[An Old Yankee Innkeeper; His Story]

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PUB. Living Lore in New England
(New Hampshire)
TITLE Old Yankee Innkeeper Freempn Willis
WRITER Henry H. Pratt
DATE WDS. PP. 70
CHECKER DATE
SOURCES GIVEN Interview
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Federal Writers, Project Subject: Living Lore
in
#1801 Xew England
AN OLD YAT= INMEEP7R; HIS STCRY
by
Henry E. Pratt
Three years before the invention of telephones,
when he was twenty years old, Freeman C. Willis, of
Plymouth, Yew Hampshire was an innkeeper in his own
right. By the time automobiles of the modern type
egan to clutter up our streets and create traffic
protlems, he had been continuously managing hotels in
Hew England for almost fifty years.
To talk with him, one would hardly suspect it.
is hair is but little more than iron -gray; he is vi-
vacious and dramatic, capering about on his feet with
boyish agility. The years have touched him with such
htress as to leave but few outside dents. He is
merry, full of the sap of life, cordial, an enjoyable
sccuaintance. To use a figure of speech from his long
life of companionship with horses, and of love for them,
he is of the 1:organ type, qf medium size and wiry; as
he says, "a lean horse for a long race".
In 1873 he entered into partnership '0j.th his step-
father, Collins H. Buchanan, -nanaging the Plymouth House

-2
After it b_xned, in 1881, they bought the Black Moun-
tain House, a summer hotel in Compton, New Hampshire,
on the .;aterville Valley highway.
Part of the t_mel in connection with the Black
Mountain House, during the '80's, a period when it was
thyaLJA worth while to mention on their letterheads
that the hotel was "heated by steam", and with a hint
of pride that "horse cars pass the door every fifteen
minutes, to and from Lake Village", they operated the
Eagle Hotel in Laconia.
Then, under their management, fo4ed in order the
Deer Hotel in North Woodstock, a summer hotel; the
Windsor —now the Orrington--on Manchester Street in
Manchester; the Hotel Weirs, another summer resort; the
v'airmount Hotel at York Beach, Maine; ending with the
triumph of Mr. Willis's innkeeping career at the Hotel
Windham in Bellows Falls, Vermont, in 1920.
But xr. Willis can best tell his ovn story.
"I was born," he said as he recalled with verve
the flow and ebb of his hAel life, "in Littleton, New
Hampshire. My father was Cyrus Willis —familiarly, 'Cy'
a stage driver of the old school. He owned and drove
his own coaches...and he was some driver It took quite
a man to handle six horses...sometimes eight, in heavy
going...of the spirited kind my father drove, up and
down over these mountains, often at full gallop, ahead
of one of those old Abbott and Downing Concord coaches.

-3
Yes, they were made in Yew Hampshire right down in
Concord...that's where theylart'eir name.
"Some years ago I was at a fair, out in Detroit,
staged by those automo'eile fello s. Yerry ford had a
row of the old stage coaches on exhititon, end, by ,osh2
there was an old Abbott and Downing among 'em...hung
up on leather thoreugh-braces...you probably know kow
they made teeny Eighty familiar it looked, I tell you.
"Fellow came elong, looking over the old coaches,
and another men with him.
s'd he, "here's one o those old Arizona
coaches!"
"Beg you pardon, sir,' I butted in, ithet's a Concord
coach..".bbott end 7o- ning.'
"Ye 'brustled, up a little. 'rell, I reckon I know;
I come from out in Arizona myself....an' I've seen a pile
of 'em out there.'
"'Look here' said 'see that?'
”T pointed to the name-plate..I knew where to find it.
"'Well,' he admitted, straightening up, 'you're right.
'but I have seen a pile of those out there, just the same.'
"And most likely he had.
"As T said, my father ran a number of stage lines in
the old days...owned his (Yen coaches. They'd hbld about
twenty people. .filled up... with their baggage on the rack,
covered with a heavy canvas in stormy weather, and it
took horses that were horses to pull 'ere, over these hill..

-4
and a man to drive tm. I don't nemember much about
_ather's runs, mrelf... he died when I was only six
;Ears old.. .tut know he ad one run between here and
-ristol. Fe used to rur in to :ucllin's Hotel, there.
"Er. J. C. Ver...you know, the patent medicine man,
down near Tiouell, Yessachusetts...told me a story about
my father, once, yh'cl-, shows \\that kind of a man he was.
Ur. Ayer said that it msfe such an impression on his
boyish mind that he never forgot it.
"They were having some kind of a convention at
Bucklin's Hotel and a lot of the stage drivers were in
off their runs, down in the barroom in the basement.
3tage drivers were a rugged lot...full of horse play...
and noise, and they were making a good deal of distur-
bance...some of 'em had been drinking.
nay father jumped up on the b-,r...big man he was,
big, I mean, not Tpusey'*...just big.six feet two...
"Eent' hemared at them, 'this ain't seemly...it's
a disErace...achame...with those folks upstairs tryint
to hold a meting...'
“He gave it to 'em right from the shoulder.
"Mr. ker said that whole gang flattened out as if
a bucket of cold water had been dashed on them. They
cocked surly eyes up a him...a little sheepish, too...
but they quieted down.
"I can just remember what a big man my father was...
me, toddling along beside hir, going up to the stables at
Northern New Hampshire word, meaning fat.

to start.
"Dickey seat? Oh, that's the seat up on the coach
top, back of the driver...sort of an old-time obser-
vation platform.
"Hey, Kister,' called out father, 'that ain't
your seat. That's this lady's seat...she had it all
the may up. Your seat's inside.'
"'Don't give a continental who hal this seat,
it's tine now. I've paid my fare and I'm going to
ride where I see fit.'
"Father never wasted .words in argument. .with
that kind of man; he had other ways. Climbing up on
to the forward hub, he reached over for the man's
collar, picked him neatly out of the Dickey -seat, and
dropped him on the ground.
"There') said f-tl-,er, 'this is my coach) and
if you want to ride with me) you'll have to sit where
I tell you to.'
"Yes) they ,ere a wonderful set of men) those
old stage drivers. There were drivers who ran coaches
for the railroad) as busses are operated now; a good
many ran their private lines, live my father. Harrison
B. Marden was a sort of boss driver) from Plymouth
to the Profile House. George Fifield drove under him,
for the railroad. There was Ed Cox--'Cuttie Cox'
they called Ilim) ran between Bethlehem and Profile
House.

-7
"Web Stearns ran between Littleton and Profile
House. He had quite a reputation as a wit. He came
to Littleton) one day, barely got his horses unhitched
and Into the barn, when one of them dropped dead.
Some of the drivers in the barn gathered about Stearns
to sympathize with him.
"'Yep,' said Stearns, 'he's dead all right;
died on Morrison's Hill (about a mile and a half out-
side of Littleton) but 1 didn't have time to stop
there and unhitch him.'
"I got into the hotel business by a natural
route, I guess) things seemed to fit into one another...
kind of a family affair. My step -father --mother married
again hen I was about eight years old --was a black-
smith by trade, a horseman, too...perhaps because Of
it. 7e ,ranted to get into the hotel business and
heard of an opening out west...in TTew York State. He
took James Callahan with him and went out to have a
look at it. It was such a big, elegant hotel that
he as scared of it, right off. It ws one of the Erie
"Zailroad hotels...Jim Fiske's line.
"'Too much for me,' my step -father said to E.
R. Abbott, ho superintended this chain of hotels) 'I
don't know mach about the hotel business....thought I'd
like to start in) thou6h....ith something I could 1-_andlle.'
"Oh, this in nothing to be afraid of,' assured
Yr. Abbott) 'the p lace will almost run itself. Jim Fiske'll

8
let me have anything I want to run it with; I'll get
you a first-class clerk, head waiter, chef, and all
the rest; it'll run itself. Don't be afr id of it.'
"But father wouldn't take it on and came home.
"When Lhey got back, they found the old Ac-
quamgemuck House for sale. They bought it. When they
did, I bought the livery stable connected with it.
"I was eighteen years old at that time, Pretty
young to go into business for myself? Well, I had been
brought up with horses. My own father was a stage driver;
my mother was no mean horsewomen, either ---she drove
a four -horse team up Mount Washington, oncei my step-
father was e blacksmith and owned some pretty fine
horses of his (rm. I understood horses, and I loved
'em too.
Still perhaps it seems yoUflg to look back on
it. We fellows rent to work earlier...didn't go to
school much, then. The young fellows now don't seem to
want to take on business responsibilities...wanL to
play around. ..have a good time. They don't know what
it is to work. Still, I can't make any general com-
parisons ,etween young folks then -nd,_ow. We had the
usual share of 'lunkheads' them, I guess. But we had
some _,retty bright fellows too. I hired a good many,
men and boys, and watched 'em grow up.
"There was one young fellow I particularly re-
member. He applied to me for a job as a bell -hop when

-9-
I was at the Hotel ieirs. He wrote me from some place
he wa stayME..farm, I think.., said he didn't know
anything about the bell -hop basiness2 but was willing
to lern...,,as willing to do anything to learn to be
bell -hop. His name was :Taurice Gordon, His uncle was
a preacher in Boston...Park Street Church, I think
no, yD,'re right, 'twas the 9,1d South Church.
"T Wrote back to him that, as our season was so
short, we didn't have any tie to train green chaps into
bell -hops. 'sight on the heels of that he c -me to s e
me. Said he knew he could do the
job...sure of it...
would I take h1/2....he wanted the ob....bad.
"So I took him on. And, boy2 he turned out to
b some tell -hop: aight ,on his job and on his toes
every minute, scurrAng all over the place. And the
guests liked him, and he made tips...tips in plenty.
"All the tips he got he brought straight to me.
"Mr. Willis,' he'd say, 'I want you to keep this
for me... I want to save it. I've got a use for this
later'.
"So I'd put it in the safe for him.
"That ,re you going to do ith all this? I
asked hiT., one day.
"Oh, I'm going to use it.. take it back to
noston with me to start me in business same day.'
":-umhlt I told hi_11 'those fellows down in the
city '11 get it all away from you.'
"'-o, they won't..oh, no they won't,' he assured me.

