A DELICATE TASK.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XIV, Issue 812, 28 September 1905, Page 23

A DELICATE TASK.

George C. Boldt, the noted hotel man, said in an address to an audience of hotel clerks: “ There are no perfect hotel clerks. We can only try, in our imperfect human way, to read our guests, and sometimes, naturally, we make mistakes, like Mr. Blank. “ Blank was the excellent clerk of an excellent hotel. There entered one day an elderly farmer. The man wore expensive clothes, but Blank knew him for a farmer at a glance. ‘ What are a farmer’s tastes? What appeals most to a farmer ?’ he asked himself hurriedly. And then he said: “ ‘ We can give you all the home comforts here, sir.’ “ The farmer laid down the pen with which he had been entering his name and said in a disappointed voice: “ ‘ I want more’n that when 1 come to a lork hotel, young man. I kin get the home comforts at home.’ ”