CONTINENTAL HOTELS.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10604, 5 November 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

CONTINENTAL HOTELS.

"The foreign hotel rarely i collects autographs from its customers. This "coyness enables it to escape what hap- ■'. pe'ned in certain theatrical lodgings of a provincial town," according to :: writer in the Qneem "A- dissatisfied boarder requested to inscribe something pretty in the : visitor's book wrote to the great delight of the landlady the words, 'Quoth the raven ' • "The Continent has become used to the weakness of English" folk for total immersion, and only in small hotels in small towns do yon encounter now the doll's house jug an.d basin that were popular years, ago. There is still reticence in regard to the provision of soap, the European idea being that this should he' as much a question of personal property as a toothbrush; in England we take a broader view. "Towels have grown. I can remember when they were quite little and showed no signs of growing up; they also invariably possessed the quality of dampness. Mirrors have improved, though still given to an alarming power of distortion. The head waiter in the Continental hotel, if addressed as head waiter and thus distinguished from junior members below him, proves much more obliging tliari some autocrats. He it is who issues orders "for : the sounding of the gong that indicates near approach of hostilities, gives signals throughout the fight for bringing up of fresh supplies, goes quietly about- the dining room seeing that wine is on the tables, points , out the defects of beverages in the list that possess a moderate price, and glances sadly at Americans who are drinking nothing stronger than water. _ "I suppose he "holds classes for beginners and instructs them in the art of waiting at table; the head at the right angle, . one . hand tendering the dish, ■ the knuckles of the other resting on the back —waiters have to learn from somebody unless born with the gift. "It was easy at one time, not. very difficult now, to make convparisons between hotels at home and hotels abroad and to bewail the faults of our own country.. Partly because the immigrant has come to us and taken up management our establishments have greatly improved; some credit is due to motors, which, travelling off the main roads, have knocked at the doors of sleepy inns and awakened them. "There still remains a difference between the methods of the two; the Chequers at Meadow-cum-Capel, called upon to provide a meal, first exhibits signs of collapse, recovers, babbles freely of bread and cheese, and finally suggests an hour's walk in the churchyard while chops are being obtained and prepared; at the Hotel du Cygne at Metaples the request is scarcely out of your -mouth" when its place is taken by sOuu; a roast chicken and a salad are ready immediately afterward, prepared seemingly by Maskelyne and cook. The conclusion arrived at is that there arc some things one can order better abroad. "I. think it must be the satisfaction obtained out of making up accounts that has induced the foreign proprietor to- dispense, so far as he is con-« corned with sleep. From observations taken and notes'made it seems likely he snatches a-few moments of repose be--2 and 3 in the morning, but this appears'to be the extent of'his rest; lor the remainder of the twenty-four hours he is wide awake. Sometimes the hall porter ' takes a. share in proprietorial" duties. I have indeed met hall porters whose influence and position were superior. Therhall porter-abroad is the man whose" friendship you must gain; that\secure'd' everything else is easy. .'.'He changes your- money; he tells how to start, on the task of seeing the town: he brings the entire staff of the establishment to your service if required;; he takes charge of incoming- 1 and outgoing letters:' ho gives advice, in' regard to an hotel for the next town;, he picks out the best train and sees: that your luggage is at the station in time to be registered. \- Give the hall porter a'coin of'sufficient size and value f and the;-; rest.- with one or two exceptions, can look after, themselves.

Moreover, he is the one person who remains in a hotel through tho year, and you can be absent from his town for a considerable neriod, and on your return find hi", lifting his cap and addrcrring von by pin'r, I said to one who presented me "with my correspondence as T entered the swing, doors that it. wa? difficult for the ordinary person t'! understand such rcm:>rkablo" fcuLs oi memory.

'' 'Oh,' lie rcpjietl, 'I am not likely to forget a face 'like vours!' • I "He knows everything; everything, that is to say, worth knowing, and I have been sometimes, tempted to go outside these bounds and to say, 'Excuse rae, hall norler, but will you construct for me syllogisms in Camenes and Baroco, reducing them to the corrcsnonding moods of the first figure?' -If he could not do this himself he would, I feel certain, ring for the head waiter, and tell h'im to give instructions to the kitchen to see about it "

"Jive probably caught up her tresses when engaged in housekeeping pursuits with'long thorns, easily obtainable.from the bushes and trees in'her front yard. Thornlike pins carved from ."boxwood, ivory and-horn'have been found in excavations dating hack to the time of, the .Caesars; and also queer, clumsy combs made of the same materials. Tn tlie days of the Ciesars, Roman maids wore their hair in exceedingly simple fashion, but styles for matrons exceeded in ornateness anything seen in our day. The Roman Ir.dy about the house wore"

her hair caught up under a reticulum or heavy net of colored cords; but for great occasions her locks were dressed by a cinerarius, or handler of the' curling irons, and not only - were bangs, braids, and rats in high favor, but false hair was much used, captive German maids being denuded of their flaxen braids for the enchantment of Roman charrrs.