The Portland daily press., 1880-10-15
AS Others See Us.
Another Critic from the Hold Country
Cincinnati Commercial. !


republican theories, since his description of US
is in the main more flattering than we deserve.
He is particularly impressed with the beauty
OF the Hudson river and its surroundings He
declares that the much vaunted Rhine scenery
does not begin to compare with that of the
Hudson, and that no European river at all is
imbedded in mountains and hills possessed Of
such natural charms. Nowhere else than in
| North America are the hillsides covered with
such glorious verdure. The English Thames
is the only river in the world, too, that Is
plowed by such an immense number Of boats
as the Hudson is.
He had heard Saratoga called the Baden
Baden of America. The people of the United
States belittled their own Summer resort when
they called it that. Saratoga is superior to any
watering-place in Europe, as far as natural ad-
vantages are concerned. Woodlawn is the
worthy rival of the great royal sparks in Eu-
rope, and Saratoga is little jewel such as no
other watering place possesses. The world
over "lsdies could find no more suitable field
| for displaying their natural and artificial
| charms"
Our foreigner is surprised at the tremendous
vim with which Americans do everything III
is true that, as watering-place, Baden Baden
is r,ore refined than Saratoga, but then 1t is
mere drop in the bucket compared to the
American place. At Baden Baden the season
is regarded as a very brilliant zone when 900
| people have visited it, and that too from all
the 30O,000,000 inhabitants of Europe In
! America, out Of a nation of 5000 ,0OC---he
should have put it $4,000, 10000, 900
people visit Saratoga every year That is how
| Americans do things, even when it comes to
| patron1zing watering places. Suppose, says
| our Briton, that convention had been called
| at Paris of all the bankers in Europe. Fifty
! at most would have attended it. But here in
| America 500 members were present at the
bankers association in Saratoga, men repre-
senting many thousand millions of dollars
The amount of wealth in this country ap-
| pears to strike our foreigner with absolute
amazement. "The wealth of European no.
bleman becomes Insignificant whens contrasted
| with that of an American dry goods merchant
| or stock broker" As to that, it might be re-
marked for the information Of the Englishman
| that in this country the wealth is more diff
fused among the common people than it is in
| the old world. That is why he sees such a gen.
| eral display of it. There are no such riches
| concentrated in the hands of a few as there are
| in Europe. 1t is to be hoped the day is far dis
tant, too in this country when one man, who
| never did lick OF work in rhis life, will draw
| round million dollars year OF rents from
\ property inherited from his ancestors Several
ladies and gentlemen do that in Great Britain.
The American permits his wife and children
| to spend money like water while he smakes il,
| says our writer. Money-making is his amuse-
| ment, by Jove! In the same connection the
| gentleman remarks, perhaps by way Of an IL
lustration, that he never paid such extortion-
ate prices for cigars in his life as he did at Sa-
ratoga, and he never smoked worse ones eitl.
| er.
As nation. he finds us the reverse Of iolly.
| Quite so, indeed. Saratogans go through their
| enjoyment mechanically, take it in slices inst
as it is cut out for them, without smile They
dance solemnly, devour their food without Civ
| ing the least sign that 1t tastes good, and talk
without any animation, that is to say, when
they talk at all. Nothing more impresses him
| than the tacturnity of the American people.
even the womenl Nobody looks happy at Sa-
| ratoga except few young ladies' In Europe,
| now, Countess would he just as apt to talk to
! grocers wife II she were thrown into COM
pany with her in travelling, as not. Nay, moro,
| II the grocer woman wasn't altogether unbear-
| able, the aristocratic dame would even recog-
| nize her with bow during the whole water
ing-place season. Bnt Americans! Two wo.
men who perhaps knew each others names
| might sit elbow to elbow for hours and unless
they were introduced they would never open
| their mouths TO each other. "Thus it happens
| that the plazzas of the hotels sometimes pre-
sent tedious appearance" sapiently remarks
| this learned writer.
en- as their own favorite ices. Often and Of
| ten he has seen gentlemen sit at the same Ia
| BILE two or three times day for several days
and not one of them spoke TO the other 1t re-
| minded him Of refectory Of Carmelite monks.