-10
"He didn't spend any of that money. .kept
saving it up every tip he got.
"Yext se son he came back to me. First year
he made a hundred dollars, or. more, in tips, second
season, he made a hundred _ore. He kept saving it
all up...banked it with me.
"Fie took a great interest in the meat I
bought for the hotel; he wanted to know where I
got it, how much T paid for it, the quality of it...
all abo,it the mean -buying end of the business.
"There was e man from Boston sta:Ing at the
otel that summer, who told young Gordon to come
down and see him...he'd get him a job, whenever
T-aurice was ready. So he went down, at the end of
the season. Fellow never knew him. But that didn't
stop Gordon. He went down to the market district
and got a job selling meat...wrote back to me for
my me :t orders...said he could sell me meat cheaper
than I was paying,. So I sent him a trial order.
nure enough, back came the meat, in a hurry.
"After a while I didnIt hear anything more
from him. It went on cuite a time...a year or two,
perhaps..then I received a letter from him written
on the letterhead of "The Chicago Meat Company'. of
Boston. '-7_e'd organized a capany of his in ano
,anted to sell me morelle-lt,-and I let him.

'Bit that's licLuor,isn't it?'
''T don't know what it is)' the boy said) a
little peeved, 'I din't ask them and they didn't
tell me. They just gave me the tray and told ffie
1
to carry it to room) Tumber So -and so-; And thats
all I know...and i'mtarrying it.'
"I was bell-hop myself for a little while in
the old Profile T-Touse, and I used to stick around
where the tips were.
"I remember an old Scotchman rho came therEonce
knee pants, and the rest of the fixinLs...and they
sent me up to his room for something. All he wanted
was ice -water. I went down and got the ice -water
for him.. 'T-ie held out his hand and dropped a coin
into mine. It was a half-dollarl You bet I hung
around that Scotchman all the rest of the time he was
there. I saw to it that none of the other bell -hops
got ahead of me when he wanted anything.
"But I'm away off my story.
"James Callahan sold out to my uncle; I bought
out my unclOs share of the Acquamgemuck House a
year or so 1=1 -ter; in 1873 there we 7ere...my step-
father and T...Buchanan and =lis, proprietors of
the Plymouth House ---1e changed the name from Ac-
cum-emack to rlymf,uth.

-13-
"A lot of old-time hotel keepers started from
a livery stable. I suppose that was because the li-
very was such an important part of the hotel business.
It was a big part of the pleasure, and of the incoole.
nd a lot of people picked their hotels because they
had bang-up livery stables.
"A little incident shows you what sort of a li-
very we carried. In the early '80's when ire were
t the Black T:ountain House, I ran a twelve -passenger
yag-n, ith four horses, between Campton and Plymouth.
I was -rafting for the train, one day, at Plymouth, with
pretty stylish turnout. The train came in ...a
_,Ln got off to stretch his legs. 1:e strolled along
the platform, stopoed by my team, be to look over
ffy rig. It was worth looking Pt..as good as money
could buy; four black horses...black...heads right
oo in the air...perky...silver-mounted harnesses...wagon
/dth strawcolored runi-Lng L,ear...carmine body...shiny...
"Your team?' he finally -sked.
"I admitted it.
"BILCK 'IOUYTATIT HCUS7' he read from the side
of the qapron; 'where is th t?'
"T told him.
"Lam -m- I've been sta,ing over at the Glen
-ouse. I thought they had about as swell teams as
,i-iy,rhere...have that reputation. But they havn't
any teams is fine as that. It's the finest team I ever
saw.'

-14
"Puts me in mind of another amusihg story...
amusing to me, although the Pemigewasset House didn't
find it so.
"The PemiL;ew-asset House was railroadTowned,
like several of the hotels up thr-_,ugh the mountains in
those years...Fabyans was another. The railroad
ran stages from the depot to the Profile House, and
2rivaLe taams gave them tompetition...often bitter.
line was one of the private teams that went in for
a share of the business...'pod-teams' they called
these private, campetinL
"It was in 1880...before the Plymuuth House
burned...that, Governor Hatt Head came up to inspect
the fish hatchery the state was operation at Liver-
aore Falls. He had invited Governor Long of ;ass-
achusetts, and with their staffs, there was quite
party of them.
"Yaturally the Pemigewasset livery did its best,
in the yay of conveyance to Livermore Falls. They
had a special rig for the two governors and the Square
waL full of teams for the rest of the party. The rail-
road people had invited in teams from all over town
fifteen or twenty of them ---but none ere invited
from the Plymouth House. Hut my rig was there, just
the same... over auross the Sc.uare...nearest I could
get, in the cro,d.
"The train pulled in...Governor Head, accompanied

Covcrlr Long, -and their crowd, got off.
"':LIght this we -y, Governor L'is
yo r right iLdic ting a te--,JL st-nd-
'-,eeLle the platform.
"Eut the governor wasn't to be rushcd; be stood
for ,t moment looking around over thc he ds of the crowd
on the platform.
"Your team's all ready, here, Governor Head...
for you and Governor Long,' the Pemigew.set people kept
ft sistin,, 'right here t' e 21c,tform.
"Those team is that...over ',here,' pointing to my
turnout, the governor asked, 'the one across the Square?'
"'Oh, th,,L's -fillis...keeps the lyirouth ouse,
-,round on the street.'
"'Pretty good looking- team...,711ess I'll have a
look at it.'
He st-rted across, flioging back over his shoulder,
"'Capable of picking my own teams, I guess.'
"7e11, the said after inspecting my rig,
take this o-ae, 11111s. Hey: 'he called back, 'get
that other team out of the way, and let this man drive up.'
w:Te stood a minu:e or two after :the governors and
some of their payty :-,ad seated themselves.
"WhLt are waiting for?' fretted Governor Head.
"7sitinE for the rest to get ready,' I replied.
"'ever mind about the rest,...we're re -).(51:;,, aren't
7 Let's be going. "a.est can come along when they -et
rc, dy.'

-16
"Those four horses moved that loaded twelve
passenger wagon along like birds. The rest Weren't even
in sight when we came to the Baker River Bridge. There
was a dip in the road there, and beyond the bridge a sharp
grade to higher ground. I slackened the reins when we
came to the bridge, Itchkd to the horses, and, by gosh,
they sailed up that hill to take your breaths
"At the top Governor Head turned to the Massachu-
setts governors
"'Guess I'm not such a bad picker on teams after
all, eh, Long?"
"We reached the hatchery, the governors* made such
inspection as they ca.ltd to, and we were off on our re-
turn before the rest of the party came up. Governor Head
wanted to See the old Trinity'Churdh; at Holderness, so
we went baCk that way. He let himself inwith a key that
happened to fit...linked around a little while, and was
leavingibiefore the rest of tame party caught up with us.
4
*Yes sir, teams Cola/A(4 something for a hotel
in those days.
"the railroad was like that...wanted all the
business. One of their drivers out of Plymouth) used to
try to get it for the 'railroad folks.
"But when we were in the Plymouth we made up our
minds that we would try to get our share of it..and we did.
"I noticed two men get off'the-train, when I was
nosing around the depot after business...nice looking men...

one had had a fine moustache....on the way, they said, to
the Profile House. George Fifield stepped up, ;IeSsuming
that they were, naturally, going up by the railroad coach.
"'Gentlemen,' I butted in, 'now which would you
rather do.. ,go up through our beautiful gotch by this
railroad stage, whooping at full speed, making time..or
go up by a private team...same price, four dollars, each...
stop along the way, when you see anything you'd like to
look at... or get out now and then if you want to?'
That idea kind of struck 'elm; they seemed to think
my proposition sounded good.
"But the other driver wasn't the man to let business
slip out O'his,bands without a fight.
ti'd he, 'you go up by this man' teams, =n1
you won't get mOreln out of the village before one of the
horses '11 fall down in a fit...then where you be?'
"Tell you at you do,* said I, 'my stablelan't
but a little way from here...just around the corner...
you comealang with me and have a look at the teams I drive.'
.They considered.
"We will, they finally agreed, 'we'll come
around after supper. We're going to stop here at the
Pemigewasset over night, and we'll be around.'
"True to their word I law them coming, after supper.
I met them and took them to the stables. There were eight
handsome dapple -grays there...alllatlike...heads right up
in the air.. .'perky'.

-18
"'There, gentlemen, are the horses. Do you see any among
iem that look tfittyt?'.
"They said they didatt.
"Which are the dies you are planning to hitch
up for us?'
"'They all match...any of tICen..or all of them,
will work together...you pick out any you want...oath
hitch tern up.'
"'Oh, no...you do the picking...we're satisfied
we'll go up with you in the morning.'
"We started, iia,theisorriing, a little before the
railroad coach got off, four horses drawing a twelve
passenger wagon) full.
"At Livermore Falls I sked them if they wanted
to stop and have a look. No, they didn't.
tind so we want on, taking it easy, the grays
moving at comfortable trot, passengers looking about,
enjoying themselves, until my rival came up behind with
the six -horse railrOad coadh...and tried to pass.
"I spoke to the grays...they lengthened their
stridel,..just eno#gh to keep ahead of the other coach.
"One of the men called my attention to the coach
following us.
"'I think be !ants to pass you,' he laid.
11, I knOw ia'd000;i1k0WMANWI replied, 'but
don't think he gill.'

