Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-06-27

which, in this country of insular preju-
dice and arrogant assumption, conveys as
plainly as words the question, "What the
mischief do you mean by speaking to me
without waiting for an introduction p
My experience has been in America that
if you ask n service from stranger it is
accorded readily, without condescension
or fuss that among them is little Of the
snobbish wish to appear to those we do
not know as greater people than we really
are ; little of that disgusting patronage
of manner that prevails in this country
among the richer classes, and none Of the
no less disgusting cringiness of manner
which as greatly prevails among our
tradespeople, and which makes me for
one hesit before asking my way in the
streets of well-dressed man or entering
shop where one will (if known as "a
good customer be received by mealy-
mouthed mortal, all smiles and grimaces,
who will think that he will more readily
secure a purchaser by showing some arti-
cles ordered by my lord this or my lady
that. On the contrary the New York
tradesman or shopkeeper receives you
with civility, but without any of that
cringiness of manner which seems to me
little less insulting than actual insolence.
He will allow you to look as long as you
like ut any Of the articles his shop may
contain, and will be equally civil if you
purchase or if you do not but he will
not rub his hands and contract his fea-
lures into a leer and, if you were to
show hiI Jour superiority of position by
affecting to look down on him as being
"only tradesman, he would probably
show you that there is something more in
being a citizen of great republic than
mere sound and that although you may
fancy yourself IA superior being from not
being a republican or shopman, he might
be able to prove to you that one man is
as good as another.
| mixed thus with both classes, and
spoke to all with whom / came in contact
and in no single instance did | meet witt
anything but perfect civility-the civility
of equals, which is after all the truest.
admire with all my heart this great peo
pie, our brothers, who, although we have
for so many years presumed to treat then
as poor relations, are in some forms o.
common courtesy and general politenes'
far superior to ourselves. | grant tina
the Americans we meet on the contlnen
of Europe are often offensive in manner
and give very unfavorable impression
of their country, both to foreigners ant
Englishmen, but, believe me, these ar
the exceptions. As rule they are thos,
who have inherited or made fortunes
which they know not how to spend, anC
therefore have come over to the old world
which they astonish with their vagarie
and extravagances. But it would be mos
unjust to Judge the American people b.
these units would wish every young
Englishmau Of means and especially o
position-to sit the great country acros
the Atlantic and mix with that great peo
pie. He would learn more by spendin,
a few months in the States of matters ap
pertaining to humanity and the ways @
the world-not what Londoners call tn
world, but the real world of thought G
intellect, and of fhe future than h
woul by passing a year at Oxford o
Cambridge, or III the House of Commons
A young French noble, having visite
England toward the end of the ancien
regime. on his return being asked wha
} he had learned i'll England, replied st
think This might be the reply of on
of our ieunesse dorce after visiting tn
States.