Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-09-15
America for the Grand Tour.
ENGLispNsN GIVING uP THE BEATEN TRACK
AND TURNING WESTWARD.

The departure of \ bevy Of lords and lord
| iings. plodding members of Parliament. and
mart political aspirants, via the Atlantic
| Grry. proves that the modern grand tour is
| undertaken without reference to the old con
ii,ion of membership in the Travellers Club
| that the candidate must have been 3 900 miles
| last of Pail Mall. When the plan Of dnish-
| ing the education of young gentlemen by ale
owing them to pass certain time in the
| train of great noble at Court or in the wars
vent out OF date, and to trail pike in the
| Low Countries was no longer one of the lib
| .,ral arts the cities and society of France and
Italy contended for the palm. or rather the
plume, of fashion, once enjoyed By Venice
| alone. Young men of rank and position still
swan in a gondola. hut gathered wit to prac-
| ,ice on home keeping youth in Paris and AK
les Bains. at Rome, Florence. and Turin, and
| at the gaming tables of the Rhenish Prince
bishops. as well AS at the Ridotto in Venice.
At these places the grand tourists encountered
much company of mixed description. They
met the admirable Chevalier de Balibari, his
Excellency the Count Cagliostro, and the
pretty Lucrczia, and the illustrious Giacomo
Ca ano,a. with his watch in each fob, his cor
hod of the Spur sometimes mistaken for the
Saint Esprit, with an ace up his left sleeve.
and his right hand ready with carte and
tierce. They unquestionably spent a great
deal of money in sham antique marbles and
well-doctored copies of the old masters. If
very rich they pulled down their country
houses and replaced them with Pslladan
| structures, such as miniature Temples of the
Winds, Parthenons. and Pantheons. Never
theless the old grand tower had its uses.
The future peer or member of Parliament,
W ith or without his bear-leader,' was away
from England for perhaps couple of years.
1 g,
| to acquire some idea of their language and
manners: he lived in the best and wittiest
| society that existed in the known world and
| if he happened to be clever person got rid
of some prevalent English superstitions about
the play ing fields of Eton, the merit OF riding
straight across the country, and the capacity
| of any Englishman is to beat three French
men on any fair field of battle.
We have changed all that. 1t is no longer
held necessary to the education Of a young
man with prospects that he should pass
certain time at the various Courts of Europe.
The prevalent craze now is that everybody
| should 20 to America. The good nstured
Asnerh ans are very fond of English folks.
They have shown a generous disposition ever
since they beat us in yacht building and
lock making in 1851. and the feeling has not
been decreased by the Alabama award and
the victory of 1roquois. And they love an
English lord. even il he is only one hy
courtesy. Their hospitality is proverbial.
They not only receive their guest, but take
charge Of him, and pass him on to their
friend>-in short, put through, as it Is called
in the verpacular.
To be put through by Ans ricans of the
best class is an agreeable operation TO under
go, for one is feted, dined. and danced in
every centre. and then passed on to reDew'
hospitalties. But it is agreeable and excit-
ing. raher than instructive. The subject of
the know ledge. to weigh it or check it.
What for instance will he gain in the way
of insight into the curious problem now be-
| ing worked out, of the evolution of what is
| practically a negro nation from the wreck of
a slaveholding Republic2 He will find that
politics are not fashionable in the hest Amer
lean society. and that a Knickerbocker scOrns
| to cast vote which may be neutralized by
that aristocrat's bootblack. He will find
plenty of agreeable and clever men, and still
more agreeable and clever women. He may
acquire n taste for raw tomatoes, clans, and
shredded cabbage, and for nearly wild raw
| ducks but. SO far as good American society
is concerned, he will find II. minus political
conversation. reflection of that of Europe.
70 catch national characteristics. to plumb
the unspeakable depths Of political intrigue
| and that Office seeking which seems to cling
like pestlence to purely democratic insti-
tutions. he must go beneath the surface
London World