New-York tribune., 1878-03-28
DIR. DALE ON AMERICA.
HIS IMPRESSIONS PUBLISHED.

THE NON-CONFORMiST DIVINE WhiihS IN q rhA"S>D~A
TONE ON AMERICAN sOcIETY-HE FINDS AMER
ICANs RESERVED AND RET1CENT. But GooD-SA-
TuRED AND uosPITABIE-YALE DEEMED CON
sERvATIvE BY HIM.
truov r,,p ppcur Az CORRESPONDENT or TRIBUSE.l
LONDON, March I've arc 10 have apparently
anotber English book on America. The Rev. H. w.
Dale who visited you and lectured to you last year.
has published the first of series OF articles giving
his npre of the people and country Lei me say
at once that there Isnothng in the tone OF tbs hrs
stalment which appears in The Nineteenth century, 10
touch the suscepibilities Of the most susceptible
patriot nothing in any way resembling Inc spi'eiui
lampoons of Captain Basil Hail. or the prepostefous
carlcatures of Dickens. Mr.. Dale has begun Win
the most delicate part of Lis subject Ills hist paper
deals with Society. He does not pretend 10 ha.o
made complete study of this or any o'ner Sue
Of American hfe modestly doubling, indeed,
wbetber n traveller wi,o sailed from Liverpool on
the 1st of Septenber and reached 1t again on the
18th of November has a right to express any opin-
io, at Ion America and the American people Butn
s ploin he has made good use of his Eme lie knew
what he wanted to see. He set out with gooa
stock of that sympathy and kindly interest IN the
thing TO be seen which seems. after all, the oes' par
of spectacles man can have Inc man "ho "cai'
tbe,n GETS clearer and truer view OF things than ne
who eouips himself at starting with critical micro
scope. So. without pretending to thorongh knowi-
edge. Mr. Dale saw enough to convince MN t'ia'
some of the representations of the American people
which have become popular in England are gross
and slanderous libels.
Nor is Mr.. Dale the fir. to make this astonishing
discovery. have heard a similar remark made by
not n few Fnglishmen who have travelled III what
they call "thc states.D have even heard II denied
that the American is inqusitive person. iroles-
sor Huxley is one of those who have borne such tes-
timony in many companies. lie has orteh oceh
known TO say that during all his journeys III
America only once did a stranger seek TO pegin Il
conversation with him. He rather sought than
avoided opportnitics: used to ride in smoking cars
and on platforms with view to talk, ms Air. Daie
also did with more copious results. The one cx-
ception the man who broke the general silence was
a Missouri planter. lie apologized Tor II on the
ground that he had mistaken Mr. Huxley for
Southerner of the sane class rs himself. Mr.. Dales
testimony is to much the same effect.
To put il in the strongest way, Mr.. Dale declares
that as q rule the Americans appeared to him 10 De
more reserved than the English themselves; VINO
long since won the reputation OF being the most
inpenetrable people in Europe. On other points he
speaks IN a still more admirng tone. He was
struck with the extreme gentleness OF American
manners: aud so was an English friend who had
with pleasure something of the od-fashioned formal
courtesy which has now almost disappeared in this
country. He even has good word to say for the
manners of American servants. whom he thonght
respectful and attentive, though "a certain some
thing with which we are familiar on this side Of the
Atlantic is absent" Even 10 Mr.. Dale, ready as he
was with his dollar bills. they made 1t clear thai
they do not suppose their master and masters
gnests belong TO superior race. with anotner
month or two of experience. he might have learned
that they wonld be very much surprised at hearing
the title master applied to the employer whose
wages they condcscend to accept lie iohh''' VI
fapcied. that the servants took quite hospifahle
interest in him: fact more or less explica"ie
by the dollar bills above referred To.
particular New-Haven housemaid left strong
impression on Mr. Dale. This damsel was
an inmate of the household of the friend with
whom our Engislrnan had been staying. When he
called to saw good-by the friend was ont, but the
honsemaid who opened the door understood the OBJ
iect of nv cal and hoped | well, and that
had had pleasant time in America, and That
should have a good voyage. and hnd All wen III
bomer And tins adventurous foreigner advances
the opinion that the girl did her work none the
worse because she felt herself at liberty to speak IN
this way 10 her masters friend. II he has ever
travelled in France he must have witnessed smi-
lar phenomenon scores of times. But neither IN
France nor in any other civilized country, America
excepted would lac have met the counterpart of the
American coaclman Il greve 10 say he was black.
who answered his nIistresss question about closed
qa,e with brutal Don't know: hadn't Won better
get down and ask ~ There is much more interest
ing matter on this servant question. but must 20
back 20 wlnt Mr. Dale says of their masters.
The manners of educated American society re-
minded Mr. Dale Of Miss Ausien's novels. Polite
ness q word which has very much gone out of nse
in England still survives in America; :" whence he
naturally infers that the thing which the word de-
notes also survives ard TINT there is more OF ii
there in ordinary life than in England. The very
children of whom, poor things the worst things are
believed IN Europe. he found respectful to their
parents. Their use of the word SIT" to their
father struck him, and he asked whether 1t was ems
tomary. "Oh, yes" was the answer Is il not Gus
tomary in Englandi We teach our children to do
it, we have not too much of the spirit of reverence
in America, and think it desirable to cultivate
it," Mr. Dale does not seem TO have noticed the
common use of the sir" as between grown-up men
a use which has utterly gone out in England except
in the mouths Of servants. An American otherwise
unrecognzable would be instantly detected here by
his "Yes sirD and "No, sr.D / have even known
an American TO use this formula in replying to ser
want, and never shall forget the look OF intense
amazemcnt and puzzled distress which came over
the countenance of that menal.
Undemonstrative, also, Mr.. Dale pronounces us,
but draws distinction between New-England on
the one hand, and Chicago. New-York and Phila-
delpha on the other. considering the manners OF
these latter free and cordial than those Of the
sons of the Puritans. No donbt the Philadclphlan
will think he ought to be classed apart, if II lie
true, as one often hears, that he prides himself
on his department.
He goes on to describe how much trouble his
fr;ords tooL IN satisfy his desire TO see tbc common