The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-02-11
sERENELY ILL-BRED ENGLISH.
Things Done in Lo, don Society That We
Cali Had Manners

II the English themselves were the only
ones 20 suffer from their own lack Oh
ease. and OF the little graces Whlch on
the social wheels, IL would not so Huch
matter: one would only regret that they
were NOT having a better time, but 'hey
make others suffer. especially the stran-
ger within their gates.
The English say 10 this. when you
know them well enough TO complain
that we are too sensitive" and that we
are too quick TO take offence. 1t never
occurs 10 him that maybe he ~ 100
brusque. If you say, on mounting a
coach. II am afraid j am n too many
I fear I am crowding you ALL you can
count upon their all answering with per-
feet cheerfuiness, Yes. you are, but we
didn't know you were coming, ana
there is no help for it," and 1t never oc-
ours to them that that is not perhaps
the best way of putting II.
After a bit you find out that they do
not mean TO be rude, or you learn 10
no rude yourself, and then you get on
famously. / nave had Americans come
into NY rooms I'm London with tears OF
Indignation i'm their eyes, and tell of the
uay they had been, MS they supposed,
snubDed and insulted and neglected.
why" they would ask. did they in
cite me 10 their house If they meant 10
,-aat ue like that? | didn't ask them TO.
didn't force myself ON them. l only
wanted n word now and then, just 10
make me feel / was a human being. III
they had only asked me When are you
Going avayy IL would have been some
thing: but TO leave me standing around
I'm corners. and TO go through whole
dinners without as much as a word, with
out Introducing me TO any one or recog-
MIXING my existence--why did they ask
me II they only meant to insult me
when they got me there? Is that English
hospitality?
And the next day l would meet the peo-
ple with whom he had been staying, and
they would say: Eve had such a nice
compatriot of yours with us. such a Well
Informed young man; l hope he will stop
with us for the shooting"
AS far as they knew they had done all
that civility required, all they would have
given their %neighbors or have expected
from their own people. But they did not
know that we are not used 10 being
walked over rough-shod, that we affect
interest even If we do not feel IL. and
that we tell social hbs IL II is going 10
make some one else feel more comfort
able. II is as If the American had boxed
with gloves all his life. and then met. a
man who struck with his bare fists. and
It naturally hurts.
And the most pathetic part OF the
whole thing is that they do not know
how much better than their own the
breeding Of the American really Is. 1t Is
like the line in the international Epi-
sode," where the American woman
points out to her friend that their Eng
lish visitors not only dress badly. but so
badly that they will not appreciate how
well dressed the Americans are.
nave seen a whole rOomful of En-
glishmen sit still when a woman came
into her own dr~awing-room, and then
look compassionately at the Americans
present because they stood up. They
probably thought we were following out
the rules OF some book on etiquette. and
could not know that We were simply more
comfortable standing when "A woman was
standing than We would have been sit
ting down.
And II will not do to say I'm reply TO
this that those Englishmen of whom /
speak were not OF the better sort and
thai I should not judge by the middle
class. l am not writing of the middle
classes. 1T was the best butter" as
the March hare says.-Harker's.