RAMBLES AROUND DEVON. (pp. 47–48)
...It would be a fearful hardship
in these days of luxurious railway trains if we were forced to adopt
the ancestral methods of locomotion. The spirit of the times has
not only taught a speed, but it has schooled us in all the mysterious
agencies that contribute comfort and luxury while we travel. It
has quickened our perceptions, educated our tastes, and moved us
to demand and expect, even in the railway train that carries us,
comfort that our forefathers could never have dreamed of.
If the age of the stage coach was the picturesque, so the present
day of express trains is the era of luxury.
It is no disparagement to other lines to say that the Pennsylvania
Railroad has been the pioneer in improving the railway service
of America, and is now the embodiment of all that is progressive,
the exemplification of the modern methods of conveying passengers
from point to point. The evolution of the stage coach proceeded by
slow and halting steps. First there was the tramway, on which the
effort was made to propel cars by the use of sails; then came the.
utilization of horses as motive power, and finally the crude attempts
at traction engines. Each of the methods have seen service on
what is the Pennsylvania Railroad of to-day, and from such an
humble origin has developed the splendid system of transportation,
which is recognized universally as the best managed and best appointed
railroad corporation in the world.
Those intending to spend the summer at Devon find ready at
hand a train service which would make their grandfathers stare in
wide-eyed amazement. There are half-hourly trains from Broad
Street, with bright and cheery passenger coaches kept clean and
comfortable, andl many trains are expressed through to Devon on
quick schedules, few stops, and at so frequent intervals that city
people may enjoy all the pleasures of a summer outing, and yet
never neglect the supervision of their business affairs.
Such are the means of transportation to the Devon Inn. When
we reach it we find a substantial building of stone and brick of large
size and quaint design. The rooms are so large as to give spacious
accommodation to all the two hundred and fifty guests—and the
halls, parlors, reading and smoking rooms and card rooms are all of
the most attractive and convenient arrangement. The Inn was
built in 1884, and has been a summer residence for a very extensive
patronage ever since.
It has all the conveniences and comforts of the best city hotels-including
fifty rooms with private bath attached.
Since last season the electric light has taken the place of gas in
all the rooms—ministering to comfort and health almost as efficiently
as the ample supply of pure water fresh from the Devon Springs, and
the wonderfully complete system of hygienic drainage which is in
use. The surrounding country is full of beautiful sites for those
who fall so much in love with the locality as to 'want to buy land
and build for themselves; the Inn is comfortable and filled always
in summertime with bright and pleasant people, who find amusement
there without toil, luxury without great expense, cool nights,
merry days, and good fare at all times.
Shall we not this summer go to Devon and take our ease in our
Inn?
The Devon Inn has been conducted since 1882 by H. J. & G.
R. Crump, of Philadelphia, and will re-open Saturday, May 28th,
for the season of 1892.
H. J. & G. R. CRUMP.
COLONNADE HOTEL. PHILADELPHIA.
DEVON INN. DEVON, PA.
