150 THE TROUT ARE RISING 



The hotel charges were fair and reasonable. 

 The ordinary guest accepts the usual tariff cheer- 

 fully. One thing, however, he does not like ; 

 that is, in addition to a fair daily charge, to be 

 taxed one shilling extra for his bath, with 

 indifferent arrangements. It would do inns which 

 have such a system no harm to abolish it. In 

 general, except perhaps for such trifling matters as 

 pens country inns seem to have the worst pens 

 in the world ! my testimony after experiences of 

 a considerable number of these inns would be 

 cheerfully and gratefully given, that they were 

 most clean and comfortable. And I have the 

 happiest memories of the personal kindness of 

 landlords and landladies, and their staffs. For 

 home comfort, I liked especially those inns which 

 had a little farm attached to them. 



Sojourning in inns gives one ideas on the 

 subject of chairs. It is not very common to find a 

 chair in which you feel you can sit down, after 

 dinner, not necessarily in luxury, but in comfort- 

 able ease. The traditional country inn chair 

 struck me as a stiff and formal affair, not 

 conducive to somnolence. But there was one 

 Shropshire hotel, whose lounge really possessed 

 CHAIRS. They were softly-embracing, sleep- 

 compelling chairs. I might have been in one of 

 them now, sweetly hibernating, but for a friend 

 who set me on to committing this book. 



Tea-time is a great occasion for afriendly gather- 

 ing of all the guests at the inn. The jokes may be 

 small, but they thrive under the genial influence 



