The Osceola times., 1883-09-01
WlLDE'S IDEA.
His Views on His wanderings Through
the United States.

His Views on His wander,ngs Through
the United states.
London News
Stating he had very little useful in
formation to give, Mr.. Wilde described
his first experience of the interviewer,
the literary pirate of the States who
sprang on beard in the midst of a storm
off New York and asked his opinion of
America Not having seen it, he found
ii easy to give an unbiased opinion,
which was very favorable as far as it
went. Now ii was more difficult. The
first thing that struck him on landing
was the prosperity of the people and the
absence of rags. He saw millions of
chimneypot hats in all their dreadful
proportions, but no rags. The second
thing was that every one seemed to be
in hurry, and this made him think it
could not be country of romance, for
romance was difficult where it was
vital necessity TO catch a train. The
beautiful he found where the Americans
had least striven for it, in their great
bridges and their perfectly beautiful use
of the electric light.
"The travelling when one got into
Pullman car was the perfecting of luxury
but had no more privacy than if one sat
in an armchair at the Hamilton street
corner of Piccadilly. Boys ran up and
down selling literature, good and bad,
and everything one could eat or could
not eat, but what narrowed his feelings
most acutely was to see pirated copy
of his own poems selling for 10 cents.
He explained to the boy that he got no
profit out of this edition of his work,
but the boy said he got some, and SEEM
ed to think tnat settled the question.
He had never been called Stranger but
had received the title of Captain and
Colonel, the latter in Texas, but he had
been much distressed by being called
Professor Niagara, like the Atlantic
Ocean, was extremely disappointing,
principally, he believed, because it was
orc inarily seen under conditions ex-
tremely unfair. In order to appreciate
its splendor and strength it was neces-
sary to 90 under the fall itself in suit
of yellow sealskin so ugly that he never
have consented to wear it but that he
was informed that similar dress had
been worn by the great artist Nine. Sa-
rah Bernhardt. Laughter.
"Of America itself the most beautiful
part is the West, California most of all
and the most depressing the alkali plains
through which the trains Travelled for
days, stepping occasionally at small sta
tions where what, by some curious pro-
cess of reasoning, was called meal was
served. Here he met the Indians, who
were very picturesque and charming as
long as the wore their own clothes. and
very ugly when they put on European
dress. Their language struck him as re-
sembling German metaphysics - very
fine as long as it was not understood.
[Laughter.1 When ii was interpreted
he generally found it to convey a request
for half a dollar or some tobacco. One
of the great features of America was the
advertiser, who defaced the most beauti.
ful parts Of the Rocky Mountains with
his advertisements, generally, of
of some horrible medicine. The names
of American towns where they were
French or Spanish, were often beautiful,
but the English names were very often
ugly. He was asked to lecture on art at
Griggsville, but he refused unless they
consented to change the name of the
town, which they declined to do. How
dreadful it would have been if he had
founded Griggsville school of art
"Anerican children did not seem to
be numerous, and were not as healthy
or as Joyous as in England, but very pre-
cocious. They grow up, some of them,
into girls who are the prettiest despots
in the world. Each American girl seem
ed to be an oasis in desert of common
sense, able to talk on every subject,
whether she knew anything of it or not
with lovely hands and feet, and the
prettiest boots in the world There
were no idle men. Every man had
something TO do, and very few took any
interest in politics. One career they
went into extensively was journalism,
for the first thing baby did in America
when he was able to read and write was
to start a newspaper! 1t seemed strange
TO English people, their intrusion into
private life. He was asked by an inter
viewer at Chicago for some details of his
private life, but he told him that he had
not got one-it was stopped at the Gus
tom House in New York. Their humor
was, he thought. sort Of philosophy,
and one thing ne admired about the
American journalist was that he could
write about the price of wool without
referring to Jason and the Golden Fleece.
The lecturer also referred to the distin-
guished actors Of America, and conclud-
ed with some remarks on American art"