-19-
"I let out the Lines a little...gave the horses
more head...and they moved cut away from that coach...
140. those Notch grades..aike birds i The roads hadn't
'been gradedl'then, for automobiles, either.
wt. kepta good lead right into the Flpme House.
i know I had taken out my horses, and was looking after
them tit the barn. -.I always looked after my awn horses, to
be, sure they got What they needed --before the stage came
in. AAI came aboss the road back to the hotel, the
boss Of the coach -line was giving the men a piece of his
mind.
Itt ........and how do you fellows think the rail-
roadt.s goint"4- Zo run these coaches...give you poper ser-
'vice...if you &mit patronize 'eft. The railroad runs tern
for your accommodation; youtve no business to hire these
little pod-wagons..4you ought to travel on the regular
coaches
ook here) Misters" the doctor was replying
I had learned coming ups that my chief passenger was
a doctor from Easton) Pennsylvania ---'I've travellid all
over the world...and I travel as I please. No driver of
any railroad coach is going to tell me haw to travel.
Youtre no fit man to speak for the railroad...you're in
suiting
!Re handed him back as good as the driver sent.
"The doctor whirled to me, as I came up,

-20-
'Going back, to -night?'
I 4, L'in plannithg to...sonny s I get supper... and
the h orses fed..'
dOn't1 Stay over here and take us the
rest of the way to the Profile House in the morning.
wel6 intending to, go up by the railroad stage in the
Wouldn't ride on this man's coaches...liahl
*When we arrived', next day, at the Profile $ouse,
the dootor paid me the regular fare of four dollars;
atd ifive dollars extra for a tip. Seeing which his
daughter called to me,
O'Oh, wait a minute L'
*She ran into the hotel and came back a ltttle
lath' With two dollars more, which she handed me. She
seemed to be afraid I hadn't had enough to pay me for
the fuss.
*Seems funny, to look back on it, that when I be-
gan the hotel business there were not telephones. Imagine
running a hotel to -day without telephones' I suppose
it was inconvenient, but we didn't think anything about
that...never had anything to make us think different.
*It was quite a while after 1876 before telephones
became anyways common. We had them here in Plymouth
before the Plymouth House burned,; had them up to Black
Mountain House, in Campton, in the early '80's, but
there were no telephones up as far as North Woodstock
when we opened the Deer Pprk, Hotel in. 1887.

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and the other for the barn, and strung a tight line
from one tO the other. Whenever we wanted the stable-
man...or he wanted ue...we would tap -tap -tap on the
sheepskin, like a drum, and a man would come to the
other end, and we could carry on quite a conversatihn.
You'd be surprised. Saved a pile of steps.
The Plymouth House burned in 1881...from
spontaneous combustinn started in the attic. We had
no fire department at that time, here in town. We
sent to Lakeport, twenty miles away, for help. It
arrived in time to save the Methodist church, nest
to the hotel. Folks formed a bucket line to the river.
Wen the women...sOme of the town's most prominent women..
helped pass the buckets down to the river to be filled.
',Immediately after losing the Plymouth, we...
Mr. Buchanan and I...bought the Black Mountain Rouse.
It was a summer hotel, small, compared with some of
the hotels in the mountains, but a beautiful hJuse,
in a beautiful spot. Here's a picture of it, on the
On the wall hung a photograph of a three-story
house, the upper story built with a mansard roof, sur-
mounted by a small, square cupola in the center. A
broad piazza extended along the whole front and both
ends. Over the front entrance, on a level with he
second story, across the width of the piazza roof, was
a generous balcony.

-23
"'You see, here," explained Mr. Willis, in-
dicating with his finger, "the driveway swung from the
main highway to Waterville valley, in a semi -circle,
in front of the main steps, and back again to the road,
enclosing a large circular plot of lawn. That lawn was
our croquet ground, smooth and level as a table top.
We took a lot of pains with that. Croquet was one of
the three big sports of that day. Croquet...croquet...
croquet, all the time.
*Over here, to the tight and behind the house,
was a big grove of pine trees. A branch of the drive-
way took off to the left of the hawse, ran around
backy underneath a long wing of the building project-
ing behind, and so into the grove.
"The stables were at the rear corner of that
wing, running out to the left. They Imre out of the
picture.
*Acre* and acres of pine woods covered the country
back of the hotel, with, roadways running among them
for a long distances.*
In 'fiOnt of the 14'4441, seattert4 about the lawn,
were 'a dot*, people, or-SOOt.in the costumes of fifty
years age.r
"1 tOld yoU that croquet was one of our ,three
great amuseMents; the oter!tieo were.dacing and wrestling.
"Dancing was a regular crate. Two or three dances

a week were common...in private houses, where they
would dance from one small room to another and so
all around the house, or in hotels. In winter big
sleighrides were in order, with a hot supper waiting
for them at some hotel or tavern. Then dancing...
then about midnight, another supper....oysters, usually.
Then more dancing, until four o'clock in the morning.
Those were the days when they dgnced.
"They danced on spring floors....ever see one
of them? I don't know how they built them, but when
the crowd got going on them, they'd spring up and down...
like what the boys called "bendy -bows* on the ice.
"Then wrestling...wherever you saw a crowd of
young fellows together, some one would start wrestling..
and the whole crowd would be at it. Ring wrestling was
the great town meeting sport. At every town meeting
they'd forth a ring outside, push a couple of young husky
•fe4ows into it. The winner would take on another',
that winner, another, and so they'd keep it going for
hours.
"There used to be a little fellow, Tommy Glisky,-
who was quite a chap at the town hall in Plymouth in
the town meeting wrestling matches. I could watch 'em
frtm thelptel....diagonally across, it was.. Tommy was
a short fellow pretty wellAcait....but smallish.
You'd never pick him out for a wilotler. But, by gosh,
he was. There wasn't anybody could beat him. Lick

everybody, he would.everybody. Pitch into 'em, no
matter how big they were...lick 'em every time. He
was a lumberOack had some tticks he'd learned in
the woods... .1 don't know what they were.
*ffe kept telling Glisky that some day he'd meet
his match; if he kept pitching into everybody, some day
he'd get hold of a fellow that would trim him. But
he'd laugh, and go right on licking 'em...till he ram
up against Sullivan.
*Big Irishman...Sullivan was. He came up with
the track gang that was building the Pemigewasset Valley
Railroad. He had a brother,' I remember, but I don't
know what the given name of either one of them was.
ulTwas one of those everlasting dances brought
Glisky and Sullivan together....up at the Grafton House',"
in West Thornton. Sleighloads of people came in fraq
all over....a big crowd. of them, that night. Glisky
had brought along a bunch of girls; one of my men had
gone up from the -Black Mountain House; a lot of young
fellowa....and Sullivan.
*It started, over a cotillion Glisky was forming.
Sullivan butted in and told him be wasn't doing it tight.
*110u get but,o1;heta0minil your own business,'
retorted GIisky, know how to form 'a cotillion.'
N'Ail right, if'that''s tUe way you ftel about it,'
said Sullivan, 4you-go ahead.' You mkt'up your cotillion
on this side of the hall, and I'll make up mine over on
the other side.'
"Au
zatr ,2•-•-•-0

;004
141.
46
"Tommy cpaldn't stand that sort of thing..
pore the girls, and,all, so he came over to Sullivan
Said something to him...must have been fighting talk, for
Snllivan let drive at him. Glisky replied in kind, and
the fight was on, right then and there.
"A terrible fight it was....girls screaming...
those two brutes fighting for all there was in them...
right in the middle of the dance floor. But Sullivan
licked him...walloped the daylights right out of himl
Glisky managed finally to break away and ran. .down stairs
(the hall was on the top floor...fourth, I thinkl) and
out of doors.
“The dance broke up at once;,, Some of the boys
got hold of Sullivan and rushed him down stairs into the
kitchen...or barmen.
"'You got to get out o, this,' they toCld him,
this an't the last 0' this.,. .not with. Glisky it .ain't.
Iw11 coma bast lodkint ,t)r pitu...and you want to be
7 ,winnewhore- elSe
"The boys, 64e t'rotind, sort ,of keeping WOO over
$011ivan, until thiereilfrit -sure that dlisky had, gone off.
Tierwou 000:841;ivn
P1,1
liBatlaiSky 40.00t "e4 He sat tat in. a sleigh
4
with Bome'oal Of is *to 'ila;ill,coas over with him, and
I
waited.. .waited.
"Sullivan was still sitting'up on the bar, getting
ready to go home, when..bangt...the door opened and in
vnt,

."27
came Glisky... and-iushed for Sullivan.
"He had Atilt time to scream, 'Look out, boys,
he's got a knife: befOre Glisky Struck. He slashed
the Irishman in thet00Oat...wicked...cut his windpipe
half in two, before anybody could stop him, and got
aivay in the excitement.
The doctor was called..erushed in., .tied up
Sullivan...pasted him together with some bandages...
patted around his throat with his fingers...said he
guessed he'd be all right.
*But $u1;ivan wasn't all right. He kept bleeding
inside, and in a couple of days he was dead.
"My step -father, 1p. Buchanan, was deputy sheriff
that year, and they sent for him. He did what he could...
but Glisky had totally disappeared. Somewhere they found
.a picture of him and Mr. Buchanan sent it into Boston
and asked the help of the Boston police in finding him.
They sent copies of that picture all around, but Glisky
had completely disappeared.
"It must have been4 near a year after this
J
when the Boston police de4t ord that Glisky had
‘4'.0
241
been located. :,,out I# the 4podsilaf',MiOhigan. They said
they woUld'hkore Ipm*reel,e4VOLd'ilipuid produce him,
rgr $0*
abut uiu*sn
d I
dildatti it. sOr money behind him;
his brother didn't haveaiir.if4uldn't raise $500, and
r
the town wouldn'tA Tne tovavwea awful poor; they said
t

Sall:van and Glisky weren't local fellows..just tran-
sients....and they couldn't see why they IsSuld put up
any money for 'em.
"As a general thing people stopping at the summer
hotels had very little to do with the people cr7 the town.
they were a little separate colony, by themselves. They
rather looked down on the townpeople; the townsfolks con-
sidered he summer people strangers...transients...not
of much account to the town, one way or the other. Even
among themselves thelptel guests were 'clicky'. A group
of them, who came together, would keep together- while
they were there. The town never benefited much from them,
as I could see...not as a rule. There were exceptions*
though, like Mrs. M. T. Goddard.
"Mrs. Goddard was the wife of Dr. M.T.Goddard,
of Newton, Massachusetts. She seemed to have a lot of
sympathy for people in distress, wherever she found them.
She told me that she and the d;ctor, whenever they heard
of &disaster anywhere near them) always drove out at
once to see if they could be of any help. Doctor never
charged anything for such services, and never waited to
be called.
"Down at Campton lived a young woman whohad
consumption. Mrs. Goddard was much concerned for her;
she thought it would do her a lot of good to get out
among the pine woods. She would have me) quite often,
hitch up and drive her over to see this young woman.

