A CURIOUS NEW YEAR'S CUSTOM. 207 



the property would have to pay damages. Therefore he protects 

 himself by putting up this notice, so that anyone who passes along 

 the street does so at his own risk. 



I was under the delusion that Yankees loved GOLD. Whereas, 

 they don't like it, and, when they see it, don't know what to do with 

 it. I had a five-dollar gold piece which quite haunted me. People 

 to whom I offered it looked at it suspiciously, turned it over and 

 over, called their companions, and held anxious consultations over it. 

 At last I really thought that I should be asked for my baptismal 

 certificate. So I got it exchanged at the hotel for five of the ragged, 

 dirty, evil-smelling " green-backs," which look as if they had lain 

 about in the streets for a week or two of bad weather, and then been 

 used for lamp-cleaning. 



Chairs are a great trial to me. You can scarcely find a chair 

 without arms. Then, they are so low that you can't sit up to the 

 table with them, and they are so long in the seat that you must lean 

 back in a semi-reclining attitude. Then there is the all-pervading 

 rocking-chair. I am always tumbling over the projecting rockers. 

 Even the revolving library chairs are fitted with a rocking movement 

 immediately below the pivot. 



A curious New Year's custom probably designed 

 as a sort of advertisement : 



On New Year's Day the hotel-keepers have a free luncheon for 

 their customers, and vie with each other in " splendaciousness." Ours 

 is said by the papers to have come off second. The first was at 

 Hoffman House, Fifth Avenue, and nothing else has a chance against 

 it. The proprietor struck out a most daring scheme, and made his 

 luncheon-room into an art gallery, having nothing but the very best 

 of everything. The room alone cost between five and six thousand 

 pounds. It is surrounded by pictures of old and modern masters, 

 among which is a Narcissus by Correggio, which simply blazes in its 

 rich deep colouring. . . . So no one dreamed of competition. 

 But ours was a luncheon ! There was a pate-de-foie-gras so big that 

 at 11.0 p.m. at least a quarter of it survived. I was awfully sorry 

 for the geese, but the pate was something wonderful. It was put on 

 the table at 1.0 p.m., and every one who frequented the house for 



