Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-01-31
MINE HosT:;:o'FF,oLD
Ancient Innkeepers Were Big Fig
ureS IN Their Town.
CAUTIOUS OF DEAD BEATS"
Proprietors Had to Be, Alert Lest Some
One Defraud Them Of Their Dues--lt
Was Not Easy to Get Trust at the
Hotel Office or the Bar.

Time was when the hotel, more COM
monty called the inn, was a place of
homely comfort and general good
cheer. Time was when mine host Of
the inn" was one Of the most impor-
tant personages in the town, and he
made it point to be on hand to give
his guest Il personal word Of greeting
as they came. clambering down from
the old stage coaches. The increase of
rapid transit" and the growing desire
for elegance and garish luxury have
deprived our modern hostehfes Of
much that was delightful in the slow
going days of the stage coach. and the
homely comfort OF the inn of our for
bears, says the Denver Republican. 1t
is Il far cry from the place of public
entertainment for imam and beast" to
the palatial hotels Of today. Whoever
sees mine host" of any Of these hos
telries? Who knows his name nor
cares what it may be?
The tavern" and the ordinary" OF
the bygone days lacked all the glitter
and glare of gilt, the SNOWY splendor
Of draperies and upholstery, the ele-
gance of that vague thing We call
service but they seldom lacked all
that was necessary to real comfort and
one need never go hungry from their
tables. Then as now mine host" had
to be on the alert lest some one de-
frol11 him Of hiS, thn hntoI
dead beat" seems to have been abroad
in the land ever since the first inns or
taverns came into existence. 1t was
not easy to get trusted" at the hotel
office or the bar, and some of the bars
had above them a fat refusal TO trust
the thirsty in these words: .'".."
My liquors good, my measure just,
But, honest sirs, will not trust.
Above some bars might be seen
grewsome picture of a dead cat and
below it these lines: ... ~ ,.e
Care killed this cat.
Trust kills the landlord
Both the landlord and the landlady
were often people of quality, and we
find John Adams writing thus of the
keepers Of the old Ipswich inn;
Landlord and landlady are. some
Of the grandest people alive; landlady
is the great-granddaughte of Governor
Endicott and has all the notions Of
high family that you find in the Wins
lows, Hutchinsons, Quincys, ,Salton-
stalls, Chambers, Otises, Learneds and
as you might find with more propriety
in the Winthrops. AS to landlord, he
is as happy and as big, as proud, as
conceited as any nobleman in England,
always calm and good natured and
lazy, but the contemplation of his farm
and his sons, his house and pasture
and cows, his sound Judgment as he
thinks, and his great holiness as well
as that of his wife, keep him as erect
in his thoughts as a noble or prince"
The signs that swung before the
tavern doors of the olden time may or
may not have been Intentionally hui
morous, but that some Of them did not
lack the element of humor was evident
in their wording. Here is Il merry
sort of a rime that might once have
been found before tavern on Thir-
teenth street in Philadelphia:
I, William McDermott, live here
l sell good porter, ale and beer
I've made my sign a little wider
To let you know | sell good cider.
Another Philadelphia hostelry OF
many years ago was known as the
Yellow Cottage, and before its door
swung a sign Of many colors on which
one read: .,
Rove not from sign to sign, but stop in
here,
Where naught exceeds the prospect but
.-, the beer. '.' .'.r 81,