Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-01-22
JONATHAN AND HIS CONTINENT.
cisms on Americans and Their Manners
Food for Laughter Peppered With Truth.

cisms on Americans and Their Manners
Food for Laughter Peppered With Truth.
| Nothing is ordinary in America.
| The ordinary American himself is sextraordin-
arily extraordinary.
Meeting you in railway carriage he will ask
you point blank where you are going, what you
are doing and where you come from. BY de-
| grees he grows bolder, and If the fancy takes
| him he will touch the cloth of your coat and
ask what YOU gave for that" He has not the
least intention of being disagreeable. He, on
bis part, will give you all the information you
care to have about himself. He takes it for
granted that you are as inquisitive as he is, and
he is ready to satisfy your curiosity. he Is
obliging
} This man. whom you began by taking for
some ignorant babbler, presently gives to his
conversation a turn that astonishes you lie
speaks to you of France in way which SHOWS
you that he is conversant with all that IS going
on there. The sayings and doings OF General
"Bolangere'' are familiar to him. He knows
the names of the chief members of the French
Ministry. He is interested in NJ. Pasteur's re-
searches; he has read review and an account
of NJ. Ernest Remains last book, and of M.
Victorien Sardou's latest play. He has judicious
remarks to make upon literature. He knows
his Shakespeare as not one Frenchman of his
class knows Corneille, Racine, Moliere or
Victor Hugo. You discover that he is well
read, this man who says come for came. you
was, you hadn't ought, 1 don't know as 1 do,
etc. He can give you information about his
country as useful as it is exact.
He talks politics-even foreign politics-like
a man of sense. He is far more enlightened on
the Irish question than people are generally in
England.
If the American thirsts after money, it is not
for the love OF money, as rule, but for the
love of that which money can buy. In other
words, avarice Is a vice almost unknown in
America. Jonathan does not amass gold for
the pleasure of adding pile to pile and counting
it. He pursues wealth to improve his position
in life and to surround those dependent upon
him with advantages and luxuries. He spends
his money as gayly as he pockets it, especially
when it is question of gratifying his wife or
daughters, who are the objects of his most as
siduous attention. He is the first to admit that
their love for diamonds is as absurd as it is
costly, but he Is good-humored, and says:
/ 'Since they like them, why should they not
have themT
In Europe there is false notion that Jona-
than thinks only of money that he passes his
life in the worship of the. almighty dollar" It
is an error. I believe that at heart he cares
but little for money. If millionaire inspires
respect it is as much for the activity and talent
he has displayed in the winning of his fortune
as for the dollars themselves An American,
who had nothing but his dollars to boast of,
might easily see all English doors open to him,
but his millions alone would not give him the
entree into the best society of Boston and New
York. There he would be requested to produce
some other recommendation. An American
girl who was rich, but plain and stupid, would
always find some English duke, French
marquis or italian count ready to marry her,
but she will have great difficulty in finding an
American gentleman who would look upon her
fortune or her dot as sufficient indemnity.
80
The beauty of the American women, like that
of the men, is due much more to the animation
of the face than to form or coloring The aver
age OF good looks is very high, indeed. 1 do not
remember to have seen one hopelessly plain
woman during my six months ramble through
the States. American women generally enjoy
that second youth which nature bestows also
on numbers of French women. At 40 they
bloom out into more majestic beauty. The
eyes retain their fire and luster the skin does
not wrinkle, the hands, neck and arms remain
firm and white. 1t is true that in America hair
turns gray early, but, so far from detracting
from the woman's charms, 1t gives her an air of
distinction and is often positively an attrac-
ton.
That which is lacking in the pretty American
faces of the East Is color and freshness. The
complexion is pale, and it is only their plump
ness which comes to their rescue after 80 and
prevents them from looking faded. Those who
remain thin generally fade quickly; the COM
plexion becomes the color of whitey-brown
nd rfpbr1n
womenNwent in for more outdoor exercise; If
they let the outer air penetrate constantly into
their rooms; if they gave up living IN hothouses
they would have some color, and their beauty
need perhaps fear no competition in Europe.
If good style consists in not doing what the
vulgar do, good style in America ought to con-
sist for one thing in wearing no diamonds-un-
less democracy should demand this sign of
equality. Diamonds are worn by the woman of
fashion, the tradesman's wife, shop girls, work
girls, servants-all the womankind. If you see
a shabbily-dressed woman who has not a pair
in her ears you may take it for granted that she
has put them in pawn. Naturally, in America,
as elsewhere, all that sparkles is not diamond.
xss
There is pronounced childish side to the
character of all Americans. In less than
tions of the Old World; they are astonshed at
their own handiwork, and, like children with
splendid toy of their own manufacture in their
hands. they say to you. Look, just look, is it
not beauty?' And, indeed, the fact is that,
for him who will look at it with unpreiudiced
eyes, the achievement is simply marvellous.
".
Should q minister indulge in unorthodox the
ories in the pulpit, the Eastern man will con-
tent himself with shaking his head and going
to another church to perform his devotions the
Sunday after. The Pennsylvania will open a
violent polemic in the newspapers of the locali
ty. The Kansas man will wait for the minister
at the church door and give him sound
thrashing.
American hospitality is princely. You are
not often invited, even in houses where the
daily menu is of the most appetizing, to go and
share the family dinner. You are not invited
to dine, a fete is got up for you If this cannot
be arranged, you may not be invited at all.
~.
America suffers from this state of things
The country's genius. instead of consecrating
all its time to the production of works which
would tend to elevate the ideas and aspirations
of the people, is obliged to think of money
making.
To the American woman the diamond is not
an object of luxury, it is object of prime
necessity. An English old maid would do with (
out her tea before an American woman would
go without diamonds.
ia
The well-bred American is to my mind
happy combination of the Frenchman and the
Englishman, having less stiffness than the lat
ter and more simplicity than the former.
.tx
The character of the American is English |
from the point of view of its contrasts and con-
tradictions, which are still more accentuated
in him than in the Englishman.