The Sunday herald. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1866-1887, 1880-08-15
AN ENGLlSHMAN IN AMERICA
some Of the Things which MFR. George
Jacob UolyOkc Nays About us ana
Our ways and Our Country.


Some Of the Things which MIR. George |
Jacob UolyOkc Nays About us ana |
our ways and Our Country.
Mr.. George Jacob llolyoke makes report, |
in the Nineteenth Century, of his observations |
in America. Here are some of the things he
finds TO say:
CATER all | had read or heard, II seemed
to me that there were great features of social
life there unregarded or misregarded. New
York itself is miracle which a large book
would not he sufficient to explain. When |
stepped ashore there I thought was in
larger Rotterdam when found my way to
the Broadway ii seemed to me as though |
was in Paris, and that Paris had taken to
business. There were quaintness, grace, and
gaiety, brightness and grimness, all about.
The Broadway thought Longway, for my
| first invitation in IL was to No. 1455.
GA wholesome distinction of America is
| that industry alone is universally honorable
there, and has good chances. There are no
| common people there, in the English sense.
| When speaking in the Cooper Institute,
| New York, was reminded that the audience
would resent being so addressed. Every
man in America feels as though he owns the
country, because the charm of recognized
|
ship have entered his mind. He is proud of
the statues and the public buildings. The
great rivers, the trackless prares, the regal
| mountains, all seem his. Even the steep
| curbstones of New York and Boston, which
brought me daily distress, was asked to
admire---for some reason yet unknown to me.
In England nobody says to the visitor or
| foreigner when he first meets him, What do
you think of EmglandY The people do not
feel that they own the country, or have re-
sponsihle control over it. The country is
managed by somebody else. Not even mem
bers of Parliament know when base treaties
are made in the nations name and dishon
oring wars are entered into, which the lives
and earnings of their constituents may be
coniiscated to sustain. All that our repre-
sentatives can tell US is that that is an affair
of the Crown. In America there is no Crown,
and the people are kings, and they know it.
had not laided on the American shores an
hour before became aware that was in a
new nation, animated by q new life which
| had never seen.
"If young Englishmen could DO sent
couple OF years tn take part in American
business they would come back much i'm
proved. An eminent English professor,
whom lately asked whether it would do
this country good if we could get our peers
to emigrate, answered: No doubt, il you
. could smarten them upa bit first Every
where in America you hear the injunction
Hold on = In every vessel and ear there
are means provided for doing it, for unless y
. man falls upon his feet--if he does fali-he
finds people too busy to stop and pick him
up. The nation is in cOmmotion. Life in
America is a battle and march. Freedom
, has set the race on fre-freedOm with the
prospect of property. Americans are u ma
| of mai, ,rl how thnir ~ aud Il,
very well with it. 1t is the only country
, where men are men in this sense, and the
unusualness of the liberty bewiders many
I who do wrong things norder to be sure they
, are free TO do something. This error is
, mostly made ny new cGmers, to whom free
dom is a novelty, and it is only by trying
, eccentricity that they can test the unwonted
/ sense of their power of sell-disposal. But as
h | liberty grows into habit, one by one the eX-
- perimenters become conscious of the duty o
!, = not betraying the precious possession by
making ii repulsive. Perhaps self-assertior
i, seems a little in excess of international re-
quirements. Many citizens give stranger
7, the impression that they do think themselves
!, equal to their superiors, and superior tC
their equals; yet al OF them are manlier than
they would be through the ambition of each
i, to he equals of anybody else.
- "The effect of American inspiration Oh
~ Englishmen was strikinglY evident. me
=, workmen in many cities whom had know
!, in former years in England. Here their en-
ployers seldom or never spoke tn them, ant
- the workmen were rather glad, aa they
~ feared the communication would relate to
a reduction Of wages. They thought it hardly
y, prudent to look a foreman or ovsrseer in til,
=, face. Masters are more genial as a rule, il
y these days, but in the days when last Wis
- tied these wOrlSmen at their homes in Ian
80 sashire it never entered their heads to intro
. duce me to their employers. But when
- met them in America they instantly pro
= posed to introduce me to the mayor of tn
city, This surprised me very much, TO
when they were in England they could no
n have introduced me to the relieving officer o
N their parish, with any advantage to me, ha'
II | needed to know him. These men were still
" workmen, and they did Introduce me TO tn
If mayor as a friend of theirs, and in an easy
ID confident manner, as one gentleman woul
70 speak to another, they said, they should b
n. obliged il he wonld show me the civic feature
X of the city, The mayor would do so, orde
n his carriage, and, with the most pleasa,l
,s courtesy, take me to every place of interest
4 TO this hour do not know whom wondere
n at most-the men or the mayor. In som
n cases the mayor was himself a manufacturer
"a and it was pleasure to see that the me
~ ma atty
IN :" Ucwever imn.tuous Americans NAV h,
" thav hay. ana grs,t grace If n,tiance. INA
W. ,;s,.n I;La n.pfIsm.n An am.ri,,n and
ce ence, anywhere gathered together, make Ill
I'D most courteous listeners in the world. IL
M Iin'saIs m",,bar. los bs so con,nis,, nm a,
Oh nor,n,,;,,, Of AIN, i, If ha III ma 10
ga ortnne - Ina Inf moderately intersstinc en- au
no nI,r;onsIv ,rias In so,ne INN Ma ,yav neimr
ne 40 ,,;," nad Ia THAR ;nformai;on IN.
ooma ~ Kim af,srw,,j and cnngratuI,te III
w viii, par;sian conrt,sv At W,sbinoto,
a. ,r,,a,o ~. n, Tia rssu.s, of cian Ms.
10 and Ma; WI and in 1nrnslI unive,si,w
III Iuaeo i,rhara NJ Ma rsnuast of Ma An,
nB .tha'ai "hV,p w WV ,,,'H",S' w Wv ".'"