Tavern keeper

“ Ward’s tavern is a large frame house, on the north side of the road, with a spacious porch in front, and a large wagon yard conveniently attached, and was a favorite stopping place for old wagoners. The old house is still standing, unused, because not needed as a tavern, but it remains a prominent landmark of the road, carrying the mind back to the period of its enlivening scenes and moving pageants. Daniel Ward was a pronounced type of the old tavern keeper. He was rather a large man, not fleshy, but broad shouldered, with a slight stoop. ”

“ It was not carried from home because tavern-fare was expensive,—a “cold bite” was but twelve and a half cents, and a regular meal but twenty-five cents; but the tavern-keeper did not expect to serve meals to this class or to such a great number of travellers. His profits were made on [Pg 318] liquor he sold and sleeping room he gave. The latter was often simple enough. Great fires were built in barroom and parlor; each driver spread out a blanket or fur robe, and with feet to the fire, the semicircle slept the sleep of the healthy and tired and cider-filled. Ten cents this lodging cost ”

“ The tavern, in the middle ages, was the resort of very miscellaneous company; gamblers and loose women were always on the watch there to lead more honest people into ruin, and the tavern-keeper profited largely by their gains; and the more vulgar minstrel and “jogelour” found employment there; for the middle classes of society, and even their betters, frequented the tavern much more generally than at the present day. In the carved stalls of the church of Corbeil, the liquor merchant is represented by the figure of a man wheeling a hogshead in a barrow, as shown in our cut No. ”

“ None of the old tavern keepers made profit from the sales of liquor. They kept it more for the accommodation of their guests, than for money making purposes. There was probably a tavern on every mile of the road, between Cumberland and Wheeling, and all combined did not realize as much profit from the sales of liquor in a year as is realized in that time by one licensed hotel keeper of Uniontown, at the present day. ”

“ The tavern-keeper is, politically, a quadrupled personage. He combines the four offices of post-master, justice of the peace, town council, and publican; and is considered a monstrous small person with all. ”

“ I am no enemy to tavern-keepers. They are a useful class of men. Their offers of kindness to the stranger and the traveller, ought to be remembered and repaid. The worst effects of ill-conducted taverns are felt, not by the wayfaring-man, for whose behoof the inn is instituted, but by the throng of villagers and neighbours, who have, or who ought to have, homes of their own; who need no tavern, and who resort thither from idleness, from love of excitement, or from beastly appetite. ”

“ Loosley and Elms remained in the city, and becoming landlords of the King’s Head, showed themselves the most pronounced loyalists and tried in every way to please the British officers. Their house became a favorite and they were very successful in their business. The officers of the army and navy and those connected with the service were the best customers of the taverns, and the tavern-keepers did everything they could to gain their favor. No tavern-keeper could do business if not loyal to the crown of England, in appearance, at least. ”

“ A house in which travellers are entertained is denominated a tavern, inn, coffee-house, hotel, or house of public entertainment; and an individual who keeps a house of this description, is called an inn-keeper or tavern-keeper. ”

“ Duxbury folk were circumspect and sober, and desired innkeepers of cooler blood. Mr. Seabury, one of the tavern inspectors, was granted in 1678 “to sell liquors unto such sober-minded neighbours as hee shall thinke meet; soe as hee sell not lesse than the quantie of a gallon att a tyme to one pson, and not in smaller quantities by retaile to the occationing of drunkeness.”
The license to sell liquor and keep a tavern explained clearly the limitations placed on a tavern-keeper. ”

“ The poker used in the old road taverns was of a size commensurate with the fireplace, often being seven or eight feet long. Each landlord was Keeper-of-the-Poker in his own tavern, and many were particular that none but themselves should touch the great fire, which was one of the main features of their hospitality, after the quality of the food and drink. ”