-29
She'd take her into the carryall and have me drive all
along the roadways among the pines,back of the hotel.
When we came to an open sunny spot, where the pines were
smelly, she'd have me stop for a long time. She would
visit with the young woman...have real cheerful talks
with her...all afternoon, maybe. She probably did this
woman a lot of good.
"I understood she helped a lot down at the local
church....seemed to want to do good with her money. There
weren't so very many lie her, though.
"Yet people were free spenders enough, in those
doysor their own pleasure. Intact, I think they were
freer spenders than after automobiles came in.
"The tips to hotel servants were larger, for one
thing. /here they give a dime now, they gave a quarter
theh. They didn't cut up their offerings into so many
little pieces. I've told you about the old Scotchman
_lying me a half -dollar tip for a pitcher of ice -water
at the Profile House. That's an example of it.
"It made a lot of difference, too, -here people
came from. Take 7ew York,...people from there never
asked the price. That they wanted they got, and found
out the price aften,ard. They'd write in for reservations..
'have you a room with south exposure?' or rooms, in
suite, with west exposure?' or whatever they wanted.
They might ask for our booklet, with rates, but they'd
make their reservations, anyway, whether they knew the
pliee or not.

-30
"But Bo,ton...just as.fine ueople, everyway,
but they always wanted to shop around...to know the
price of everything before they ventured...peek over
the stock, so to speak, and finally decide.
"'le found the- people with reel money...used to
wealth for generations ...were much less critical than
those iNith just about money en: h to squeeze out their
expenses at tie hotel for a couple of weeks or so and
126e16t
leave the -selves enough at the end to get home on,
people of established wealth everything xisall right
service fine, food excellent, beds of the best, every
thin s7tisfac-ory.... couldn't be better. But the other
kind were com,tently afraid they wouldn't get their money's
worth. They took it out on the waiters, the porters, the
clerks... .always complaining about the quality of every-
thing...nose up in the
"There was Charles L. Raymond, for instance, presi-
dent for a number of years, of the Chicago Board of lrade,
who used to come out to the Deer Park hotel, summer after
summer....bring three or four servants with them...stay
all suinmer. 7e was so careful that the hotel didn't lose
anything on his account.
"I had a laugh with hiiï one day. He ate in our
private dinin-, room, and the girls were always polishing...
on the windows..big windows they were. One day
polishing...Raymond wqs at table and happened to see his
son run by the window, outside, in a way that attracted his
curiosity. Pe jumped from his chait, rushed to the window,

-31
and stuck his head o;t...but he stuck it right through the
glass. The window was closed.
"He came -into the office later, a bit crestfallen.
"IT.Ir. Willis,' he said, 'I want to pay for that
indow.'
"'What ,indow?' I asked lim.
"Fe explained.
"Oh, th&t's all right,' I told hi),, 'as far as we
are concerpt-d. It's you that got hurt.'
"Didn't hurt me any; but...a hotel that keeps its
windows so clean that I can't tell ;llether they've open
or shut I ought to pay...I want to pay.'
"Speaking of those old rockinEchairs we're sitting
in...they are comfortable old charirs, aren't they? They
don't seem to make such chairs now,a-days...fit your back
and s,rms just right. That little chdr, over there, is my
wife's favorite chair. It's a hundred years old or so...
more or less.
"The other day a lady was in here...saw that little
mirror on tie wall, up there....the one with the Dancing
Girl, in the black and gold frame...said it was worth
three hundred dollars. She probably wanted to compliment
us, or sopet'ing. I don't believe she'd offer that much
for it, if she wanted to buy it.
I don't know anything about old-fashioned
furniture. But I did buy an old grandfather clock once.
I spied it out in a farmlouse, when I was at Black Mouhtain,

It was very ornamental, had a lot of gilt on it, and spires
and knobs and such. I wanted it.
"'How much will you take for the clock?' I asked
the man
"'Why, I dunno,' said he, 'dunno just hat 'tis
worth...reely.'
"'Twenty-five dollars, say?'
"Oh, no -no, wouldn't sell it for that. .would
we, Ma?' turning to his wife. She seemed to agree in his
refusal.
"'Would you sell it for fifty dollars?'
"His eyes kind of l*ghted up...he considered a minute
"I dunno...dunno's we want to sell at all, do we,
Ma?'
"Why I dunno....I dunno's we reely need it. .1
suppose we could get along without it...fifty dollars, you say?
"I'll give you 'fifty dollars for it' I said.
"Fifty dollars...well, I durrio...fifty dollars
sounds fair...don't it Ma? I dunno, I 'spose we might 's
well let you have it...fifty dollars...yes) you can have it
for fifty dollars.'
"I took it back and set it up in the otel.
"That next summer a man came up from New York.
looked as if he could afford anything he anted....and he
wanted that clock. Ee asked we what I'd sell if for.
"Hundred dollars,' I told him.
"Oh, no-no...co ldn't give a hundred dollars for it,'
he refused) 'couldn't afford that...out of the question.'
He

-33-
"I said no more..let it set.
"But he kept on looking at it...wanting it. The
day he was leaving he asked me about it again.
"Well,' said I, 'you've been a pretty good customer
of mine...we're pretty good friends...and make it
eighty dollars to you.
"He snapped it up quick, and went away mighty tickled.
"There came on such a rage for buying old grand-
father clocks about that time that a concern somewhere down
Boston way set out to meet the demand. They made 'em so near
like the genuine that it took a pretty good expert to tell
the diff,rrence. Then they brought them up here into the
country to sell tem. Rackets? Oh, they aren't anything new.
nor confined to the city. These fellows went around to the farm-
houses, and back country places, and offered to set one of
these clocks in their homes...give them the use of it while
'twas there...with the understanding that whenever antique
hunters came along, they were to be allowed to see it...
sort of accidental,
"The farmer ould, naturally, hang off about letting
it go....but finally, the makers and the farmer would split
on whatever amount they could stick the antiquer for. They
sold a lot of 'an.
"Antiques and souvenirs! I took a party over to
Crawford Notch once.. .they wanted to visit the Willey House.
..a party of women, it was. You've heard all about the
Willey Slide, of course -how the whole Willey family was

-34
destroyed over a hundred years ago, by a landslide which
came down from the mountain behind the house....how the
family ran out of the house and was buried, while the
slide split and didn't hit the house at all...went both
sides of it.
"A lot of legends clustered about that house after-
ward. One told about an old, crippled GrandmaWiley
who couldn't rush out with the rest) but remained in her
rocking chair...and was safe.
"True or not, Azariah Moore, who kept the Willey
House at the time of our visit, capitalized on that legend.
"At the time we were there an old) battered, hacked
up rocking chair occupied a prominent place in the middle
of the living room. The women were curious aboLt the
disreputable -looking chair.
"'Why, that's old Grandma Willey's rocking chair..
one she set in...time of the Slide...ain't you never heard
about it?' asked Azariah.
"They never had...so Azariah told them.
"The reason that chair looks so,' he went oA to
explain, 'is because everybody who knows that story wants
a souvenir of it. They wanted 'em so bad they got to
hackin' out chips with their knives) behind my back...any-
way, to break off a piece to carry away...'Ad fair to des-
troy the old chair) in spite of me. So finally I thought
mi,LhL as ell let 'em have a piece, and come by it hones
so I gave 'em a hatchet and told 'em to help themselves.

-35
They did...liberal....and that's why the old chair looks so'.
"And may ie have a piece) too,' begged the ladies.
"There's the hatchet...in the corner. .go ahead.'
"While they were busy getting each of themselves a
souvenir chip from Gra,idma Willey's chair) Azariah crooked
a finger at me from the barroom door. I went out.
"'You see) Willis,' he told me, softly closing the
door behind me, 'when I found summer folks was so possessed
to lug away souvenirs of everything they saw up here) I
got to providin"em....handy. I buy them old Grandma
Willey chairs...new...bang 'em up ...hack 'em up) for a
starter...make 'em look prett, old and dilapidated, pro-
vide the hatchet...an' they do the rest. That's the third
Grandma Willey chair they've had this season. Oh, yes)
they pay me a little sumthin' ....a quarter a chip's the
usual price.'
"That was too good to keep, so I told the women
about it when we were driving home.
"Laugh....how they laughed. even with the joke
on them.
"At the Weirs used to be an Indian village. Indians
from miles around used to come there and get fish...and
they find a reat many arrow heads around there.
"At a banquet I tave at the Hotel Weirs, once) I
furnished) at each plate, a souvenir of an Indian arrow
head. The guests seemed mightly pleased with them...took
A
them carefully away with them. I was very glad to have
them...they were made by a firm out west. But ihey were
a perfect imitation.

