The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1893-07-29
NOTALLAREL IKEHIM
THE BRITISH CAD ABROAD is A DIS
AGREEABLE PERSON.

|
| cry Possible Occasion.
There is nothing of which, as an Eng
lishman who has spent much of his life
| in foreign lands, l am more heartily
ashamed than the British cad on his
travels, and / would like to take this op-
| portunity to warn such readers as may
not have had occasion to visit Europe
| that my oountrymen are not all built on
the Same lines as our travelling cad and
| that the latter must not under any cir
cumstances be regarded in the light of a
| typical Briton.
Generally speaking, the travelling cad
| belongs to the middle classes, although
am forced to admit that have met ouite
a number of his kind who bore names
that figure in the pages of Burke The
| manifestations of his caddishness are
prompted i'll great measure by patriot
| ism of an aggressive and offensive type
which involves contempt for everything
that does not happen to be English.
In no other country of the world, save
perhaps i'll China, have found such an
undisguised contempt for the foreigner
rs i'll England. The people there are
| firmly convinced that everything alien
| is necessarily bad; that foreign opinion
is not worth considering, and that when
dealing with foreigners they are under
no obligation to observe the conventions
al rules of life which govern their inter
course with their fellow countrylnen.
The result of all this is that no people
are more justly abhorred abroad than
the ordinary Briton OH his travels, and
even the we'll bred Englishman seeks by
every means i'll his power to get out of
the way of this greatest of all abomina-
tions, the tourist cad
From the very moment that he leaves
England and sets foot on II foreign
shore the cad apparently casts to the
winds all sense of decency and consid-
Grafton for the feelings of those with
whom he is brought i'll contact Eng
lishmen, and, | may add, English women,
of the cad species do not Seem to have
! the slightest consideration for their sur
| roundings when abroad in the matter Of
dress; their one delight would appear to be
to endeavor to offend the susceptibilities
of the foreigners with whom they are
| brought in contact either by the made
quacy or else by the exaggerated and
equally inappropriate magnifcence of
| their attire.
part Of the travelling Briton is the brr-
tality and unvarnished character of his
criticism of everything and everybody
that he sees after leaving home. Indeed
one is often tempted to ask why he
should have quilted his native shores,
seeing that he is so determined to find
everything bad and abhorrent that is
| foreign. He ridicules the language, he
ridicules the accent, tho appearance. the
manners and the dress of all those whom
he encounters abroad not quietly and
unobtrusively, but i'll the most offensive
and public way, without the slightest
| idea of concealment. If he meets an
American, he Is quite as ready as not to
inform him that he speaks English with
nasal twang, totally Obvious of his
own vulgar cockney accent, while to the
| German he will eXpatiate on the alleged
| lack of cleanliness of the Teutonic race.
| To the Frenchman he will address what
he considers to be delicate banter OH the
| traditional fondness of the Gallo race
| for frogs and snails.
AS for removing his hat when some re-
| ligious or funeral procession passes
| through the street of acontinental town,
| he would scorn the idea. have met the
British cad travelling i'll India, where he
distinguishes himself by refusing to CON
form with the local prejudces and Gus
toms of the highly civilized natives.
whom he aniably refers to- even to their
faces. as ''nigGers," and in japan. where
he does not hesitate To tramp with his
| muddy boots over the dainty mats ON
| which the natives both sleep and eat.
| have known one of them to chcerf,lliv
| volunteer TO Il high bred and courteous
japanese nobleman who in an i'll advised
moment had been induced to entertain
him the information that he was ".as-
| founded by the lack of morality and pro-
| priety" of the women of the Land of the
Rising Sun.
There is nothing that should like so
much as for some clever New York re-
porter to get hold of one of these travel
/ ing British cads on his way home. and to
| draw nm. The mere record of the in
| tervlcw would furnish il far more graphic
illustration and portrayal of the creature
than anything that could write. The
worst Of the matter is that travel does
not seem To III any way improve the
creature. lie starts out from home with
the preconccived determination of find
ing everything foreign "beastly"-I use
his own favorite expression. Looking
at everything in Il jaundiccd and preiu-
diced manner, he goes back more con
WINGED than ever that everything that he
has seen out of England is ''beastly." an
| opinion which he does not hesitate to
| express everywhere and on every occa-
| sion III the most forcible manner