The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-05-08
The Typical American.

| number OF tho Norm American HcD16o IL
The Typical American" As rule, the
editor OF this interesting periodical dele.
gates the discussion OF questions to persons
supposed to be invested with peculiar au'
thority II he has departed from his prac-
tice In this instance, the result Is only the
more entertaining. Mr. ANDREW LANG con-
fesses that he has seen but few Americans,
and has never been In the States neverthe-
less he essays to define what he avowedly
knows scarcely anything about. NJ. PAUL
BLoUEr, better known by his pen name OF
MAX O'RELL. has the good sense to begin
with denying the existence OF a typical
American; but, relying on his reading.
rather than his eyes and ears, he proceeds
to impute to us the national trait OF inquisi-
tivenoss, which at no time characterized
more than q fraction OF the population, and
has now almost wholly vanished.
II one would but turn the matter over In
his mind, he would perceive that the phrase
typical American" involves an absurdity.
| As we'll might ono speak Of a typical
| European. In area and in population, In
| diversity Of physical conditions and OF eth
! meal elements, the United States compose q
colossal empire. What has the home-stay-
ing descendant OF the first settlers OF Cape
Cod or Marblehead In common with the
French Canadian operative now domiciled
In Lowell or Fall River1 What likeness is
there between the Irish American Of New
York city and his italian fellow citizen; be-
tween the Scandinavian farmer OF North
Dakota and the Spanish-speaking half breed
of western Texas and New Mexico; between
the old-fashioned Teuton OF central Penn
sylvania and the progressive German OF st.
Louis and Milwaukee? Even the native
American OF lineage unmixed for many gen.
erations. exhibits very different aspects ac-
cording as he has been brought up in Yer
mont. in North Carolina, in Illinois, In
Louisiana, or In California.
Not only Is there no such thing at present
as typical American but there never was
even in colonial times. The Puritan of
Massachusetts Bay and OF Connecticut was
sharply differentiated from the Hollander Of
Manhattan Island and the borders OF the
Hudson River, from the Swede Of Delaware
from the Quakers and Germans (miscalled
Dutch Of Pennsylvania, from the inhabitant
OF tdewater Virginia, or Of the rlce-bearing
districts of the Carolinas In New England
itself there were strong points of contrast
between the subjects Of the Congregational
hierarchy OF Massachusetts and the people
who dwelt in the Church of England settle
ments on the coast OF Maine, or under the
liberal regime established in the Provt-
dence Plantations and Rhode Island. A
European observer OF the first Continental
Congress would have been more impressed
with the indications Of unlikeness than with
those Of resemblance among the delegates.
TpI ha hara ~ HAITI
not even animated bya common purpose,
for, while some were looking forward to
political independence, the majority as yet
repealed the thought Of separation from
Great Britain.
1t was only in the urban communities OF
the ancient world that types were developed.
While Greece was free, one might undoubt-
edly speak with propriety OF a typical Athe-
Man, typical Spartan. typical Theban.
There was once a typical Roman, but he
gradually disappeared as the right Of citi-
zenship was conferred, first upon the whole
of Italy, and then on all the provinces Of the
Mediterranean world. Even In the time Of
JUvENAL the characteristic features OF the |
Roman had well-nigh vanished. The feudal |
system put an end to the national types !
evolved for a season by the Eruption OF the |
TeutOnic races, and modern Capitalization |
has not yet reproduced them. Even |
in France. where centralizing tendencies |
have long been most active. no we'll
informed person would talk of q |
typical Frenchman. Types there are to be |
found unquestionably in Tourane in Brit
tany. in Normandy, In Gascony, in Prov
ence, In Franche-Comt6, in Auvergne, in |
French Flanders The differences between |
them are too broad and glazing to escape |
even the fitting traveller. He who runs
through France is struck by them. Quite
as impossible should We find it to discern
type in the British Islands. The
the Scotchman. the Irishman,
are distlngushable at glance. In England
Itself there Is deep line Of demarcation be-
tween the Yorkshiremau and the Cornish
man, the Kentishman and the Cambrian.
The most careless tourist could not con-
found the Lowland and the Highland Scotch,
1r the Presbyterian of Ulster with the Cath
olic peasant OF Connaught.
But, it may possibly be said, one looks for
the typical Frenchman in Paris. for tho typi-
al Euglishman in London, and for the
typical American in the cultivated circles of
our Atlantic cities. We may look for types
IN such quarters. but assuredy we shall not
Ind them. Well-educated, wel-to-do, and
people are now exceedingly alike
he world over; and to detect typical dis
.inctions among them requires the micro
5copic eye Of those nOvelsts who seek to
atone for poverty of plot by extreme inge-
luity In the discrimination Of faint shades
Of character. Men, in fine, who are given to
iscoursing about types are apt to evolve
hem, as the German did the camel from the
iepths Of their inner consciousness.
Urn,,,o,, In f1nlIauaa