The Mineral Springs of Western Virginia Author:William Burke Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER VII. WARM SPRINGS. Having finished our general remarks, we beg leave to introduce our reader to our friend, Col. John Fry, the worthy lessee and ho... more »st at the Warm Springs. Col. Fry is the son of a revolutionary patriot, and of a "good stock." He is a short, thick-set man; graceful, gay and courteous in his manner. In anecdote and story telling, he is unrivalled ; and such, indeed, is his fund of the latter, that he is sometimes compelled to have recourse to his list by way of memorandum, as the devotee to his beads. It were worth the while of the dyspeptic to spend some days with him, if it were only to laugh himself into good humour. Although probably on the shady side of three-score years, he can cut a "pigeon whig " with the youngest and most buoyant; and as a ladies' man, he bears the palm from all competitors. But while he is lively withthe gay, he can be grave with the austere, and can accommodate himself to the dispositions of his guests with a facility we have never seen surpassed, and which can only be attained by constant intercourse with mankind. It is persons thus constituted that are alone suited for tavern-keepers. It is an art that, like riding or .swimming, must be learned in early life; and we would say to him, whoever he may be, that has not been thus early indoctrinated, exchange the pursuit for some other more congenial avocation. Qui semel aspexit quantum dimissa petitis Prtestent, mature redeat repetatque relicta. " The Hotel, according to Col. Perkins, is 150 feet in length, built of brick, with a piazza 15 feet wide; the lodging chambers are large and the fare good." The accommodations we should think sufficiently extensive for 100 persons. The Warm Spring Bath is one of the greatest subjects of curiosity in Western Virginia. We we...« less