Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1890-06-18
n-!ons euLl. rns TOURIST.
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wh.s ne .t.T,. Os, ss Iii. Travels.

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II has bccn asked by 81 lAblachs. In
"Ls Voyage dc VI Pcrrichon" IA play
worthy ~ Molicrel. Why the French, who
arr ~ witty at home. are - stupid
Abruai
Perhaps am only furnishing an En-.
ample of thi. peculiar effect of frontier
crussing In asking the following que-
tion; How 10 Il that the English, Who
are ~ kind. amiAblc. cOnsideraie and
unaffected AZ home. are - rude, over
bcafing. and inoonsiderai. abruah II u
a question that have often asked my
-.lf a. looked az certain Briton. taking
their holiday ramble. on my native
shore.
am fain 10 come to the conclusion
that man out u his country l. Tor
time not his own self. To b. seen at his
tr.t. hc must have the sstting of his
natural surroundings First along, be y
Ike a fish out ~ water making great cf'
forts "a go on ~ INNING naturally. butun
able To usc it, tail gracefully and bccom
lngly. fsr want u its natural element
The English residing on the continent
have found their feet, as Il were: they
have learned the language u their
adopted country. and. having made
themselves q new home. have an ob-
ieci la tsing pleased with H.
hut the wandering Bh,on i like the
r,-st of US: he sets Out frOm home with
the firm conviction that be- is leaying the
most wonderful country In tile world
lie perhaps starts with the idea that
erybody admits u. lie has probably
not gone far In his travels bsforc be- sce-
that he may have reason To modify that
opinion. But he dos not enjoy the idea
much. IL would d. wounding Ia has nat
ural vanity. to say the Ieast of IL. Why
rot put on a Iit;s bluster and pretend TO
-. nothing very remarkably hnel IL s
much more comfortable to sayi "Ah.
y,.. that sccnery's not half bad. really;
but. YOU know. I think these things have
becn awfully overpraiscd These old
churches. no doubt. are very fine. most
Of them: but its wonderful how sick
one gets of them when one has sen
dozen 90 -" Having taken up this
course, he Is prepared 20 stand qLiie un'
moved In presence Of the grandest Alpine
sunrise. or vesuvius lighting uP the mid
night sky
There is another thing that goes sadly
against his grain. and rubs him up the
wrong vay. lie finds that his French.
that used TO sound % nice at home when
he occasionally aired a little quotation, 10
art 10 raise smile 10 the lips of the ma.
tiyes You must not Imagine that he
blame- himself. or that IL ever occurs 10
him that he l. the worst llnguist In the
world. Oh, no, lie simply wonders
why those cOnfounded foreigners cant
learn English. puts on disgusied look.
and takes To giving his orders In tone
of bored contempt. particularly exas'
psraiing % the recipients of them Ills
hat SENS 10 grow To his head. he lounges
In the bcst seats At the theatre Ia his
tweed suit. and succeeds In making
himself generally disagreeable as well AZ
conspicuous One % his most objection.
able tricks IL that Of going smiling
about. as II everything smelt I'll. AZ
home he has carried his sanitarian hobby
to a very mania. and he seems terribly
afraid there is typhoid fever lurking In
every corner Of every building he en-
ters. All these little matters, added TO
his calm way OF making himself ai
home. as N all the world belonged 10
him. are necessarily trying TO the for
eigner.
Under the Second Empire. John Bulls
little peculiarities were Jumped under
the head Of ''insulAr eccentricities." Only
the better class people Of England trav.
eled on the Continent In thoss days; they
were rich. and spent their money freely.
seldom even taking the trouble 10 look
at their billA II they hurt the suscepti.
bilities Of the natives. the latter found
English gold . tolerabls balm for the
wounds, and furthss solscsd themselves
With oaricasurins John Bull 70 thsis
] ksazt's content