New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-09-20

ton ar 10 have suggested tho satirical pictures vi
Dickens and Thackeray. In spite oil generany P'o
vailing opinion to the contrary, we tnin" no u"p'
diced observer Of English life and manners can can IN
ouestion such statements as the following: England
is n mellow country and the English people are mel
Inv people They have hung on the tree OF nations
long time and will no doubt hang as much longer; Ior
windfalls reckon not the order In TINS Island we
are pitched several degrees higher In TINS country by
contrast things here loud sharp. and garsh Our ge
oRraphy is loud; the manners of the people are loud
our climate Is loud very loud. dry and sharp and full
Of violent changes and conrasts and gongsout and
coninrs-n as nation are anything but silent Do we
not occasionally give the door extra slam, Just for e
feet In England everything is on lower Key, slower
steader gentler Life is doubt, as full or fuller IN
its material forms and but less violent and az
gressve The buffers the English have between their
cars break the shock typical OF much one sees
there All sounds softer in England; the surface OF
things is less hard The eye OF day and the face Of
ture are less bright Everything has mellow subdued
cast There abrupness in the landscape no sharp
and violent contrasts, brilliant and striking tints
in the foliage soft, yellow, pale sunlight Is al
one sees in the way of tints along the borders
Of the Autumn woods. English apples very
small and inferior, by the way) are not so highly
coored as ours The blackberres just ripeng In Octo-
ber are less pungent and acid and the garden yegea
bes such as cabbage celery, cauower beet and other
root crops are less rank and brous and am very clear
that the meats also tenderer and sweeter There can
be doubt about the superiority OF the mutton anu
the tender and succuent grass and the moist and agree
-. a,t-.o.o ,,rs, toll rnon the beef Also" " In
keeping with this elemental control and moderatlon'
found the character and OF the people genter
and sveeter than had been led to believe they WERE
No loudness brazennoss impertinence; no oaths, no
staggering no leering women no rreverence no NIP
pancy no bullying, insoence OF porters OF eer VI
conductors importantly Of bootbaeks or he"sooys
no Omnvorousness of hackmen-at least, comparatively
none-all Of which American ia apt 10 nouce anu
hope appreciate. In London, the booback saues you
with respectful bow, and touches his cap and would
no moro think OF pursuing you or answering your refusal
than he would Of jumping into the Thames. The same
IS true OF the newsboys II they were to scream ana Del
low in London as they do in New-York or Washington
they would be suppressed by the police as they ought
to he. The vender OF papers stands at the corner
of the street, with his goods in his arms ana
large plaCard spread out at his feet giving
in big letterss the principal news-headngs'"
have said the English are sweet and mellow people.
There is indeed charm about these ancestral races
that goes 10 the heart And herein OF the pro
foundest surprises of my visit namely that in coming
from the New World TO the Old from people the most
recently out OF the woods of any to one OF the rpest
and venerabest Of the European nationalues should
find simple youthful, andless sophisticated
than the one had left behind Yet this was my i'm
preston We have lost immensely in some things and
what we have gained is not yet obvious dehna-
BILE We have lost in reverence in LONELINESS, In heart
and conscencein virtue. using the word in Its proper
sense To some the difference which note may appear
difference in favor of the greater 'cuteness' widea
wakeness and enterprise OF the American but 1t Is sim
ply difference expressive Of greater forwardness
We are a forward people, and tho god We worship Is
smarness In one of the worst tendencies Of the age
namely an impatient superficial, journalistic ntellectu
atty and glbness, America, in her polite ana literary
circles no doubt leads all other nations. English books
and newspapers show homely yeracity, more sin
geness of purpose in short character than ours
The great charm of such Darwin for instance
is his simple manness and transparent good faith and
the absence him of that nical selfcompacen smart
ness which the bane Of literature even the larger
hotels of Liverpool and London have private cosy,
home character that is most delightful On entering
them, instead Of finding yourself in sort OF public
thOroughfare or political caucus amid crowds OF men
talking and smoking and splitting with stalls on either
side where cigars and tobacco, and books and papers,
are Sold you perceive you in something like larger
hall of private house with perhaps pIror and coffee
room on one side and the office, and smokngroom, and
stairway on the other. You may leave your coat and
hat on the rack in the hail. and stand your umbrella
there also with fun assurance that you will find them
there when you want them, if it be the next morning or
the next week. Instead of that petty tyrnt the hotel
clerk a young woman sits IN the Office with her sewing
or other needlewor and quietly receives She gives
you your number card, rings for chambermaid to
show you TO your roo and directs your luggage TO be
sent up and there something in the look Of things.
and the way they done, that goes 10 the light spot
at once"