-36-
"A while back we were speaking of the three great
sports we had in the old days. Perhaps I ought to add
another amusement to those...driving through the mountains.
mo summer hotel would have amounted ,o anything without
a bang-up good livery, equipped for mountain travel, .seer
attached.to it.
"Back when Mr. Buchanan and I van the old Plymouth
Mouse, one of the great occasions was to get a crowd to-
gether and drive up on the lt. Prospect for a picnic supper.
You couldn't get there with an automobile. The road that
led up there was a country, pasture road, through a couple
of bar-ways....not too godd, even then.
"And driving with horses you can see something...
look around...enjoy the scenery. Just think what a lot of
business the horse brought to the hotels that thy don't
get now. -le had a whole lot of trade among ourselves...we
hotel proprietors.
"We'd frequently take parties out driving through
the mountains...sty]etiles be gone a week. That meant
stopping over each night at some hotel, perhaps a twelve
passenger load of us. And it meant putting up the horses,
too. They'd come to my hotels in the same way. That
meant a lot of business, right among ourselves, to say
nothing of the income from a houseful of guests all summer.
"But that's gone...the horse is gone...the four-
horse...six-horse rigs, spanking teams, silver mounted
harnesses, head plumes, carryalls...twelve-passenger wagons,
coaches2....carmine bodies, ye;.low wheels,...all gone.

-37
Roads up through these mountains) once gay with flashing
rigs) have nothing more now than business -looking automo-
biles.
"The automobile will travel in a day the distance
it took a horse a wek; you leave home in the morning)
make a trip of three hundred ,niles....be back at night.
P111 the busLness there is for the hotel in that is nothing
more than a meal or two) perhaps not that.
"ibere comes into my mind a trip I had with Mrs.
Goddard. She loved those trips over the mountain roads.
We started with a carryall---Isundowns, some called them
and two horses) one white, the other black. The black
was just about the mat, beautiful horse I ever owned. He
black ...not brownish) or blue -like, but black. The
white horse beside him showed him off. His tail nearly
swept the ground; he had two wElite feet) behind; had a
white star in his forehead...neck arched....bright eyes.
The man I bought him of gave $500 for him. He had been
broken to saddle) and was easy-gai/ted as a cat.
"'Now) said Mrs. Goddard, as she got herself
well settled in the carryall, 'if the servants) at the
hotels where we stop, deserve it --if tLey wait on us and
serve us well, as you know they amid) you npurg*" them.
4,413urg" them all they deserve and add it to my bill.'
"She was like that.
"Yes) ma'am) I promised; I'll 'tend tit.
"'lie wandered over the mountain roads, taking it
Word used in North Country hotels to mean "tip".

-38
easy) stopping where night overtook us) enjoying the trip.
"I especially remember one stop me made at Jackson.
..at The Wentworth. General 7entworth did the honors....
he was a rather pompous man...liked to have you call him)
"General"....made us right welcont.
"After supper he hunted me up.
"'Lets take a ,falk out to the stables...look
around.'
"We walked out.
"I wanted to see that horse)? he said. One of
my boys tells my you've pat imt0 my stables the finest
'orse that ever went through my barn. door. I want to see
him'.
"T took him out, and paraded him around the barn
floor.
"Tie's right,' the general said) at last, 'the
finest horse that ever went through that barn door!'
"When I. offered to pay my bill) in the morning:
'Tot a cent, hr. Willis...you can't pay me one cent.'
":t was at, the Black :lountain :louse that I first
met Augustus Hemenway...you know) the man who built the
gymnasium for 1-arvard College. That cost $175,000)
understand.
'r.He was s „-eat h_rseman...had a solendid stable
in 'oston) .,1though didn't know it, at the time. I
didn't know anything about 'Lim) in fact) until he came up
one summer just at the close o the season) and anted to

-39.
stay ith us a -e had his life with him, and
her nurse.
nt T don't beleive we can take care of you, Er.
7emen-:ay, I said, we're cloin up for the season,
letting our help go; I don't see how we can.'
"That's all right,' he rather pleaded, like it
all the better for that. 'Te tiant to be ',lone...by
aarselves....nobody around. Te can Let along f.ne, if
you'll take us for a while.'
"We arranged with him, and he certainly did en-
joy it. It •.as just the place for sick people.
"Er. Femenay was a very unassuming man; I never
suspected at first that he •,as worth what you would
call "money". A little incident raised my suspicions
of it.
"He used to love roaming about the stables, look-
ing at the horses....especially Ey long-tailed black.
They were a handsomelot ....some black, some gray, some
dapple -gray, matched in different teams...red halters
on them...erky-looking horses.
"I was out there, one morning, in the carriage
room, polishing up some fancy harness, -Tith the door
open. It swung outward, toward the woods, Er. Hemen-
way was out, as usual, visiting the horses. A partridge
came zooming along, full speed,...struck the opened
door, and broke its neck.
"Why...you have partridges up here as thick as
all that?' Er. Hemen ay cried, a little st-rtled.

-40-
t
the woods re fall of tern,? I told him,
'just foil of thX' That was back in the '80's you
A
remember.
he said, 'I'm going in to telegraith ray
man to ',ring up my dog anti iv gun; you and I \Jill go
h
"I noticed that; he said 'bring' nottsend'. If it
had been me, I should have had 'em se it, by express.
I began to suspect he was 1.1ore than I thou -ht.
"The next day, up came the man ith gun and dog.
Son as he'd had his dinner ,r. 1:erienway sent him back
home again.
"Now, _r. 7ili1, we're ready. You know where
the birds are, don't yu?'
said I did.
"The dog nosed -,.round, here and yon, until soon
he stiffened into a point, his nose sniffing out for
the bird.
"'How, la'. 7iilis, you stand right over there; he'll
likely coe down soewhere near you, and
you try
He waited a moment.
•f
don't get
"All re-dy?' 'Flush hiLA he snapped at the
"Pouf" up came the bird.
"'Rang!' went 7emenway's q..un,...never touched
feather.
"The partridge scaled down past me, and I
dropped him at the fobt of a tree.

-41
"'Get hit!?' c lleCL Terien ray, all excited.
"'There... .at the foot of that tree.' I pointed
to the dead bird.
"'Le was so delighted ,t y shot that he c'.,uldn't
seem to get over it.
""londerful shott. Great shot, 'he complimented m.
emen,fay wandered into the foods ahead of
me and I lost sight of I m for a?nhwte or two. Then
the dog broke out, harking and growling and hr. 1-Lemenway
smashed through the brush on a ruh.
"'Got a bear,' he called, 'dog's got a bear up
a tree:,
"7:e went back to the log.
"Then T saw what was in the tree, I grinned.
T/IT'm sorr: to disappoint y_u, Mr. z-emen:ay,
but that isn't a bear, it's a porcupine.
"Tt did look like a si;,,11 bear, th-_,uPt, it was
all black on its belly, and a monstrous porcupine.
"First Lite I ever saw one of t:ose fello
said Mr. Hemenway, pie .sed as anything, 'you hold the
dog and let me go up and shoot him.' I had told him
to get the dog before the porcupine came down.
"'Not'
"He looked at me a little surprised.
"'Well, I'll hold the dog and you go up and shoot
him.'
flf7\7019
"he was surprised then.

-43
out under saddle.
"'I don't know, Hr. Hemen ay; 'thatliorse hasn't
mean thinabout hi% but he's- awful lively...full of
spirit. It needs a an who knows how to ride to handle
him.'
ur Illat's all riLht...t'Pt's all rijnt,' he said
very çoiet. 'T'd like to try him out, just the s,me...
if you're willing.'
"T wasn't quite sure about it, but next morning,
early) I went out to the stable and asked the boy if
he had a saJd1P. He had... .and a good one. I wiped
the horse off with a damp cloth until he shone like a
Llass bottle.
"1 went out to help 7. Yemenway start.
""nat's all riLht, Hr. Willis) can %iana,e.'
"He had one foot in t1, -,e stirrup and was on his
back like •a cat. The horse was through the barn door
like a shot, and they were off. I saw in that ainute
that Tr. Hemenway was a horseman.
.:Le was ,..,one about half an hour.
"He paid me there, for he return trip and every-
thin and went back to Boston another way.
"The next day I had a telegram from him.
'T7ive you so -much for the horse.'
"I wired b' ck my refusal.
"'light away came another telegram.
"'Give you so -much, or...naqie your price.'
"7 hated to lot that horse ,_,(); he was one •lemma

-44
in a thousnd. But I wired loP.ck my price.
"A,no;,hPr telegram came, 'Done, 'All you gua-
rantee to deliver him safe and sound at, Boston?'
'7-o,' I wired, 'will guarantee to deliver in:,
on board at Plymouth, safe and sound, that's all I
will do.'
-PmennTay telegraphed back to bring him
along to 7ostoni his groom would geet me there.
"And then T learned all about iJr. i-eirten-Tay. He
had big stables; his mother had big stables too...hicla
class horses.
"1, -_ter on he wanted me to get a horse just like
that for his mother's stables...at a y -price...but I
couldn't find a horse like that, in all the country
round...couldn't fill the order.
Pr:;'e wanted a year-round hotel to ran ?long with
lack Mountain 7ouse....had a chance to buy the Eagle
Hotel, in Laconia, and took it. :oon after we bought
the Eagle Hotel, the :flack lIoantain House burned. .in
October, I t'ink. He 'ad just closed up or the season
and had a man and his ife living there in a few rooms
where they would be comfortable for the winter.
"That was in 1885. I n 1866 Hon. ;Samuel H. Bell
began blinding the Deer Park Hotel, in :Torth Woodstock.
He cane to us, in Lacolia, and wanted to have us ad-
vise him about it....sort of tell him F,bout summer hotels.
He said he going: to cake it as fine a hotel as money
could Duild.

