The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1891-07-31
THE CANADIAN TYPE.
Charles Dudley Warner Says It Is Neither
English Nor American.

English Nor American.
! had been told that the Canadians are
secondhand Englishmen, writes Charles
Dudley Warner in Harpers Magazine. No
estimate could convey a more erroneous
impression. A portion OF the people have
strong English traditions and loyalties to
institutions but in manner and in expecta-
tions tho Canadians are scarcely more En-
glish than the people Of the United States;
they have their own colonial development,
and one can mark already with tolerablo
distinctness Canadian type which Is
neither English nor American. This is
noticeable especially in the women. Tho
Canadian girl resembles the American in
escape from purely conventional restraint
and in self-reliance, and she has, like the
English, q well-modulated voice and dis
tinct articulation. In the cities, also, she
has taste in dress and certain style which
we think belongs to the New World In
features and action a certain modification
has gone on, due partly to climate and part
IS to greater social independence. 1t is UNI
necessary to make comparisons, and only
note that there is Canadian type Of
woman.
But there is great variety in Canada, and
In fact a remarkable racial diversity. The
man OF Nova Scotia is not at all the man OF
British Columbia or Manitoba. The Scotch
In old Canada have made distinct i'm
preston in features and speech And it
may be said generally in Eastern Canada
that the Scotch element is leading and
conspicuous one in the vigor and push OF
enterprise and the accumulation Of fort
une The Canadian men, as one sees them
in official life, at the clubs, in business, are
markedly a vigorous, stalwart race, well
made, Of good stature, and not seldom
handsome. This physical prosperity needs
to be remembered when we consider the
rigorous climate and the long winters;
these seem to have at least one advantage
that of breeding virile men. The Cana
dams generally are fond Of outdoor sports
and athletic games, of fishing and hunting,
and they give more time to such recrea-
tions than we do They are little less
driven by the business goad. Abundant
animal spirits tend to wake men Rood-nat-
ured and little quurrelsome. The Cana
dams would mako good soldiers. There
was time when the drinking habit pre-
vailed very much in Canada, and there are
still places where they do not put water
enough in their grog, buttemperHnce reform
has taken as strong u hold there as it has in
the United States.
The feeling about the English is illus
tfated by the statement that there Is MOI
more aping of English ways in Montreal and
Toronto clubs and social life than in New
York, and that the English superciliouS
ness, or condcscension as to colonists, the
ultra-English manner, is ridiculed in Can
ada, and resented with even more warmth
than in the United States. The amusing
stories Of English presumption upon hos
pitality are current in Canada as well as
on this side. All this is not inconsistent
with pride in the empire, loyalty to its ira
ditions and institutions, and even consid
cradle willingness (for human nature il
pretty mnch alike everywhere) to accep
decorative titles. But the underlying fac
is that there is distinct feeling OF nation
atty. and it is increasing.