The two fireplaces were cold and inhospitable; the pen at one end where the fiddlers sat was deserted; the wooden benches which fringed the sides were hard and forbidding; but long before any of us were born this room was the scene of many revelries; the vacant hearths were bright with flame; the fiddlers bowed and scraped; the seats were filled with belles and beaux, and the stately minuet was danced upon the polished floor.
The large dining-room and ballroom were added to the house something more than a hundred years ago; the little old dining-room and old kitchen in the rear of the bar still remain, but--like the bar--are no longer used.
The brass name plates on the bedroom doors--Washington, Lafayette, Howe, and so on--have no significance, but were put on by the present proprietor simply as reminders that those great men were once beneath the roof; but in what rooms they slept or were entertained, history does not record.
The automobile will bring new life to these deserted hostelries.
For more than half a century steam has diverted their custom, carrying former patrons from town to town without the need of half-way stops and rests.

Coaching is a fad, not a fashion; it is not to be relied upon for steady custom; but automobiling bids fair to carry the people once more into the country, and there must be inns to receive them.
Already the proprietor was struggling with the problem what to do with automobiles and what to do for them who drove them.

He was vainly endeavoring to reconcile the machines with horses and house them under one roof; the experiment had already borne fruit in some disaster and no little discomfort.
The automobile is quite willing to be left out-doors over night; but if taken inside it is quite apt to assert itself rather noisily and monopolize things to the discomfort of the horse.
Stables--to rob the horse of the name of his home--must be provided, and these should be equipped for emergencies.
Every country inn should have on hand gasoline--this is easily stored outside in a tank buried in the ground--and lubricating oils for steam and gasoline machines; these can be kept and sold in gallon cans.
In addition to supplies there should be some tools, beginning with a good jack strong enough to lift the heaviest machine, a small bench and vise, files, chisels, punches, and one or two large wrenches, including a pipe-wrench.

All these things can be purchased for little more than a song, and when needed they are needed badly.

But gasoline and lubricating oils are absolutely essential to the permanent prosperity of any well-conducted wayside inn..