-15
Tr. Bell used to come up sumers to the :-,rofile
7oase; we scraped an accluaintance in rather incidental
ays.7-e'd be sitting on the piazza as _ stopped ith
p. ties, 21-% drove by, and he'd wave his nand, or 'hello'
to me. .genial man was Er. Bell.
"As we went on with him building the Deer Park he
got to telling us to have it just as wanted it. .not
to spare expense...make it the finest hotel, as it was
to be ours eventually.
"'Have it just as you want it, bo:s; it's going
to be yours, some day...make it as -y,Ju want it.'
"That's the way he'd talk.
'I've got a brother, John you know,' Er. Bell
would explain, 'but he don't --rnt any such proosi-
tion as t7.1.is...don't want to be bothered with such
things. 7e's scraped together a heap of money...all
he ,ants...and he just wants to sit on it and be let
alone. You've the men to have this
"7e opened the Deer Park 7=otel in the sason of
1887...June 20 was al,s,fays our opening day. It was crowd-
ed to overflowing that first season. Er. Bell enlarged
it for the next seson...doi.).bled it.
"and then... n, wifeaed...leaving me with five
little cl-ildren. If it hadn't been for LI-. Bell I'd
have gone under. I was discouraged clear to the bottom.
told hr. Bell I didn't have the heart to
his proposition.
"Like a fati-iar Tr. Bell talked to me.
cr!'o
on with

-4(3-
"7ow-now, 7illis,' he said, don't want
to L,rue '....work is the only thinp. that'll do you
any ood. Don't lie
dovn bv the
v
roadside.. .you've
6ot five little c'ildren to look after. You cen't
leeVe me now...even for your on sake.
"he kept on ho1din re up like that...bn)uht
me olA of the shadow again. They don't make men any
finer than tamuel T. 7e11. I'll --Lever forLet hLri and
d:_d for :Je.
"Do. Bell was planninL; to enlare the hotel -e-in
next season...double it aain, he aid...when he
dropped dead in .eiy arms.
"A little 1__cident comes Lit° my mind 'h ch will
show you how Tir.Bell did eusiness...the sort of man he
was to work for.
Le wanted a path made to the sprinL, or amt-
uests. he wanted all the hruh cut away; even the
roots taken out....everythinE smoothed away the
dresais of the ladies 7,voe.ldn't catch on anything as
they welked over it. 7e wes a wonderful calculator in
is head...never needed to use a pencil said paper....
.culd esti -ate vry close on the number of cubic yards
of earth needed for a fill) End each like. Ile had a
pretty close idea hew much that path ought to cost) add
when a man fiLured it out for him at a hundred dollars,
told hi-.) riLht off, to (c) to work.
'The man did an extra fire job. he cleared out
every little stub) smoothed the walk off smooth, took

-17-
p:. -Ins
:tn
It 11 re ed
"'Fine job,' he said, 'fine job. Here's fifty
dollars extra fo_- your pains.'
"Perhaps you'd like to see for yourself what
the Deer Park was like. I've been giving you a lot of
stuff...more'n you'll ever have patience to write,
likely. Here, somewhere, I've got a booklet of the old
Deer Park."
he looked in _is desk and produced a booklet of
the Deer Park Hotel, prepared for the season of 1894.
On the front cover was a picture of the hotel, in
color --a building upward of three hundred feet long,
three stories high, surmounted by two ornate observa-
tion towers, with paftted roofs, one flying the Yational
flag, the other, the burgee of thelotel.
"Mr. Bell had his rooms up in one of those towers,"
explained LI'. Willis.
Beyond the hotel, row behind row, rose the tumbled
peaks of the Franconia Range. In the foreground the
terrain fell away from, the high plateau on which the
building was placed, through beautifully wooded grounds;
-,o,:ard the village of Forth Woodstock. Spacious
grounds surrounded the house and a piazza "twelve feet
wide," according to the boo let, "extends entirely
around the house."'

"That piatza40 mr,t
"was an
eighth of a mile in t0a1,1 0
4 L g_t
Regarding the view tokbelhaa from North Wood-
stock the booklet ata'td, on its first printed page:
"Looking north from the depot(about seventy-
five rode from the hotel) you can see Mt. Cannon, or
Profile Mountain, Eagle Cliff) Lafayette; Lincoln,
Haystack; Liberty, Finis, Big Coolidge, Little Coolidge
Mountains. On the east, Whaleback, Potash, Hancock,
Loon Pond; and Russell ,Mountains. On the south, Ply-
mouth Mountain and twenty-fiVe miles down the Pemige-
wasset Valley. On the west, Mounts Moosilauke, JiM;
Blue, and Kinsman, forming the finest mountain and
valley scenery in New England.*
The booklet spoke of 'he east, middle, and west
branches which joined junt below the hotel to form the
Pemigewasset River as being"inhabited by beautiful
speckled trout ingreat abundance, making the finest
fishing resort in the state," and stated that thb'"lOng
talked of Mooailauke road is almost completed...dis-
tance from Deer Park' to the top of Moosilauke, tour-
teen miles," a comfortable drive for picnic parties,
with teams from the "good stable, weli.,equipped for
mountain travel."
*Twenty horse we bad in that'stable10 commented
Mr. Willis,
"Lest prospective guesta" might fmar annoyance
from the adrs fromfthe'stabldi it as stated to be
c
,4

-49
"one hundred rods from the house."
For additional amusements were offered billiard
and pool tables) bowling alleys, but there were no
golf links) and no special dance hall. "The dance
craze) as the '70's and '80's had known it, was dead/'
Mr. Willis said.
The sanitary arrangements were "as near perfection
as can be obtained, everything discharging into the
l'emigewasset River; pipes trapped and ventilated, add
the water supply "abundant....from Loon Mountain)
through a three-inch pipe) with hydrants on either side
of the house....a head of one hundred and fifty feet."
The main dining room was at the left of the
house) the office in the middle, the parlors at the
right end.
As to interior ecuipment the booklet continues;
"The house is furnished throughout without re-
gard to expense. The office, halls, and dining room are
finished in oak, the parlors in white wood...the halls
re nine feet wide...steam heat on the first and se-
cond floors) gas throughout the house."
"That gas)" Yr. Willis explained, "was s7cipped
up from Boston in barrels and dumped into a big under-
ground tank behind the house....gasoline it was. We
had a machine in the cellar which pumped it in and eva-
porated it into gas and sent it through the pipe lines,
in the house, to the burners. We used those little
white things to drop over the burners..yes, that's it...

-.50-
....Welsbach ma:tles. And we had big fireplaces on the
first floor...three of then.. The biggest one was in
the office.. ..and it was a huge one. When Dr. J.A.
Greene was up there once he wrote to a friend of his
that vie drove a yoae of oxen right through the front
door, dragging in a whole tree, and dumped it onto the
fireplace, driving the oxen out the big door at the
back. Dr. Greene was a great joker."
Returning to the booklet:
"Our beds are made of the bOst South American hal.;
forAy pound mattresses. The house will accommodate
two hundred guests.
"There are fine groves of beautiful trees of
all kinds around the hotel.
"Five hours ride from Boston without change of
cars. Parlor cars direct from Boston without change.
Fare, round trip, $6.30.
"Our prices will be from $14 to $21 per week,
according to length of stay and total number in room.
Transients, $3.50 per day."
The booklet was beautifully illustrated with
excellent reproductions of photographs and art work,
and ended with a fine photograph and description of
Bell's Cascade, -a wild, tumbling rush of water, in the
then liAle known region back of the hotel ---named in
ianor of the builder of Deer Park.

In this description we can ee one o2 the best
summer hotels among the mountains, in the "Gay Nineties".
It had electric bells throughout, but no telephones;
a barber shop, bath rooms, a laundry, but no beauty
parlor; it had billiards and bowling, but neither golf
links nor tennis coul:ts.
"We had no golf links until the hotel Weirs,"
continued hr. Willis, 'we didn't have much, then, but
enough to advertise on.
"Tennis courts we added to the Deer Park just
before I left it. Er. Charles L. Raymond's son helped
us lay them out, and supervised their construction.
He also supervised a tennis tournament we held there,
on the new courts. They were very fine ones.
"Those big men who used to come up to our summer
hotels were nothing but big, hilarious boys, out on a
vacation. They made a lot of fun for the folks. I
remember:t4 Lowell Pratt....know him?...came from Boston
he was a great cut-up.
"A hurdy-gurdy man wandered up to the Deer Park
one summer, perhaps expecting to be hailed by homesick
city folks.
"A man on the piazza cut him pretty short.
"'Hey, you, get on out of beret We hear enough cf
that in the city, without you bringing it up here.
-1r- NcLrn'LD irtarn 7Kiniiiirr;t4) La: Too -,413- P04031

-52
here, here is a dollar.. ..go on, now....across the
river....play somewhere else.'
"The crestfallen fellow took hi:I.self off with
his hurdy-gurdy.
"But I. Lowell Pratt wasn't long in hearing of
it. rushed around back, found a horse and buggy
hitched up out there 'we usually kept one ready for
errands) got a man to drive him and set out after the
hurdy-gurdy man.
"'Hey, you,' he called, when he overtook him,
'what you doing down here? Thought you were up at
the hotel, making music for the boys.'
oThe perplexed Italian explained.
man up at -a hotel tell -a me 'Get out o'
here...give-a me doll- r to get out.'
"'Oh, I see; her,' stripping a two -dollar bill
off his roll, and giving it to the manl'go on back to
the hotel and play 'em two dollars' worth of music.'
"The poor fellow readily enough went tack and
started on his contract.
"Hey, youl' his original tormentor rushed at
him, 'Didn't I give you a dollar to stay out o' here?
What you back for?'
"Dis-a man,' naively indicating Pratt, 'give
a me two dollar---tell-a me come back.'

