The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1874-09-25
NOTES ON ENGLAND.
Racy American CrItique on English
Mannerst

Kate Field writes in her 'tRepubli.
can notes on England" in the st. Louis
| Republican "Now it is perfectly
true that many Americans are exceed
ingly 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 whine
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
not now be twanging through life to the
disgust of England's aristocracy. Now
nasality has so permeated the atmos-
phere of New England that its people
do not realize the affront they put upon
their own vocal organs. Yet in spite of
hereditary taint, the most musical Eng
lish in the world is spoken by cultivated
Bostonians. This fact upsetsthe 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, and Antoinette Sterling
are ever notable examples. The Puri-
tans are not alone to blame for the de.
fects in our speech. Tho negro has
been our bane in more than one res
pect, and southerners drawl and fatten
their vowels because their sable nurses
did so before them. Nevertheless, the
cultured southern planter viii! often
speak English without the slightest &C
cent. Puritan and negro have spread
over the continent their vocal peculiar
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 imputation of being the worst
toned people.
was first startled by the absence of
what can only be expressed by the
French word complaisance. 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 |
unvarnished truth, and to place himself, |
as well as those with whom he converses,
in the most agreeable light. The typi-
cal Englishman indulges in no such SEN
There is much more of the
brute about him. He makes no effort
to please, but if you please him he will
bask in that pleasure as lizard basks
in sunshine, and once your friend can
be relied upon. He delights in chah
American society had rather tell a pleas
ant lie than an unpleasant truth. In
the natural and universal i'm
pulse with exceptions, be it under
to say whatever comes upper
most, especially if it be something dis
agreeable. Yet the expression is so
as to leave no poison in the
sting. The greatest grievance English
society nurses against us is what it calls
Americanisms. That forty millions of
people should dare to invent words fills
John Bull with unspeakable horror.
Our audacity in thus defiling the well
IF English is only equalled by our vul-
yarity of tone, all Americans, according
20 John Bull, speaking with a nasal
wang. eyes, all Americans, you ex-
exclaimed a very clever and
Dig hearted Englishman one evening
While entertaining me at his own table,
g all Americans have dreadful twaDg.
They all talk through their noses" l
This gentleman had very decided nasal ]
one. " Perfectly true" chimed in one !
lfter another, all good -naturedly, but
III in earnest.
One generation can undo the evil of s
80 years. As for knowing anything I
bout us, apart from our always being t
ich and always talking through our ]
loses, of course the majority of the 6
English upper classes do not and when '
comes to geography "Know any '
hing of American geography OF course I
We DON'T" exclaimed u brilliant mem L
,er of the commons. "Why is it not l
ecorded that in the last war between I
england and America our government t
ent out water tor our fleets in the
,reat lakes, in complete ignorance of I
he fact that the water of these lakes '
s fresh? Apart from the few English. f
nen who have travelled in your country,
assure you that our knowledge is con- /
med to faint perception of the exist S
nee of New York and Boston. But c
hen we are not too well studied in any c
I'll wager that before the l
7ar with Russia few Englishman knew c
7bere the Crimea was. Is not this a 6
afe wager, Lady Blank ?"
"I am sure it is, )" replied our hostess; C
even now I don't know where it is. )" v
Not long since I called on the Duke L
f Argyle, the secretary for India" t
aid distinguished Indian to me. "The C
uke bears himself with gracious dig t.
ity and received me most courteously. O
here was map of India hanging up
1 the room to which the duke turned,
nd, pointing to a large desert, asked
le what sea it was! This, from the Z
indian secretary, struck me as amaz- p
lg." I should think so. But though 4
le English know not one state from 8
mother, though I have been asked 4
neither there were not many Indians g
l the vicinity of Boston, though an in q
elligent traveller like Edmund Dicey n n
eclares that we have no singing birds, q
nat all Americans have long necks and 6,
o Americans have curly hair, there is h
ne city on this continent with which 2
very Englishman is familiar, and that Il
Chicago. The great fire advertised ~
hicago on the banks of the Ganges, 9.
nd gave it European prestige that no o. o.
ther American city can rival, unless !;
succeeds in being totally destroyed 9,
y some devouring element. h