Page:A hairdresser's experience in high life.djvu/79

Rh There was a goodly number of gentlemen there who bore the reputation of being rich, but it was far from so, as the club-room defrayed their expenses, as often as some young greenhorn would come there and leave as much behind as would keep these old hands in style as long as they pleased.

In August, there came a young gentleman from one of our large cities, and I know two families staid there at his expense; one of them was a little better satisfied this year, than the year previous; this season he was more with his family, and caught more greenhorns than last year, and paid the madame so well that she did not awaken all the neighbors scolding him, as she had done the year before, when he came home late.

Such families as these did not always stop at the United States, for I know numbers of them who used to stop at other places until their daughters were grown up, and then would come to the States; for it is a well-known fact that there is a style at the United States no other hotel there possesses.

If there is a large family, and it is too expensive for all to board at the United States, one is sure to board there, and the balance at some cheaper place, so that they can have the liberty of the parlor and grounds. Sometimes a lady gets mad, but if she has a son or a cousin, he will board there, and she somewhere else, so that she can come and go at pleasure.

One evening, during the crowded season, when there were about fifteen hundred people at the hotel, I concluded to look around and see how such a vast crowd would amuse themselves. First I looked into the parlor where two or three hundred people were collected