The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1888-10-20
OUR ANGLOMANIACS.
IN FORMER DAYS FRENCH WAYS
WERE THE FASHION,.
AnglOmania Confined to a Limited Class.
The American Habit of Mind Is Re-
sponsible for 1t .iu-Not a Serious
Matter.

AnclOmania Confined to q Limited Glass.
The American Habit of Mind Is Re-
sponsiblc for 1t .iu-Not a Serious
Matter.
The newspapers are constantly satirizing
tendency to -inglomania, which is said to
prevail Just now in American society. or at
least in n few cities and waterne places
along the Atlantic shore. 1t is not habitually
mentioned that this is but swing of the
same pendulum which seemed, twenty years
ago, to be swinging the other way, and
carrying lis away from everything English
and toward everything French. The same
pendulum has been steadily vibrating, i'll
decd, ever since the foundation of our gov
crnIent, and its movements have never had
any great or important influence upon tho
mas OF the American people. Be this as it
may, II is perfectly certain that the whim i'll
fashion thirty and even twenty years ago
was quite unlike what it now is.
Good Americans We're said, when they
dled, to so tn Paris, AMI even the wit of Tom
Appleton never venturcd to suggest that
they should 50 to London. At Newport it
was for many years held essential to do
things III the French way, not the English.
1t was Mt the French court that fashionable
Americans ycarncd to he presented; they
uniformly preferred to live on the other sido
OF th' English channel, and remember to
have had this explained To me by a man of
some fashion, on tho ground that if an ambi-
tlous American family lived in Paris they
were not v"xcd ut being omitted from this or
that entertainment of tho nobility; whereas
in Eng land, where their own language was
spoken, that sort of omission chafcd them far
IN, tIiiS ,,nI have
been limsy, but the fact recognized was I'M
p"rtant; it indicated Il period when French
standards, not English prevailed in our
moro fashionable soricty
LIMITED CLASS
II must beremembercd that Anglomania is
confined among lis to II limited class, and to
certain very limited pursuits and Interests, Of
mat class. 1t does not exist, for instance,
among our men of science, inasrnuch as they
so t"Icrnnny i'll shoals for study, and rarely
visit England since the death of Darwin. 1t
is now charged upon our literary men, since
III" death OF Richard Grant White, who was,
moreover, 'ts ardently anti-Engish in some
directions rs he was vchcnently English IN
Others. III IS not found in our journalism,
which nsprcS to lead the English and actually
irh'S 1t in enterprise, while falling behind it
III "v"nncSa Of execution and in tho minor
proprl"llc3 Of life. 1t is not to be found in
our public school system or in our college
systems, Tor these, where they are not Amcri-
can, arc German. 1T is not found in our
library methods, for in tho librarians con.
ventl"iS of tho last few years Americans
have led and not followed. Even when wo
come on more intimate and domestic ground
limitations still exist. Our standard of
cookery, $" far rs VIC have any, is French and
not English
n" American lady would wish to be charged
with dressing like an English woman, and no
American man, when travelling anywhere
but in England, would wish to be taken for
AN .ilslisllman, for the simple reason that
Americans arc everywhere SO much more
popular. Tho key to this alleged Anglo
mania, therefore, is simply this: that tho
American habit of mind is essentially cosmo-
p"lItnn, and goes to each nation for that
which II finds best Of its kind. As unerringly
;> 1t goes to Germany for its scientific in
sti1c'i"ns, "r to France for its cooks, so il
toe, To England for what is not SO well to be
found in France or Germnny-the minor
r"nvchlcnccs and fncilites which belong to
highly trained leisure class
BORROWING FROM ABROAD
Itself newly developed. this American class
'h'ia 10 I-nREiH'l LOT II ROOu standard of
minor essentials, as horse equipments and
coarhnens clothes 1t borrows moro than
than 'cse; 1t borrows those accessories of
high bred life which promote daily comfort
and convenience, the organization of u large
ll"lischo!d the routine OF social life In these
directions England is very strong, though it
may bc doubted If this is tho highest sphere.
IT 1t can b" set against the dignity Of the best
spanish or Italian manners, tho keenest of
French wit, and the depth and soldity of
German knowledge These also are fully
appreciated among us, but their traces do
not lie 50 much on the surface. All these
'nlnG'i, 50 far us VIC can, We borrow; why
not. If ol'lcr nation, borrow from ono an
'tloi why not younger from older! 1t is no
dlscrcditto England that her one high philo-
logical authority, Max Muller, is German,
and that her one humorous pcriolical-in
America every newspaper is huinorous-still
bears traces "f its French origin in the title.
Punch, or The London Charivari, The Eng
IiSii journals are constantly pointing out that
ihcil ""n people are becoming Amcricunized;
shy, then, should not an American here or
mere l'c An.llcized! 1t is pretty certain all
'i!c while that we are cxerting far more in
i!u"ncc than wn receive.
H.. Ms not disturb ourselves. Out Of the
liity millions ri Americans tho passing wave
If Ansonanin or Franconania reaches but
Il few thousands and merely touches those
on the surface. Even the young men whom
u reaches are at heart good Americans
From 4. w. Higginsons Men and Wornen.n