Perhaps our fellow-countrymen and women
| don't talk because they are tired Nearly ey.
| erybody is tired in this country. But 1t Is
change, at least, when a fresh foreigner talks
about our national silence and reserve. Up to
| this time it has been one Of our worst faults
4 that vulUarlv N pi1ofi 60
| miliar. Our critic seems hard to please some
! how.
1t is painful, really painful, to this English
man to see so many people sitting around and
eth glad the heart of man in general. only
| causes the American to be morose With q
| solemnity beftting the occasion, the writer re-
marks that he is unable to decide whether the
| American men are witty or not. No wonderl
| He belongs to race who were hardly able to
laugh even at Artemas Ward A nation that
takes Mark Twain's stories lterally
| He never saw either, this Briton didn't
| place before where polished manners were not
considered requisite of a gentleman. The
| elder men at Saratoga, the old codgers with
| the long purses, were such ''bony, angular.
| curved and distorted specimens that it was a
| mystery to him how they could be the fathers
| OF the fascinating girls and the handsome fell
| lows all about there. In q ess and department
| they were regular slouches. This is how they
| looked to him:
| "The carelessness of their attire borders ON
grossness and squalor Collars two or three
| inches larger than the shirt to which they are
| buttoned; necktes of the oldest colors and
| fashions vests which would contain chests
| twice as long and broad; trousers two inches
too short for their limbs; coats that threaten to
fall from their shoulders; hats that have evil
| IDENTIFY seen half dozen summers; boots that
might fit Herculean feet, and be worn on an
expedition to central Africa-such is the attire
of many visitor at Saratoga, occasionally
brought into bolder relief by huge diamond
scarf pin or stud, by as heavy a watch chain as
| might safely be used to lift cannon ball, and
] by handfuls of 500 bills"
| The most amazing person he finds in the
| United States is, however, the American tar
| mer To all intents and purposes he is a gen.
| tleman. He raises blooded stock, like any
| duke OF prince. Peasantry in Europe is synon-
ymous with ignorance, but this Yankee ''pea-
| SAINT shows intimate knowledge of the indus
| trial and philosophical progress Of the age.
| quenty, and speaks of Henry Clay as dear
| friend, all the while that he has the appear.
| ance and manners OF peasant, and exhibits
| palm, covered with a rhinoceros hide"
| ''Fancy the amazement of a foreigner"
In respect to our national manners, how
| ever it is plain to be seen that this otherwise
| friendly Britisher remains an Engishman."
| He does not take much pains to conceal the
| fact that, as people, be regards us as having
| the worst manners in the universe. Ameri-
4
wives. by Jove! He has often watched elder
| ly married couples at hotels. The old lady
| would sit in a rocking chair for hours, rocking
| right and left, while the old man would be of
| somewhere else, with his feet kited up in the
air, reading a newspaper and smoking a cigar,
Has far away form this world as though he was
| a Mohammedan sheik absorbed in prayer"
| The way Americans frequently neglect and
| disregard their wives in public is absolutely
shocking to the foreign traveller. In Europe,
no matter how Indifferent husband is 10 his
wife at home, before folks he is careful to treat
her with glowing politeness that will satisfy
amour propre." The following passage in the
Embellishments letter is commended 10 Ameri-
can husbands. The wretch should be slaugh-
tered:
"Perhaps no other nation entertains so high
a respect for the fair sex as the Americans, but
MANY of them have yet to learn how to show
it by polished manners
He fnds the beauty OF American women
dazzling, "dumfounding," he says. But they
are extravagant beyond description. He OBJ
| served one lady that appeared in twenty-three
different costumes in a week.
He finds us a very practical, methodical peo-
| pie, without any fancy or imagination. But
when it comes to naming race-horses, he Is
oo,onallad 10 admit that wa grab after the