St. Paul daily globe., 1892-01-27
THRO' O'RELL'S EYES.
The Witty Frenchman Gives
His Impressions Of
America.
He Is Captivated by the Pert
and Pretty American
Woman,
And Compares Her Position
With Women of Other
Countries.
Max O'Rell Delighted With
the Country and It's
People.

Spectacles," was handled in way that
was satisfactory in the eulogistic parts
and humorous where the toibles of the
typical Jonathan were ridiculed. The
gathering was respectable in size and
Intelligence. The lecturer was intro
duced by Rev. J. a. Stemen, of the
East Presbyterian church, by short
speech, i'll which he coHtrasted Max
O'Rell with Eli Perkins. declaring that
the latter relied on the hyperbolean
figure of speech for his popularity,
whilst O'Rell discussed objects from a
truthful standpoint.
Max O'Rell spoke of this being his
third trip to America, and said he had
now been here fourteen months. He
had formed impressions of Americans
and would have his revenge by giving
some of the unfayorable impressions.
He referred to Mark Twaiu's impress
slons of French by alluding to his con-
clusion that since be found no soap i'll
the rooms of the French hotels the
French did not wash with soap, and
said a more rational view would be that
the French carried their own soap. He
attended a mass meeting at town in
Indiana. where the people discussed
the subject of How to Spend Sunday"
A gentleman related his experience OF
a visit to Paris, and drew the conclusion
that the French were not a Sabbath
Keeping people. The next speaker was
the lecturer of the evening, and he took
his predecessor to task for receiving
wrong impression. He told them the
tkeaterS were open Sunday evenings III
Paris, where the people could listen to
,,f i0al
nal price. and the museums and art gal
lerieS were open and free TO all visitors,
while the churches were open from an
early hour in the morning until after
noon, and he aSked the audience
20 find out where their toWnSman
had spent his Sunday in Paris. Max
O'Rell's lecture proper was divided
into two professionalism, or the man
OF the masses, whom the speaker de-
cared is not typical, and the ladies' of
America, whom he declared are typical.
The Jonathans he divided into two
claSSeS-thOSe who are gentlemen and
those who are not. BY a gentleman he
did not mean Il New York dude, but the
true gentleman who is found without
distinction, alike in America, England,
France and Holland, including Germany.
He spoke of the Jonathan as existing
In the imagination of France as being a
man vino wears long hair, high-topped
boots, S0mGero hat and pistols i'll belt
the typical Jonathan whom Buffalo
Bill had fixed i'll the minds OF the
French.
The lecturer spoke of the impressions
his mother nad of Americans, and how
she tried to dissuade him from coming
here. She was surprised to learn that
Americans spoke English, and she
thought it a disgrace for her son
10 90 to America to lecture.
His experience taught him that people
In this country differ as to the definition
OF the typical Jonathan. One declared
him to be silent, Sullen and tacitgrH;
enethtr claimed him to be inquisitive
and talkative. Examples Of both types
were portrayed to show that there is, in
reality, no typical American, except in
the sense that he is q very busy man.
'And,' said he, what strikes the
European most forcibly, as he rambles
through America, is the almost total
absence of stupidity in the faces of the
people. You seem active and in earnest;
you are not all beautiful, but you have
intelligent faces. The men sometimes
look tired, but the ladies seem happy.
The men look as if they live i'll the
Furnace of Activity;
the woman look as if they live in fields
of clover. For the Europeans to realize
what activity is they must come to
America"
The lecturer gave his impressions of
people i'll different cities. In Phiia-
delphia they invite you to dine and then
sit upon you. They invite you to speak
and then try to prevent you. He re-
lated his experience with a reporter in
New York, and characterized the i'm
preston as being bold, aggressive and
imaginative. In Boston he was i'm
pressed with the intelligence and inde-
pendence of the people, and the free
dom with which women may pass
along the streets without being
offended, and cOntrasted the fact
with that of European cities.
His experience in speaking before an
audience in Portland, Me-, was pref
aced with the advice to others not to go
there to lecture. He arrived IN that
city an hour late the night of his lee
ture. When he got to the stage door he
thought from the stiffness that the
people had left the hall, but was sur
prised to face company of 1.500. He
tried jokes and a lee ture of
over an hour upon them. but could
not provoke smile, let alone
applause. He thought he made fall
ure, but was assured by the local mama
ger that he had created more enthusi-
asm than he had ever seen. Mr.. O'Rell
assumed more serious tone when he
began to discuss the American women.
He declared that the more he sees
of them the more he is convinced
that the American is typical
woman, more so than the men,
more so than any women he knows.
He was surprised to find that from the
age of seventeen the American girl is
Self-reliant and allowed almost every
liberty and takes upon herself the
others. She travels alone, receives at
home alone, having her independent
reception room. where she may even be
at home to gentlemen. He expressed
the view that the American lady has
the softest place in the universe. Ii he
could be born again and had the choice
Of sex, he would shout at the top of his
voice to be an American woman. He
had never been able to discover in the
American girl any gratitude to the men.
The woman expects all the time to be
under triumphal arch. She expects
everything and gets it.
Three pictures were drawn of scenes
In hotels to Illustrate the different re-
gard shown women in as many civilized
countries. In Paris the husband and
wife walk in to dinner, side by side.
chatting and indicating exact equality.
In England John Bull goes to dinner
with sullen face, followed by de-
nure Mrs. John Bull. In Amer
lea the queen, Mrs. Jonathan,
sweeps into the dining room
whilst Johnathan himself follows. be-
hind. The speaker added that among
those less educated in America the
women even show little bit of con-
tempt for men, but the characteristic of
The woman is one of intelligent lowell
ness. Max O'Rell, IN conclusion. an
swered the oft-repeated Qustion, "What
10 you think of American" by saying
that when he considered what the
country had done in hundred years,
nothing was impossible for it. 1t