Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-03-31
An English View OF Travelled Americans.

Americans of a certain class have a
manifest advantage over Europeans
that is. from the travelling point of view.
Politicians on promotion, and other
pushing English persons, fly to America
to endeavor to catch the tone of the
great new country during q hurried
tour; but Americans have been used to
study Europe and "Europians" for
several generations. The ropes of the
Gillette oligarchies are supposed, at least,
to be fairly well understood by the
American people. The sportsmen, in
the English and better sense of the
word, are pleased, of course, by the
victory of American horses, but this
fe;2ing only extends to limited class.
The best class of Americans know as
little of sport as OF politics. When the
late PATRON of Albany spoke of a
snowy young man as being either a
gambler or a politician, he accurately
defined one class of American feeling.
To the highest and most travelled class
of Travelled Americans. a person work.
ing in the political "machine" of his
country appears as little better than a
pro!essed gambler. He is person of
no family, as q rule of no connections,
of no set. 1t may astonish oligarchic
England to hear that such claims are
recognized in Republic. but it IS true,
nevertheless. That this is absolutely
true will be seen by any person who has
travelled among a crowd of Americans
voyaging in Europe. But it Is nothing
to the amplitude of the space which
separates the Knickerbocker or the cod
fish aristOcrat from the drummer of
New York or Boston. To comprehend
the travelled American one must COM
pletely get rid of the Republican idea of
equality. There is little OF this in the
United States and less in the permanent
or transient American colony in Europe.
In classifying American travellers the
first place socially must be given to the
anti-Americans. 1t was said by a great
authority that claret would be port if
if it could; and of these "upper-ten-
DOM Americans it may be said that
they would be English if they could.
OF course, they would deny the soft
impeachment most emphatically; yet
every word. act and deed of theirs
emphasizes their preferences of the old
hail from Boston, Mass, but have been
brought to Europe for education so
young that they speak in the sweetest
tlute-like tones of Young Oxford. the
seat Of learning they most admire.
Others come from the Knickerbocker
set in New York, people to whom the
noucedser riches are an abomination;
and who know only the Van Rensse-
laerS. Stuyvesants. and other bearers
of good old Dutch names. These most
agreeable of American travellers are
precisely like other weii-bred people,
and, of course, have few peculiarities,
except that of being not only very
rich. but having q vast quantity Of
available ready money to spend on any
passing fancy. Highly cultivated and
entirely ignorant or cOntemptuous of
American politics and national pecu-
liarities. they give as false an idea of
their country as the water-drinking
parsons, who sometimes send English
travellers home from the States with
the idea that Americans are the soberest
people in the world. The males of the
Goldfish or Knickerbocker aristocracy
are in no way distingaishable from
Englishmen of the higher middle class,
except in certain slightly ceremon-
ious courtesy. which is again quite diff
ferent from that of BrtOns of the first
rank. The American lady, however. is
very different from her English sister.
She is generally very vivacious as we'll
as accomplished. and is also we'll
dressed rs we'll as pretty. Very fas-
titious carpers might object that she is
sometimes over self-conscious. and per-
petually conveys the idea that she is
under arms; but she is charming,
nevertheless, and wears the prettiesL
shoes in the world. London World.