1so 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 attheinn. The jokes may be 
small, but they thrive under the genial influence 