“ GATE-WAY OF A CARAVANSARY.
The guide explained that the place they had entered was a caravansary or inn (usually called a khan) , and that it might be taken as a fair sample of the Oriental hotel. "The rooms," said he, "are let out to travellers or merchants for a small sum, and the keeper will provide food for man and beast, just as a tavern-keeper would in America. The rooms have no furniture, nothing but the bare walls, and floors; the occupant spreads his carpet and bedding on the floor, and if he has any merchandise he piles it up, and can, if he chooses, convert the place into a shop. ”

“ Though to-day somewhat shadowed by a formless reputation of being frequently applied to hostelries of vulgar resort and coarse fare and ways, the word tavern is nevertheless a good one, resonant of sound and accurate of application, since to this present time in the commonwealth of Massachusetts and in other states such large and sumptuous caravansaries as the Touraine and the Somerset Hotel of Boston are in the eye and tongue of the law simply taverns, and their proprietors inn-holders or tavern-keepers. ”

“ Licenses to keep houses of entertainment were granted with the condition that the tavern must be near the meeting-house—a keen contrast to our present laws prohibiting the sale of liquor within a certain distance of any church. A Boston ordinary-keeper, in 1651, was granted permission to keep a house of common entertainment “provided hee keepe it neare the new meeting-house.”
Leather Black-jack.
Those who know of the old-time meeting-house can fully comprehend the desire of the colonists to [Pg 14] have a tavern near at hand, especially during the winter services. ”

“ The tavern-keepers encourage this, because it promotes their trade; and the games being carried on in front of their caverns (for such they really are) leads to incessant “treating.” In this way, what between entertaining his friends and losing his money at play, it often happens that the ill-advised vignaiuolo returns to his home with his pockets empty; and the next day the wife would come in tears to tell her sorrows to the good father. Even our Paolino was never contented without an hour or two at bowls on Sunday afternoon. ”

“ The assembly, like the common council, were inclined to meet at taverns for the transaction of public business, where they were evidently surrounded by a more cheerful atmosphere than in the cold halls of legislation and justice. Where the room was warmed by a large and lively fire in the spacious fireplace, and the inner man warmed and exhilarated by good old wine, business was transacted with more cheerfulness and alacrity. The Black Horse Tavern was the scene of many such meetings, and, no doubt, of some very exciting ones. ”

“ The early taverns were not opened wholly for the convenience of travellers; they were for the comfort of the townspeople, for the interchange of news and opinions, the sale of solacing liquors, and the incidental sociability; in fact, the importance of the tavern to its local neighbors was far greater than to travellers. There were many restrictions upon the entertainment of unknown strangers. The landlord had to give the name [Pg 4] of all such strangers to the selectmen, who could, if they deemed them detrimental or likely to become a charge upon the community, warn them out of the town. ”

“ An air of comfort and quiet broods over the whole town. Yellow moss clings to the seaward sides of the roofs; one's eyes are not endangered by the intense glare of painted shingles and clapboards. The smoke of hospitable kitchens curls up through the overshadowing elms from huge-throated chimneys, whose hearth-stones have been worn by the feet of many generations. The tavern was once renowned throughout New England, and it is still a creditable hostelry. ”

“ The conferences of the committees of the council and assembly were, no doubt, held at the best taverns in the city, at those frequented by the members, where at other times they talked of the affairs of state over their wine and spent a pleasant evening in social converse, changes being made as the quality of the taverns changed. At this period there were no clubs, such as exist today, no theatre, no newspaper. There was hardly a man in the community who did not habitually visit some tavern, where he met his friends and neighbors to talk over the news of the town. ”

“ Fronting the inn, on the river-terrace, hang the pendent branches of an aged willow-tree, the umbrageous spread of which has caused its utilisation as a shade for the horses of customers and wayfarers. A round dozen of these have just been released from durance, as their owners, warned of the closing hour, ride off into the night. The equestrian habit principally differentiates the tavern of the new country from that of the old. ”

