New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-07-09
THE COMING HOLIDAY.

On this July Sunday morning HE TRIBUNE
will find most of its readers III the country.
The minority of even men of business by this
time follow their families for this day at least,
to seaside or mountain farm. 1t Is falr to
hazard the assertion that the great majority
Of them are conscious of an odd change In
themselves since leaving home which is due
neither to surf-bathing nor scenery. They
manifest temper and traits which astonish
their.friends and themselves every day pleas
ant or ugly little peculiarities come out and
flourish. whose existence even they never
suspected They find ont that they are not
at all the same people lOungng on the beach
or at the hotel-table in July that they were
logging through work and meals at home in
December. The main difference between
summer and winter to the average American
is not that between town and country, but that
in the former he is forced into intimate re-
latiOns witt absolute strangers which IN winter
he can avoid
II is this contact with people of totally diff
ferent circumstances ard training from our
own that draws out the hitherto unknown
traits in all of us. The American is migratory
i'm his habits beyond any other man, yet he Is
perhaps the least suited to fIaternze readily
with strangers. lie has nerves or preiudlceS
surrounding mind and body like chcCGUr-
de- fJise and running into the nerves and preju-
diccs OF every other man. The Frcnchman
does not care enough about Won to be anything
else than chccrfully civil; the Englshman
is too content in being English to allow
your shortcomings to Trtate him III the least:
buc the American if shut up with You III farm
house or hotel tor a single rainy day is uneasy
if you do not agree with him in his opinion of
the weather, the best way to catch trout to
settle the Irish question or to end the Western
strikes. He thrusts his personality upon you at
every turn; and the most significant hints of
individual character are the ludicrous mis-
takes which each one makes in these very
efforts to impress strangers favOrably with his
personality. In every summer place OF resort, for
instance, you will probably find young girls
trying to leave the impression that they belong
at home TO a circle of unimpcachable breeding
and rank the very effort making them affected
and pretentiOus, and consequently, III SO far
vulgar. Again, nothing could be more natural
or prettier than the cOquetrlcs OF these girls
and the advances OF young men when they are
brought together. They are as innocent and
pleasant to watch as the fiutterings of the birds
in spring. that u.s. so long rs the coquetres and
advances are kept to the proper sides to which
they belong. Sometimes they are not. Our
independent American girl unfortunately fam
cies at times that she can be Independent even
in her lovemakihg and make a match for her
self as successfully as she can make her own
living. She is mistaken. Nature III this case
will not he tn warted with impunity. The hare
that chases the hounds is sure tossufler for her
hardhOOd sooner or later
Another mistake which the wisest and oldest
of us are apt to make in dealing with strangers is
to be anxious about thrusting our own intel
ligence or information or other good qualities
into view. As rule they do not care one
straw for ouI virtues the single quality they
value in us is our appreciation of their virtues.
The only safe rule is to hold ones self in abey-
ance and to study these newcomers as we
would a gallery OF paintings by IA master hand,
from each of which we can learn something.
Perhaps after a while we shall meet an OBJ
server as modest as ourselves who will think
us in turn worthy of study. Not at all akin to
this friendly observation is the critical spirit
with which the great majority OF Americans
set out on their summer adventures. The
leader of little clique in New-Lots or Smith
vile measures everybody she meets by her own
code of by laws, in soul, dress and manners.
The clergyman's wife from the country parish
brings out her inch-rule of doctrine, and
applies it Ill like manner; every ono has