-53-
'I used to have'to take it' myself once in a
while.
"Had a party of ladies, (Living them up through
the Notch one day....stopped at the Flume House. On
-Lie piazza was Col. Butler, a Boston wholesale liquor
dealer, and a L:r. Blake. We were pretty well acquainted.
In those days a lot of people came back to those hotels
year after year....regular thing....and we got well
acquainted.
"Seeing me with a party of ladies) Col. Butler
called out:
"'Hey, Willis, what do you say to coming up and
having a little nipper...eh?'
"No,' I declined, 'I'm very much obliged to
you...Euess I won't to -day.'
"One of the women spoke right out:
"Therel I'm glad there's one man that knows
enough not to drink....at least, when he's driving.'
"Mr. 3lake had slipped into the hotel and came
back with two whiskey glasses in his hand, one half
full, the other full, of what I took to be gin.
"'Come on, Willis, here you are.'
"Well, it made me a little huffy to have that
old snifter speak right out in public, the way she
did, so I stepped up to the piazza and took the half-
Elass...ana downed it.

"'Twas nothing but water.
"The other ladies turned on the old snifter and
gave her a ha-hal to see me drink.
"Then I reached for the full glass, and downed
that.
"That was water, too.
"And the ladies ha-ha-ed some nore.
"On the way home I told the party what was in
the glasses; then the old snifter ha-ha-ed.
"That was the way in the old days...we hotel men
got pretty well-acquainted with our guests. They came
back to us year after year. They came, often in fami-
lies, with some of their servants...or perhaps a nurse
and settled down with us for the summer.. made the
hotel their home for the summer.
"Most of our patrons came from fairly near by..
most of them from Yew England. Some cane from rew
York, a few from Pennsylvania, Chicago, or even farther
west. But they didn't swarm into Yew England from
gal over, the way they do now.
"When people travelled, then, they had very de-
finite reasons for it, very definite places to go to.
There wasn't this restless going for the sake of going.
The automobile brought in that, the automobile and the
hard -top roads that have beeh pushed out everywhere.
People were much more local...more stay-at-home, unless

-55
something nec ssary called them out.
"And people expected to pay their bills. We
found people that came to our hotels generall:: honest.
Very rarely did we have a bad bill, never a robbery,
but once. That was at the Hotel Weirs.
"They were having a musical convention there and
the hotel was full, except at the time of the meetings.
"We noticed there were two women who never went
out to the meetings; they stuck pretty close to the
hotel. We didn't think much about it, until guests
began to complain about missing valuables from their
rooms. Then we started some detective work. The
women, and a doctor, who had been rooming out in the
0,A444)
town never came to the hotel disappeared. We never
A
could find any evidence to pin anything on them, or
ar est them but we did get pretty good evidence that
these two women were working the hotel for this doctor
....some said they were kept -women of his they went
off together...at the same time...anyway.
"But they were not our native folks...came from
down Providence way, somewhere...cheap crowd.
"Out, as I said, we found our hotel guests gener-
ally honest. We occasionally had a bother 'cith bad
checks, mostly due to carelessness about overdrawing
their accounts....drummeis*were the worst about this...
but they always made them good. It was easy for a
drummer to carry around a checkbook; 'Oh, Willis,
you know me' little short of cash to-day,...ilet me
Traveling -salesmen. Therdrummed up trade."

-56
have some money on this check, will you?' They
didn't keep up their bookkeeping. But that wasn't
dishonest... .just careless.
"After we got through with the Deer Park we man-
aged the Windsor Hotel, in Manchester....the Orrington,
it is now,. ..until I went to the Weirs.. to mAnage
the hotel Weirs, for the Weirs Hotel and Land Company.
And there I got in with a unique character among
rew Hampshire hotels...Dr. J.A. Greene, of "Greene's
17ervura."
"Dr. Greene and I were pretty well acquainted
when I went to the Weirs. He used to come up to Deer
Park a lot...he and his brother-in-law, George W.
Armstrong...you know...the man who built up Armstrong's
restaurants...in the depots,..he married Dr. Greene's
sister.
"Dr. Greene had built hi -1. a place over on Long
Island, in Lake Winnipesaukee, in the form of a castle..
big place, and cost a lot of money. But Dr. Greene
had it. ER made millions....literally millions, out
of that rervura. I asked him onee if Yervura had ever
benefitied anybody he knew of.
"'Well,' he said It's ipnefitied the Greene
family considerably.'
He pointed over to the Castle) once, when I asked

-57
him where he'd rather live (he had travelled all over
the world)
"Doesn't that answer your question,' he said,
'do you think I'd put $60,000 or $802000 into that
place if I didn't prefer to live there?'
"Dr. Greene Dr. J.A...I mean, he had a brother,
Dr. Ft. E....was about the slickest talker I ever heard.
e used to go around giving stereopticon lectures....
had pictures of the human body...bones, stomach, nerves,
Euch like --and he could fill a hall, anywhere, anytime.
"I recall one time when he went to Boson and
hired a big place to give one of his lectures in. Dr.
F,E. and I went with him. Came time for the lecture...
almost time...and there was hardly a corporal's guard
in the place.
"'There, I told you you were a big fool to hire
this big hall', fussed Dr. F. E., 'you've lost your
money.'
"Dr. J.A. sat back stage, puffing on a cigar, which
he removed long enough to remark.
"I'll fill fill it...don't you fret...
when the time comes, I'll fill it.' and he went on
calmly smoking.
"Dr. F. E. kept running to the peepholes in the
drop.
"There isn't anybody out therWhe'd report,
'nobody coming in.'

-58
"'Don't worry. I'll fill it..you'll ses..I'll fill it.'
"Along the last they came pouring in; when it
was time for the lecture there wasn't standing room:
"Dr. Greene was a great figure in Yew Hampshire,
in his prime. He and his brother bought out the Hotel
Weirs before I had been there long, enlarged it tre-
mendously...added ninety feet on to the dining room,
alone...and changed the name to "The New Hotel Weirs."
But they wanted me to keep on managing it for them.
'°411e had a lot of greattimes there..with Dr. Greene.
"The Belknap County Fair at Laconia was a great
time for Dr. Greene. He had Carrie :Nation, ...yes,
hatchet and all...out there, once, for advertising.
He spent a pile of money on advertising. And while
Carrie was there the town was hers...as much of it as
Dr. Greene's money could buy.
"Speaking of Carrie Xation...Admiral Schley was
at the Yeirs at the same time, with his wife, his
son, and his son's wife. They were not stopping at
the hotel but he used to come in...sit on theplazza...
quite often. We became pretty well acquainted.
"Carrie Nation buttonholed me once on the grounds..
..wanted to be introduced to the admiral.
"I think it would be better,' I told her, 'to
find out first whether the admiral is willing to see
you; I'll ask him.'
"I went up into the grandstand where the admiral
was watching the performances, and asked him.

-59
"Who? Carrie Nationt Faughti He made a very
expressive Jweep with his arm. I sat meekly down by
his side and said no more.
"Very fond of good stories, was Admiral Schley.
His wife didn't seem to think so much of some of his
stories, but any good one made a hit with the Admiral.
Dockstadter's Minstrels was one of his favorite en-
tertainments when he was in New York.
fl, and the end man said to the interlocutor,
'Why is a little dog, sitting on the railroad track,
with his tail cut off....why is it a wholesale dog?'
"'Why is it a wholesale dog?...why is it a...
why....well, why is it a wholesale dog?'
"Because it canAbe re -tailed.'
"the admiral would laugh over those stories...
funny how those worthless little things will stick in
a man's memorylisn't it?
"I said to him one time, when we were sitting on
the piazza, looking over Lake Winnipesaukee.
"'Admiral, you can sit here and pretend you are
watching for that Spanish fleet to come out, out there.,
"Ahl that't it,' he replied, 'the everlasting
waiting...waiting...waiting...watching. That's what
gets on a man's nerves....the suspense. When the enemy
finally comes out, and action begins, you don't think
anything about it.'

"They wanted to honor him at the fair so they
presented him with a handsome clock. In replying the
admiral drew himself up:
"'This is an occasion to be doubly honored..it
happens to be the anniversary of our marriage.
"'Isn't he the biggest liar,' laughed Mrs. Schley
under her breath, to me, 'we weren't marAed anywhere
near this day.'
"But I guess I'm off my track; I was talking
about Carrie Nation. They had her out at the Buffalo
fair, later.
"I remember Dr. Greene coming down by the hotel
one morning...spanking team he had...all rigged out.
he called to me:
"'Willis, I'm one my rev down to the depot to
buy tickets for Buffalo. I'm going to buy two tickets.
..or three, whichever you say.'
"'Why, I don't know anything about your business
...how do I know what you wantV
"Two tickets...or, three..which shall it be?'
"I don't know...don't you know what you want?'
"'Two tickets....or three?' And, I gosh,
he sat there throwing that at me until I said,
"You mean you want me to go with you? No I don't
want to go.'
"'Two tickets...or, three?'

-61
"'NO, I can't travel in your crowd.. .1 haven't
money enough.'
"'Oh, pshawt That don't need to worry you.
"You really went me to go?'
"'Of course I want you to go.'
"Well, make it three, then.'
"We went, Dr. Greene, his wife, and I. His wife's
sister got on a Ayer. About the first thing we noticed
at the Fair was a poster announcing the appearance of
Carrie Nation.
"You suppose that's the real Carrie?' wondered
the doctor.
"Wean tell pretty easy,' said I.
"Into the place where Carrie was advertised to
be, we went. But no Carrie. Everything else came on
the stage...but no Carrie.
"Told you 'twas a fake...knew it,' blurted doctor,
disgusted. I called a young fellow, scurrying arounA
the place, and asked :him.
"'Yes, sir, she's here. She's been on, a little
while ago; it's pretty near time for her2 againInow;
you watch that door,' pointing, 'and you'll see Carrie
Nation come out there.'
"Sure enough, in a few minutes, out came Carrie.
"She hadn't more than got fairly out when Dr.
Greene rushed up to the platform.

