The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1875-03-18
Social Habits of the Americans.

National habits, tastes and feelings diff
fer. and Americans, in several particulars,
are unlike their English relatives. The
Englishman is shy and exclusive. he
builds high wall around his house and
garden, to keep out the eyes OF the public.
The American builds a fine house andlay
out handsome garden, that Others may
see and enjoy them as well as himself.
Shut in and hidden they would lose half
their value. He builds ne6r the road, to
be better seen by the passers-by; and his
only fence is a low paling, as light and
open as possible. The Englishman likes
to eat and drink in private-shut up in his
room or close little box. The American
prefers large, gay, dining-room, and the
presence of many guests. What has ne 10
be ashamed of? He wishes to see and be
seen. He suns himself in the public gaze.
lie enjoys society, and enters into the life
around him. The more the merrier. The
larger the hotel, the bigger the steamboat,
the more people about him, the greater
his endowment. On the railway an Eng
lishman's ideal is TO be shut up alone, or,
at the most, with his little private party.
He has taken the coach with two seats fac
ing each other, so that half the passengers
must ride backwards as the model OF his
railway carriage. The American prefers
his spacious and handsome car with It's
fifty passengers. lie likes TO walk through
the train and find some one he knows.
He is not afraid of intruding, is gregariOus
lfand social-ready to discuss trade or poll
tics with a stranger, without buttoning up
his pockets. He is not afraid that some
person below his rank will claim his ac-
quaintance. He shakes hands with
the President, and discusses the coming
election with the blacksmi h or shoe
maker. He calculates to treat every we'll
behaved man like q gentleman, and every
woman is to him lady, to whom he is
courteous. respectful, and. if need be, pro-
| tective. Perhaps the most repulsive thing
an English traveller meets with in America
| is the want of any distinction of classes.
! On the railroad there is but one class and
one price, The best cars are, of course,
reserved for ladies and those who accom-
panv them; but all pay the same fare.
! The rudest American understands that
! lady. that any woman, has a prescrlpuve
right to the front seat at the show, to the
head of the table at dinner, to the best cab
ins and state-rooms on the steamer. and the
best ears in the railway train. She may
be rich or poor. mistress or maid these
are her right as woman. There is not a
steamboat running on the widest western
river where a male passenger ever lakeS
his seat at table until every woman Is
seated in her own place of honor. A hun
dred hungry men, with ahOt dinner smok,
ing before them, will patiently wait until
some young miss has fixed her last curl,
and taken her seat near the head OF the
table. And a lone woman, old or young,
pretty or ugly. may travel from one end
of America to the other. finding kindness,
civflity. and every assistance she needs
from every man she meets. There are
then, in price and privilege, no first-class
second class, or third-class passengers,
But there are on steamboats, deck-passen
gers, generally immigrants going West
or up the Mississippi; and Immigrant
trains, at very low rates, are run upon
some of the principal lines of railway. Blu
an American never travels by these trains
He puts on his Sunday clothes, pays ful
fare-ls high as the highest-and hold!
himself as good as the best.-Forty Year
of American Life, By DR.. Ntsols.