The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1883-08-09
Oscar Wilde on America.
PERSONAL IMPRESSIONS GAINED ON Ills RE.
CENT VISIT HERE

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CENT VISIT HERE.
At the Princes Hall, Piccadilly, last
evening, says the London News of the
18th ult., Mr.. Oscar Wilde lectured on
his personal Impressions of America"
Stating that he had very little useful in
| formation to give, he described his first
experience of the interviewer, "the
| literary pirate of the states,' who sprung
| on board in the midst of a storm off New
York, and asked his opinion of America
| Not having seen it,, he found it easy to
give an unbiased opinion, which was
very favorable, as far as 1T went. Now
it was more difficult. The first thing
that struck him on landing was the pros
perity Of the people and the absence of
rags He saw millions of chimney pot
hats in all their dreadful proportions, but
| no rags. The second thing was that
every one seemed to be in a hurry, and
this made him think it could not be a
country of great romance, for romance
was difficult where it was a vital neceS-
| sity 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 elect
! ric light. The travelling, when one gets
| into Pullman car, was the perfection 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 not
| eat, but what narrowed his feelings most
| acutely was to see a pirated copy OF his
| own poems selling for 10 cents He eX-
| planned to the boy that he got no profit
| from this edition of bis work, but the boy
said he got some, and seemed to think
that 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 very
much distressed by being called "pro-
lessor" Niagara, like the Atlantic ocean,
was extremely disappointing, principally
be believed, because it was ordinarily
| seen under conditions extremely unfair
| In order to appreciate its splendOr and
strength, it was necessary to 90 under
| the ta. it self in suit of yellow sealskin,
so ugly that he should never have con-
sented to wear it but that he was inform
| ed that a similar dress had been worn by
| that great artist, Nine Sarah Bernhardt.
| Laughter. OF America itself, the most
beautiful part was the West, and Cali
| tOrnla most OF all; and the most depress-
ing the alkali plains through which the
trains travelled for days, stopping oc-
| casonally at a small station, where what,
by some curious process of reasoning,
was called a meal was served. Here he
| met the Indians, who were very pictur-
| nd oh II,
| their own clothes, and very ugly when
| they put on European dress. Their Ian
guage struck him as resembling German
metaphysics very fine as long as 1t was
not understood. Laughter. When it
was interpreted he generally found it to
| convey request for 80 cents or some
| tobacco. One Of the great features of
| America was the advertiser, who detaced
| the most beautiful parts of the Rocky
| mountains with his advertisements
| generally of some horrible medicine. The
names of American towns, where they
were French or Spanish, were often
| beautiful, but the English names We're
very often ugly. He was asked to lecture
on art at Griggsville, but he refused un-
| less they consented to change the name
OF the town, which they declined to do.
| How dreadful it W ould have been if he
| had founded a Griggsvile school of art
| American children did not seem to be
| numerous, and were not SO healthy or as
joyous as in England, but very precocous.
| They grow up, some Of them, into girls
who were the prettiest despots III the
| world Each American girl seemed to be
an oasis of picturesque unreasonableness
III desert OF common sense, able to talk
on every subject, whether she knew any
| thing 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 i'll politics. One career they
went into extensively was journalism, for
the first thing boy did in America when
he was able to read and write was to
start newspaper 1t seemed strange to
| English people their intrusion into private
| life. He was asked by an interviewer at
| Chicago for some details Of his private
life, but he told him he had not got one
it was stopped al the custom house in
| New York. Their humor was, he thought
ID sort of philosophy, and one thing he
| 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 re-
ferred to the distinguished actors OF
America, and concluded with some re-
marks on American art.