AMERICAN BOARDING-HOUSE. 317 



same time to lessen (if practicable) the number 

 of spirit shops and taverns, which are too 

 generally met with in almost every part of the 

 United States, and the British Provinces. 



The boarding-house system which prevails 

 at New York 3 and throughout the United States, 

 is not generally agreeable to Englishmen. Ac- 

 customed as we are to consult our own ability, 

 fancy, and convenience in travelling, and 

 through a high feeling of independence, pre- 

 ferring a solitary meal at our own hours, and 

 without intrusion, we are not easily reconciled 

 to a gregarious assemblage of strangers, with 

 whom you are obliged at the boarding-houses 

 to maintain some conversation, and to whom, 

 from the characteristic inquisitiveness of the 

 Americans, you and your affairs will become 

 in a degree known. The establishment is ge- 

 nerally kept by a highly respectable, yet small 

 family, who receive you through a card of in- 

 troduction, or that of a friend, as a boarder. 

 You are shown to your bed room, on your 

 arrival, by black servants, who are most com- 

 mon, and informed of the hours of breakfast, 

 dinner, and tea, which are taken in the com- 

 mon parlour, or dining room, where the family 

 and the boarders sit down together. The din- 

 ner is always excellent, combining every variety 



