The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1874-09-30
NOTES ON ENGLAND.
Racy American CFTtique ON English
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| Racy American CFgtIque ON English
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Kate Field writes in her " "Repuhli-
can notes on England" in the st. Louis
Republican Now 1t is perfectly
true that many Americans are exceed
inglv careless in their speech. They
do talk through their noses but it is
also true that this dreadful habit is an
English inheritance and not matter OF
climate, The native Americans voice
is cultural. It was our pilgrim
fathers who brought over the Wnlne
known in England as Suffolk sing
ing, which to-day, though banished
from London salons, may be heard IN
the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex,
and Cambridge. If our ancestors who
named Massachusetts counties after
their old homes had good ears for mu-
sic they would have left their noses be-
hind them, and their descendants would
rot now be twanging through life tothe
disgust of England's aristocracy. Now
nasaIity has so permeated the aSmos-
phere of New England that Its people
do not realize the affrOnt they put upon
their own vocal organs. Yet III spite OF
hereditary taint, the most musical Eng
lish in the world is spoken by cultivated
Bostonians. This fact upsetsth theory
of climate SO too does the other fact
that New England produces similarly
rich contralto singing voice OF which
that consummate artist Adelaide Phil
lips, her sister Matilda Phillips, who
Is now winning laurels in Italy, Annie
Louise Gary, aud Antoinette Sterling
are ever notable examples. The PurI-
tans are not alone to blame for the de-
fects in our speech. Tho negro has
1,aan orr hana in more than ono res~
ugct. ana southerners drawl and hatten
their yoweIs because their sable nurses
did SO before them. Nevertheless, the
cultured southern planter vii. often
sneak English without the slightest ac-
cent. Puritan and negro have spread
over the continent their vocal pecullar-
tiles, and until parents appreciate that
most excellent thing in man or woman,
a sonorous voice, and rear their children
carefully, Americans will suffer under
the inputation of being the worst
toned people.
/ was first startled by the absence OF
what can only be expressed by the
French word complaisanee. American
politeness is more nearly modelled upon
French than English manner. The aim
of an American in decent society is to
give as little offence as possible, to say
pleasant things even at the expense OF
unyarHished truth, and to place himself,
as well as those with whom he eonverses,
in the most agreeable light. The typl-
cal Englishman INDUCES in no such SEN
timentality. There is much more OF the
brute about him. He makes no effort
to please, but if you please him he Will
bask ii that pleasure as lizard basks
in sunshine, and once your friend can
be relied upon, He delights in chatt.
American society had rather tell pleas
ant lie than an unpleasant truth, In
England the natural and universal i'm
pulse--with exceptions, be it under
stood-is to say whatever comes upper
most, especially if it be something dis
agreeable, Yet the expression Is SO
uincuusuturrs as 10 lUnv0 NO poioO1l in bho
sting. The greatest grievance English
society nurses against us is what it calls
Ameticanisms. That forty millions OF
people should dare to invent words fills
John Bull. with unspeakable horror:
Our audacity in thus defling the we'll
of English is only equalled by our vul-
garity of tone, all Americans, according
to John Bull, speaking with nasal
twang. "Yes, all Americans, you ex-
cepted," exclaimed q very clever and
big hearted Epglishman one evening
while entertaining me at his own table,
st all Americans have dreadful twang.
They all talk through their noses. Z"
This gentleman had a very decided nasal
tone. Sc Perfectly true, " chined in one
after another, all good-naturedly, but
all in earnest.
One generation can undo the evil of
$50 years. AS for knowing anything
about us, apart from our always being
rich and always talking through our
noses. of course the majority of the
English upper classes do not and when
it comes to geography! "Know any
thing of American geography OF course
we DON'T exclaimed brilliant mem
ber of the commons. Why is 1t not
recorded that in the last war between
England and America our government
sent out water ior our fleets in the
great lakes, in complete Ignorance of
the fact that the water of these lakes
is fresh? Apart from the few English
men who have travelled in your country,
/ assure you that our knowledge is con-
fined to q faint perception of the exist
ence of New York and Boston. But
then we are not too we'll studied in any
geography. I'll wager that before the
war with Russia few Englishman knew
where the Crimea was. Is not this a
safe wager, Lady Blank 2"
ST am sure it is, replied our hostess;
&c even now I don't know where it is. I"
&c Not long since called on the Duke
of Argyle, the secretary for India,
said distinguished Indian to me. The
duke bears himself with gracious dig
nity and received me most courteously.
There was q map of India hanging up
in the room to which the duke turned,
and, pointing to q large desert, asked
me what sea it wasi This, from the
Indian secretary, struck me as amaz-
ing" I should think 80. But though
the English know not one state from
another. though I have been asked
whether there were not many Indians
in the vicinity Of Boston, though an in
tellieent traveller like Edmund Dicey
declares that we have no singing birds,
that all Americans have long neeks and
no Americans have curly hair, there is
one city on this continent with which
every Englishman is familiar, and that
is Chicago. The great fire advertised
Chicago on the banks Of the Ganges,
and gave it European prestige that no
other American city can rival, unless
it succeeds in being totally destroyed
by some devouring clement.
An Old Maid Badly Foiled.