New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-26

mentS, and wondering Wnetner al AnoAAS
inn can give him boiled egg, q bit OF bacon
and a cup of tea for his breakfast. He does
not approve of the table d'h8te dinners ne
misses at first the solemn silence OF dlnky
coffee room, the fried sole, the roast fowl, tne
cut off the joint and sweet omelet to follow
But by the next day he has acquired what he
believes to be the American style OF eating.
He becomes clamorous and aggressive. dc
gives his order before he is quite seated. de
calls the waiter away from other guests. DE
makes long arm for the butter, and reaches
across a lady to help himself to Worcester
shire sauce. He defes all the conventionalitles
Of costume about which be Is particular at
home. He Is loud and impatient; he eats fast !;
and he declares that Americans can't be ex-
pected to have any manners. If he cOnyerses
with neighbor, his topic is the inferiorlty OF
American cookery and the infamous charge OF q
quarter of dollar shilling of our money,
you know for Basis beer. He Is going TO
do Niagara and Montreal, and then he means TO
see the Rocky Mountains. He fills seat In
the cars with bundle of canes and umbrellas,
an overcoat, Scotch shawl, and Gladstone
bag; he Is surly if the place is wanted, and
particularly unciv if the disturber is lady.
He thinks that the Government ought to take
over the railroads and make. these guards and
porters behave themselves, but he supposes we
dare not interfere with such people for fear OF
the Irish vote. He thrusts women aside at the
ticket offices and places OF dobarkation, and
pushes ahead of them, with his hand-impedi-
ments, at the door of the hotel coach-not from
deliberate incivility, but merely from the habit
Of self-assertion. All through the tour he Is
drawing uniavorable contrasts between Amer
lean customs and what 4" we do at home.' FL
nally, having seen few rivers, and mountains,
and cities, and made himself everywhere as
disagreeable rs possible. no goes back to Eng
land and says that he has had Jolly time.
Most Of us have met travellers of this sort,
ana have wondered what if they are so rude
abroad, must be their social rank at home.
Mere vulgarity and ignorance are common
enough in the travellers of all nations; we
certainly send to Europe somo remarkable
specimens of our own. The pecnliarity about
this unpleasant English visitor is that he gives
you the impression of knowing better. He has
put on his Tad manners TO rest himself, as he
might put on an easy old coat and pair Of
slippers Mr. Bryce, the well-known Member
on the Irish Question to The Century magazine,
remarked that it was one of the great faults of
Englishmen to make their own customs and
ideas the universal standard OF right and pro-
prety. This national failing accounts i'll part
for the behavior which SO many Engllshmen
permit themselves in the United States. 1t is
n foregone conclusion with them that every
thing un-English is wrong; that people who
call IA milk-jug pitcher are uneducated; and
that ceremony would be wasted in a country
where tarts are made with an under-crust and
cut with knife. Red Americans, black
Americans, white Americans like Frenchmen
and other Continental persons, are all un-Eng-
lish and therefore inferior; and degrees OF in
feriOrity are not worth considering. Our for
cign visitor is impOiIte on his travels, because
politcness is social duty which he pays only
to his own kind; and there are none of his
own kind ont of England. If we ever meet
him at home, We shall find him conducting
himself with propriety; and then we shall be
the more provoked with him for making such
u sorry impression abroad.