-62
"'Hello) Carrie,' he burst out, right before
the crowd; 'remember me, don't you?'
"She looked a little blank...tried to remember.
"Is it ---is it...let me see...Brown?'
"'No, no; don't you remember Laconia, New Hampshire?'
"Oh, sure, I doll Her face lighted up. 'is
Dr. Greene.'
"Pleased as a boy) the doctor shook hands with her.
"'Carrie, the town's yours...the whole town's yours.'
"Wait till I Let through here, and I'll go with
you.'
"We all set out together.
"You know, Doctor, they don't believe.., a lot
of them don't _• .that I'm the real Carrie Nation. They
think I'm a fake...dressed up to imitate Carrie. I
wish you'd tell them I am the real Carrie.'
"And ,(gosh, he did...took her by the arm) walked
her right out into the midway, and gave her an intro-
duction. He made a slick talk for her...gave her a
send-off.
*But didn't he get a dressing down from Ili's. Greene!
"How you looked out there.. .like a common barker...
a aisgracell Oh) she gave him a good combing down.
"When Dr. Greene decided to run for Congress from
this state he went into it with all the characteristic
methods of advertising. He had Jim French for
manager of his campaign ....and plenty of money to backhim.

-63
"Willis,' he told me one day,' I'm going to
give the boys a banquet at the hotel...big affair..
can you manage it?'
"How many?'
"We'll make it for a h ndred, I guess.'
"'That won't worry me any,' I told him.
"Next day he revised the list.
"'Make it for a hundred and twenty-five.'
"The list kept on growing. Next day it was a
hundred and fifty; two or three days after that it
was three hundred; in a week more it was five hundred.
"Think you can do it, Willis? I want it pretty
slick.'
"Twon't worry me any; the man over there in
the Castle,— gesturing toward Long Island--' is
doing all the worrying.'
Dr. F.E. cRme around...he was more of the timid
kind than Dr.J.A. ...worried.
"'Think you can manage it..pretty big affair,
you know.'
"'My answer was always the same.
"'Fellow over there in the Castle's doing all
the worrying.'
"'Forgot all about the band I've got coming,' Dr.
Greene burst in, a day or two after he had set five
hundred as the limit,' You'll have to make it twenty-
five more.'

"I got me a fellow I thought would make a pretty
slick -haired head waiter...combed the country around
for waitresses...fifty-six we finally had, toA down
the portieres which hung in the archways dividing off
sections of the big dining room, and set tables right
through the whole length. Off on one side we had a
smaller room for the family and intimates.
"That slick -haired boy had those fifty-six girls
all tangled up in no time. I fired him and asked my
wife, here, if she could take hold and straighten
things out. She thought she could, and2 by gosh, she
did..slicXer ,n a whistle.
"We had everything sizzling when I heard the
band strike up down by the depot. I looked out. There
was the crowd, coming from the train, the band in the
lead, marching in f:/Illation, Dr. Greene at the head,
marching ."tum-tum-de-tum....tarrrrrr-umphv turn -turn.
up to the hotel.
"We had them seated and things coming on, slicker,n
grease...thanks to her,' nodding toward his wife,
everything going without a hitch.
"Dr. Greene would sidle up.
"How're things going? Worried any, Willis?'
"Not a mite...take more'n a thing like this to
worry me any.'
"Then Dr. F,E. came around.
"'Worried any, Willis? This is a pretty big
thing, you know'.

-65
came
"Then George Armstrong..then another. .and
another. .all worrying over the banquet..Jim French,
and all of them.
"But it went over without a hitch..iperfect.
"After it was all over George W. Armstrong
to me.
"'Signed up with Greene for another
"'No, not yet.'
"I've got anyone of three jobs you
year?'
can have,
the restaurant at Boston,..Worcester...or Springfield)
if you'll come with me.'
"But I didn't go.
"What's that? Did Dr. Greene get elected to
Congret? No...lost out by three votest,
A
"Doctor Greene was elected mayor of Laconia afterward.
"No2 no) no...I was never in the army. That title
of 'Colonel' you've noticed was given me by Dr. Greene...
thoqght 'twould put me on a level with the G.A.R. I
don't think they liked it very well....but it stuck.
I even get letters to -day addressed to 'Colonel' F.C.Willis.
"You've probably noticed, as we've been talking
about those old times and the men that moved around in
them, that there was a different spirit among them than
seems to be among people to -day. As I look back, there
was more helpfulness toward one another...less jealous
competition..not so much gouging into the business of the
otner man.

"Take those old-time hotel men...they acted as
if there was lots of room and plenty of business for
all of them. Of course I know the cabins, and the
trailers) and the tea-rooms, and the tourists' homes
on every street, have cut terribly into the hotel
business. There's more excuse for fighting one another,
now....I know.
"But it wasn't so then; plenty of room for all
the hotels we had in the mountains. There was Bethlehem..
the Profile House, with right around five hundred rooms...
The Flume House....the 1Tew Hotel Weirs...and lots of
smaller ones.
"There was Richard Taft, one of the pioneers....
and Charles H. Greenleaf...of the Profile House...
knew them well. Speaking of them recalls a story which
Seth Ford told me about those two, years ago...illustrates
what I've been saying.
I'Seth Ford was the oldest stage driver among the
lot of them that drove into the Profile House, in my
memory. He told me that) as a young man) Charles Green-
leaf used to work for Richard Taft, as clerk, or some
such office position. He was such a competent young
fellow that Mr. Taft offered to take him into partner-
ship. Greenleaf accepted.
"The next season wasa poor one in the mountains..
about everybody lost money....Taft and Greenleaf among
the rest...hit pretty hard.. Greenleaf's share of the

-67
business wasn't anywhere near equal to his previous
salary, working at his old job. He was pretty well
discouraged...wished he'd known enough to have stayed
in his old job...and all that.
His downheartedness came to hr. Taft's attention.
He called Greenleaf in.
"'I understand,' he told him, that you're feeling
pretty blue...all discouraged over what you got out
of this year's business.'
"Greenleaf owned up to it, and explained why.
"Well, Mr. Greenleaf, you mustn't let one poor
season discourage you, we, all, have to stand losses,
once in a while. That's part of doing business. We
moreln make up for it in the good seasons, and there's
more good seasons than bad.'
"But Greenleaf couldn't just see it that way.
"Now,' offered hr. Taft) 'if you would rather
come back into your old job) and have your regular
pay...I'll take you back.'
"Greenleaf jumped at the chance.
"But afterward, when he'd had a chance to see
how things worked out he wanted to go back into partner
.ship with Er. Taft, and he to :k him in again. They
formed the Profile and plume Hotels Company. That's
what Seth Ford told me. Of course that was before my
day.
"I can't remember back to a time when this state

-68
was not a prohibition state..always was, so far as
my recollection goes. But I always kept liquor in
my hotels, for the guests...except the Hotel Windham,
at Bellows Falls, and at York 3each, in Line.
',There were never any drunks in my hotels. People
years back knew how to use liquor, at least the class
of folks which came to my hotels did. They weren't
liquor hogs; didn't try to run the glasses over, to
get a spoonful more. One drink was enough...or, per-
haps, two, if there was two or three together.
"And I was very careful who I sold to. If a man
came around who as known to be inclined to drink too
much, I'd say,
"Bar's closed.'
"I was never even spoken to about handling liquor.
We carried, in the sample rooms, about all kinds of
wines and cordials; whiskeys, gins, beer. We didn't
sell much ber, though...not much demand for it. I
mixed the drinks myself. I never had a baraender
until along the last of my being in the hotel business.
But I never drank...except very occasionally, when it
was necessary to be social. I smoked, though. You
see, I love a pipe now. But I never smoked anything
but cigars in my hotels. Fellow in those summer hotels
has to be pretty careful about appearances.
"I guess somebody tried to have some fun with me,
once, at the Weirs. There was a big crowd around that
day...Old Home Week, I think...or some such occasion...

-69
..and I was tipped off that I was going to be raided,
at the hotel...depAy sheriff tipped me off, I think.
"I took the precaution of going to Judge Charles
Stone.
"What's the fine this year, on selling liquor?'
I asked him.
On whiskeywhard.liquor....about $35 or $40...
beer, less...aboJt $5 or $10)' he told me.
"But they didn't raid me, after all.
"And the dogs in the dining rooms...another thing
we had to be careful about. It got so I had to make
strict rules about.
"A woman came in one day; to dinner. She had a
dog on a string. The head waiter stopped her as she
was entering the dining room.
"Our rules forbid dogs in the dining room, Madams.
sorry.'
"Her dudgeon was up at once.
"'You mean to say I can't take my dog into the
dining room with me? He's just as good as I am...he
won't make a bit of trouble,'
"'Very soapy, madam; our rules won't allow it.
The porter will take your dog. and take very good care
of it while you are in the dining room but it can't
go in there'
"'Well, I'll see the proprietor.'
"She came to me.

-70
"'The head waiter is right,' I told her; 'you
see, you might be one who wouldn't object to dogs in
the dining room; there might le a hundred more who
would, so we've had to make very rigid rules.'
"And my dog can't go in?'
"'No, madam, sorry.'
"'Well) if my dog can't go
I won't go anywhere my dog can't
in there) I won't go;
"'That madam, is entirely up to you...I have
explained ou-Krule4.,
"She went off) her nose very high in the air.
"The cabins and the automobile trailers have
come in since my day. itnd they've put a hole in the
hotel business, as I knew it. I don't know very much
about it. I was up here above Plymouth at Camp City
a short time ago. A man who looked like he could afford
any accomodations he
night. That told me
the hotel business.
wanted was hiring a cabin for the
a lot about what's happening to
But somebody else will have to
tell about that..I've talked about the old-time hotel
business...so much I guess you're pretty tired."