Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 93., October 1, 1887 — John Shaqi
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 93., October 1, 1887Various
General
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 93., October 1, 1887
Various
English wit and humor -- Periodicals
By the way, at the top of the daily menu at the Continental Hotel the
_déjeuner à la fourchette_ at 11 A.M. is styled "LUNCH." PULLER resents
this as strongly as he does a waiter's answering him, "Yees, Sare," when
he has given an order in his best French. Now this meal at 11 A.M. is
not an English lunch, but is the French _déjeuner à la fourchette_. Is
it becoming the common practice in hotels on the Continent? If so, the
English will soon remember that they don't come abroad for lunch--they
can "lunch" well enough at home--but they do come abroad for _déjeuner à
la fourchette_, and, if they do not get it, they will stay away.
"It's confoundedly insulting!" exclaims PULLER, indignantly. "Do they
think we don't know what a _déjeuner à la fourchette_ means? But, dash
it, you know," he goes on, in the tone of a man whom a very little more
of this sort of treatment would disgust with life generally, "they're
making everybody abroad so English." Then he repeats, "So English, you
know," in imitation of some American burlesque actor, and this has the
effect of restoring his good humour. He thinks the quotation so apt and
so humorous, that he expands in chuckles, and goes out of the
_salle-à-manger_ doing a step, and repeating, "So English, you know!"
The French, Spanish, and the visitors of various nationalities, shake
their heads, shrug their shoulders, and evidently hope he is harmless.
The waiters smile, and this reassures the guests.
* * * * *
The special merit of the Royat Drinking Waters and Baths consists in the
large amount of iron contained in them. Over the gates of the Park at
Royat, where the _Etablissement_ and _Buvettes_ are situated, should be
inscribed, for the benefit of English visitors, "Washing and Ironing
done here."
* * * * *
[Illustration: The Cravate au Moulin.]
_The Uncertain Bather._--My acquaintance MORDEL is another variety of
the genus _baigneur_. He is dissatisfied only with himself. He is
perpetually having a row with himself. The Hotel is good enough, he
says; the Doctor is all that can be desired. The baths and waters are
managed very well; but the question is, he says to himself, "Was I right
in coming here at all? Ought I not to have gone to Aix? or to Vichy? or
to Homburg? or to Mont Dore, or to La Bourboule?" "Well, but"--I say to
him, with a view to reconciling him to himself--"are the waters doing
you good?" He reluctantly admits that they are not doing him any
harm--as yet. In this state of uncertainty he remains during the whole
course of treatment, and, to the last, he is of opinion that he ought to
have gone to some other place, no matter where.
* * * * *
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