“ Trust kills the Landlord.”
Still another:—
“If Trust,
I must,
My ale,
Will pale.”
Door-latch of
Washington Tavern.
The old Phillips farm-house at Wickford, Rhode Island, was at one time used as a tavern. It has a splendid chimney over twenty feet square. So much room does this occupy that there is no central staircase, and little winding stairs ascend at three corners of the house. On each chimney-piece are hooks to hang firearms, and at one side curious little drawers are set for pipes and tobacco. I have seen these tobacco drawers in several old taverns. ”

“ The tavern, it must be remembered, as a convivial resort, is the social antipodes of the back room of Squire Edwards' “store.” If you would consort with silk-stockinged, wigged, and silver shoe-buckled gentlemen, you must just step over there, for at the tavern are only to be found the hewers of wood and drawers of water, mechanics, farm-laborers, and farmers. ”

“ Master Blythe pivoted: every man in the taproom bounced to his feet and faced the doorway. A score of British tars raced down the cobbled street, swarmed around the tavern. An ensign brought up the rear. He sauntered through the door with cool insolence. He could afford to be cool. A hairy chested bos'n swishing a cat-o-nine-tails, and two hunch shouldered jack-tars with cutlasses trailed after him respectfully. They did the dirty work while the rest of the press-gang outside blocked escape! ”

“ Groups of men, variously occupied and variously composed, embracing all the usual company of a well frequented city tavern—from the staid and sober man of business, who smokes his pipe in peace, to the loud disputatious, half-tipsy town idler, who calls for more flagons than he can well reckon, and then quarrels with mine host about the shot—were disposed, some singly, others in social clusters, in cosy and luxurious ease at the stout oak tables which occupied the expansive chamber. ”

“ And then the country tavern, whose long shed and sanded hall give surety to the stranger and his beast of a comfortable noon-tide baiting; or, in the more solitary townships, where the places of entertainment are few and far between, the quiet nook by the forest road-side, where the dipper hangs beside the overflowing water-trough, and the guide-board measures out the long miles between him and his evening resting-place; each and all objects of pleasant recollection to the traveller, as he muses upon his journeyings in after life. ”

“ The study of tavern history often brings to light much evidence of sad domestic changes. Many a cherished and beautiful home, rich in annals of family prosperity and private hospitality, ended its days as a tavern. Many a stately building of historic note was turned into an inn in its later career. The Indian Queen in Philadelphia had been at [Pg 53] various times the home of Sir Richard Penn, the headquarters of General Howe and of General Benedict, the home of Robert Morris and Presidents Washington and Adams. Benjamin Franklin’s home became a tavern ”

“ The better class of old-time taverns always had a parlor. This was used as a sitting room for women travellers, or might be hired for the exclusive use of some wealthy person or family. It was not so jovial a room as the taproom, though in winter a glowing fire in the open fireplace gave to the formal furnishings that look of good cheer and warmth and welcome which is ever present, even in the meanest apartment, when from the great logs the flames shot up and “the old rude-furnished room burst flower-like into rosy bloom.” ”

“ A tavern is the best picture of human folly, nature wearing no garb of hypocrisy.
You must know that the Boar's Head had once been the home of the "Blackfriars," then a residence of a bishop, a convent, a brewery, and finally fell into the hands of the grandfather of [46] Dame Quickly, who bequeathed it to his posterity and the public as a depot for plum pudding, roast beef, lamb, birds, fish, ale, wine, brandy and universal pleasure. A boar's head, with a red light in its mouth was kept constantly burning from sunset to sunrise, where wandering humanity found welcome and rest. ”

“ A tavern is a degree, or (if you will) a pair of stairs above an alehouse, where men are drunk with more credit and apology. If the vintner's nose be at the door, it is a sign sufficient, but the absence of this is supplied by the ivy-bush. It is a broacher of more news than hogsheads, and more jests than news, which are sucked up here by some spungy brain, and from thence squeezed into a comedy. Men come here to make merry, but indeed make a noise, and this music above is answered with a clinking below. ”