Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-03
GLIMpsES OF ENGLISH LIFE.
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH. I

| WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArCH.I
| -IwRoTE letter one day last summer to
the editor of the London Daily Telegraph and
asked him to correct the headings of his re-
ports of the trouble ut Homestead. These
| reports were labeled, day after day, 1.-THE
| mining Riots in America" / told him that
| the men at Homestead were not miners had
nothing to do with miners, and probably
| knew less about mining than they did about
| printing. There had. indeed, been riotous
| miners out in Idaho; but Idaho. assured
| the editor was some miles distant from
| Pittsburg; somewhat further away, in fact,
than Constantinople is from London.
They do not know everything in England.
After the death of George William Curtis
| the Athersae,.n,, which is supposed to have
some acquaintance with English literature,
described him in a brief paragraph as the
| editor of Harpers Md0dziae and an authority
on educational matters!
Nevertheless, read the English papers
| last summer with considerable interest and
profit. They are not so bad. 1t is true that
there is not nearly SO much reading matter
| in them as there is In ours; but am not will
| ing to account that as disadvantage. What
there is, is good. The news is SO arranged
that the reader can discover it readily, and
look it over quickly and quietly. A good
| many of our newspapers are managed on
the foghorn principle. The reporters are
allowed to yell their information in the ears
of q patient public through the speaking
| trumpets of obtrusive headings. The head
ing in the English paper may not always be
accurate, but it is always quiet, never
slangy, never Objectionable. The editor
takes it for granted that his readers do not
particularly enjoy flash dialect, even in
print.
Benefit of Long Range News,
Or course, hungered and thirsted for
news from Pittsburg, and the meagre dole
of the daily London papers seemed only an
aggravation. Yet, after all, the chief facts
got across the water. They we're not en-
bellished with a great many adjectives.
They were lacking in local color. They were
not elaborately attired by reportorial tailors
But the main facts were reported day by
day.. And it is likely that we were in pos
session Of the real truth about Homestead
as much as if we had read the Pittsburg
papers Perhaps we knew even more than
was known at home; Or at least knew the
situation in better perspective. It is often
disadvantage to see an object too close aG
hand. 1t looks bigger than 1t really is. At
distance the details are obscured, and the
great outlines of things are evident.
1t is not unlikely that if we knew less
about some things we might know more
about them!
One curious thing about the American
news in English papers was the translation
of intelligence into the language which
passes over there for English. The freight
cars which were burned in Buffalo became
parcels vans'' in London; the rails were
''metals;'' the crnductor was the "guard;"
fl,ea 81, III T,r fol,
language in England is q curious kind of
speech. One is tempted to say that with a
little knowledge of English one can get
along very well anywhere in Europe-excepJ
in England.
Some Pleasant English Customs.
1T may have been on account of previous
acquaintance that liked things in England
better this time than did before. I liked
the big round loaves Of broad, with the little
round loaf on top, and the informal fashion
of putting the broad on the table whole, and
letting every lodger take a hack at it; and
even the butter without any salt in it. l
liked the pleasant custom of having five
meals day-breakfast at 8, and luncheon
at ], and tea at 4, and dinner at Z, and supper
at 10. The afternoon tea is as regular meal
as dinner, and quite as delightful; and, when
it goes out of doors and becomes a garden
70 selma tions9 Enoland ia intercstin1 indoors
and ont. II masters little Rnt To drink tea
in one of the fair Gardens of the nrecincts of
Canterbury. amid the hedges and the grace.
fuI trees and the velvet lawns. beside the
turfed mound that was made nv the casting
mn ot the earth when the cathedral crvnt
was dug-so many years ago that it makes
one dizzy to think of ft-with the splendid
towers rising into the blue sky, and the
bells counting the hour and in the best
company in England, is to catch q glimpse
of perfect bliss,
remember a garden party at a vicarage
near Knebworth. The vicarage is several
miles from the parish church, but distance
in Hertfordshire is only prolonging OF de-
light. did not see the houses of the peo-
pie; but the people in England do not count
for so mucb in the narish as they do with
us. 1t was enough to see the vicar and the
yicarage Here is the parson of a country
village, miles from railroad. In Penusyl-
yania he would be a careworn man. with O
careworn wife and seven hungry children.