288 CUSTOMS OF THE COUNTRY. 



payment. The company leave the banqueting room when 

 the meal is over, and do not gain admittance until summoned. 

 A number of smart attentive waiters skip about the room, and 

 often anticipate your wants. They are generally addressed in 

 a whisper, and in all the eastern states of the Union a loud 

 tone is never heard at table. The conduct of some people in 

 Britain, who command attention by oaths and noise, does not 

 suit this region of America, where the mild and unassuming 

 are never neglected. A friend of mine, on his first entrance 

 to the public tables of New York, spoke to the waiters in the 

 strains he had unfortunately accustomed himself to in Britain ; 

 they pretended not to hear him, and he found difficulty in 

 getting his plate changed ; while his companions, by adopting 

 a different course, had the waiters pressing them to the prin 

 cipal dishes on the side-table, and paying the most assiduous 

 attention. Civility is at all times duly appreciated by the 

 establishment of hotels, and foreigners will find much annoy 

 ance in attempting to dispense with it. The morning and 

 evening meals are served with the same regularity, and ample 

 attendance, as the dinner, &c. A profusion of animal food is 

 placed on the table, and the quantity increases in proportion 

 to want of refinement in the people of the district. Boots 

 and shoes are deposited at night in a fixed place, where they 

 are found cleaned in the morning. Slippers, and bedroom lights, 

 are obtained at the bar. As a general rule, wants are stated 

 at the bar, and from this place orders are given to servants for 

 supplying them. All the bells of the house communicate 

 with the bar-room, and the bar-keeper sees that the call of a 

 bell is attended to. Throughout the whole of my intercourse 

 with hotels in the United States, I did not receive an uncivil 

 answer, or experience neglect from any one connected with 

 the establishment, and every request which I made was 

 cheerfully complied with. The landlords are much less 

 fawning in manner than those of Britain, but equally civil and 

 anxious to oblige. 



The hotels of America are such as might be expected from 

 the state of the country. Servants being particularly expen 

 sive, and difficult to be had, is the cause for having fixed 

 hours for meals, and one table for the company as well as for 



