The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1876-11-11
Ourselves as others See Us.

We all like to know what others
think of us, even if their opinion
makes us wince; and recognizing
this fact, a bright newspaper man
has been chatting with the repres-
of the foreign nations at |
the Centennial show to learn their |
notions of the country and our
selves. The phlegmatic Turk is
astounded at our inquisiiiycness.
'They come up to your stand,
handle your goods, ask You all
sorts OF impertinent questions,
never apologize for troubling you,
but address you invariably with
the inevitable, how much 1--WE
fear the Turk makes a fair criti-
cism. Tho Frenchmau thinks our
mode of lite, so far as eating is
concerned, is detcstable. "Your
mode Of living" said one Of the
commissioners. sis the cause of
illness among your women, which
must affect tho whole race. The
undue use Office water, ice cream,
iced drinks Of all kinds, the abuse
of pepper and salt, arc all injurious
You need a public school to teach
the art of proper feeding" The
Belgian also dstests our mode OF
living and our cooking. He thinks
our national stomach must be out
of Order-not far out of the way
and we eat too much meat. While
we are exceedingly sociablc. we
have no cafes, aud drink too often
and too quickly; this is also the
Belgian's criticism. The. French
man. SO far our character Is conccr
ned thinks "the high appreciation
of number one docs much TO stunt
the Development of morality. The
Spanish declares MS to be "the
most hospitable people In the
world" The Italian thinks we
lack sentiment and principles. "To
achieve what you have done,H said
one Of the Italian Commission,
you have had to make a god-the
dollar-and u machine of your
country, u money-making appara-
tus." But the American women
puzzle the Italian the most. Says
this same commissioner:
81 ask myself concerning them
Is il innocence, virtue, Ingenious
ness, or what? They are the most
impcrtlnent creatures ever saw
They go up to a foreigner with
most perfect sang froid, stare him
out of countcnancc, ask him If he
is married, how many children he
has. where he comes from, and
know not what. Their excessive
freedom of manner 10 our hot
bloodcd people seems what hope
It is not. But they take the most
extraordinary liberties. Fancy I
pretty girl of eighteen laying hc'
little dimplcd hand on your arm
and asking you, navcly or boldly
l know not which, how YOU lik'
the American ladies! What th'
deuce can one think 7"
Like the Frenchman and Belgian
the Italian is disgustcd at our cook
ing. "You need thorough re
formation of your cuisine salt
one. "You have little or no va
riety Of food, and oh f! you lacl
good wines If you only had on
wines, You would have less publ
drunkenness The German Ia
ments The absence of domesti
life; but he seems torcgard Amel
ica as sort of promised land. al
: thiuks It especially paradise fo
: working men. The Austrian, lils
. the Turk, is disguised with tn
I national impoiteness. Said one
: "The people are pleasant enough
+ but the do not know the use of i
r words please and thank you
: aud seem to imagine that for II
4 admission pr1ce Of fifteen cen
J, they purchase the services,
6 guides, instructors. and playthin:
f ofall the exhibitors" And the
L we are WOefuliy ignorant. MO
of the American visitors here
said the same Austrian, "don
know the difference between Au
tria and Australia, and ask II
= how I like living In the bush. o.
= old lady asked me, just mo-
'c where is the Belgian and Braz
e ian stands? You know, tho pla
G. where they make bug jcwclry 0
u of bugs and that is only ono
IS stance from many hundreds"
TO A drunken inan got into {