80
cents."--New York Press. 't