The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1877-12-20
Cool Reflections.

When one has run rapidly across
France, over Switzerland, down the
Rhine, and into the pretty capital of Bel
GUM, his face turning to London, he
ought to have some notes on the margin
of his memory. There should be COM
parsons of the new with the old, the
British with the Continental; or If his
home be in the newer continent of the
West, of both the one and the other with
the United States. At least one ought,
at such stage, to consider how much or
how little he has increased his knowledge
of the people whose lands he has trav-
ersed, and whether he be, if not sadder,
wiser man.
His reflections, indeed, may be a little
like the Brussels lace which invites his
attention as he walks the clean streets
of the city. For is not that costly fabric,
as one sees it in use, limited in quantity,
not new looking, of more interest and
value to the possessor than to any one
else, and commonly requiring an expert
to point out its beauties and assert its
worthl All which characteristics mark
the memoranda now to be set down, and
which might be entitled Brussels lace"
but for raising expectations among lady
readers, and failing to realize them.
In Venice ones mind is turned every
where to mosaics. They glitter in golden
hue on the wall of church and palace.
They employ in the modern and cheaper
form a multitude of hands, by whose
skill the glass limitations are brought into
the reach Of any one who can afford dol
lar in a toy-shop. And what mosaic is
our American life. So one must hun
dred times exclaim as he passes through
European lands. In one street may be
seen, for example, names not unknown in
the United States-Evarts, Cornell, and
Nanderpool. If we are responsible for
sign, "all kinds of American drinks sold
here" we are indebted to much of the
skill and taste laid out in arranging our
store windows TO Brussels and to Paris.
Indeed there is no branch of the Anglo
Saxon race with so little need to travel as
that which is settled in the United States
Germany is represented among US most
favorably. The German improves by en-
igration. He does not talk so loudly by
any means in New York as in the Father
land. One has not far to 90 in America
to see the Merchandising" and the
"Cigarren," and, better still, the industry
and Flooding thrift which make Germany
so powerful. We have fine specimens of
Switzerl and, and of Holland; and Italy
is sending us her children, let us hope to
be Invested of the features that render
them typical Italians. 1t will be no
mean triumph for American institutions
if, under them, these diverse races blend
into one harmonious whole, with all the
good retained ana the most of the evil
eliminated. Many, doubtless have, like
the present writer, counted the log hut
an original American popularity. But
one sees the exact thing in regions in
Switzerland where the pines were at
hand, even 10 the peculiar notchipg at
the corners, the filing up the spaces with
clay, and the roof TO match. So, one
has eaten "wsffies" in Philadelphia, their
goodness enhanced by the thought that
the idea was all our own. But when, all
along the Rhine, the waiter gives you,
with your ice, an attenuated, rectangular,
elegant, unsatisfyipg cake, its name en-
bossed on its side, els wafel, you have
to surrender bit of your complacency,
or get compensation in the thought that
the accompanying ''eis" is poor shadowy
image cold, pale ghost-of the whole
some, generous American ice. In the
matter of ice, indeed, one looks to the
West with unusual satisfaction. When
in immediate view of the glaciers, which
summer suns do not affect, one pays for a
scrap of ice, as an extra" added on to
candles in his bill, he feels thankful for
the ancieys of his own land, less pictur-
esoue in their wooden walls than those of
Switzerland, but more manageable and
useful. Indeed, it we could import a
couple of Alpine ranges, including Mt.
Blanc and Matterhorn-both which
would appear to immense advantage on
our orairies-it is difficult to see why ma
tive Americans should trouble themselves
by coming to Europe.
Seriously, We cannot help thinking that
the pair f,om Cortipertel travel IL over