The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-10-05
'ODD LAND And THE. \ lHIl1 4
The o Observations Of Robert EIliasSs
Thompson Upon On Great $. 3I'' Brit !
ain and Ireland. III t:5s3ssSs| 5s8
The Amount of Liquor Consumed n
Abroad Not Necessary .for # 1.4S. n
People In America. 4. Nj SSSs

| People In America. ssSs !
This Country Not Only Better for
the Poor Man But for the '.s
Rich Man as Well. s58
1T makes a country or a city vastly
! more conceivable to have looked on lit
! for ones self. The news we read becomes
| more lively to our perception when we
have actually looked on the scene Of Its
happening. But mere sightseeing, the
rushing from museums to cathedrals, and
from striking scenery to 5ack-streets
slums, is rot much Of a help The only
way to see a. city or a country is to take y
cross-section view OF lt--its best ard Its
worst. it's handsome and its ugly-in The
lump, so as to know what its makeup tE
and what proportion each element bears
to the whole. il III RI }Es,
After taking this sort of view as far ,as
possible of the English cities, ] am iin-
pressed by the ugliness and sordidness OF
city life in Great Britain. taken as a
whole. There are fine streets, handsome
and wealthy neighborhoods. but these
constitute the exception to the rule. There
is nowhere the crudeness and rawness IF
our American towns and suburban neigh.
borhoods. Labor is SO cheap that the re-
moval of all that can be afforded But
the bulk of the city streets are dest!tnts
OF bright color, Of graceful outliaes of
every kind of beauty, And when thfss
defects are added to a dull atmosphere
and a lowering sky, the effect is doleeul
enough, writes Robert Ellis Tholup pson,
concerning his impressions OF the Uuittd
Kingdom. e,
In climate, indeed, they have the adj
| vantage in the freedom from our extremes.
Of heat and cold. But they lack the stira-
ulating force of our dry and clear air. In
America a. man works mora heartily and
naturally than in country where every
thing drags. AS an English msnufac-
tnrer said to me: TN America you are
all hustlers. Your worknel work as il
they meant it, while ours put In their
time mostly For the same reason we
drink less strong drink than they do.
The mum bei- of liquor shops in an EngliBh
city, the traffic in wines and liquors IN
every hotel, and the amount Of both seen
on nearly every dining table, public ami
private, are surprising to an American.
But in truth an Englishman drinks 10
fully bring himself UP to the level OF vi
tality and energy in which an American
ordinarily lives. 1t is to be regretted that
people coming from the British Islands
and Germany to our country do not real
ize this. They bring here the drinking
habits of their native countries, and go OH
absorbing alcohol in a quantity which
L t,,&L js
GUS with us. In America such drinking
is throwing oil on a hot fire, and those
who indulge in it are pretty sure to burn
out before their time. .es
Tt is true that alcohol also fuInishes
what satisfies a craving Of the human sys-
tenn, quite distinct from this stimuli tiun.a
This need, however, is met in our country
by the freer consumption Of fruit. .3n
England they eat comparatively little:
fruit Of any kind. In the hotels 1t Is rare
ly offered as part of the bill of fare for
either breakfast or supper. The whole
amount offered for sale In shops and by
hucksters is about what was seen In
American thirty years ago, wlen we ate
far less than now. Nor do they give the
attention they might to raising fruit II It
IS treated as an Incidental to farniihg
rather than crop by itself. You. sesSIloI
great orchards, and very rarely any that.
give evidence Of being properly kept. No
wonder that they import American sap-
pies and sell them, wrapped up like pr-{5
anges in tissue paper, for a high price 81 Il
told my Ulster friends that 5LouSh Neagh;
should be lined with apple orchards, as
the country offers exactly the advantages
possessed by the, lake region Of sf,eRtrai
New York. Also that they should satudy
q
are adapted to their climate. They ina VI
port a few cranberries from Russia and
pay'a high price for them. But there arc
plenty Of places in Northern Ireland
which could be converted into cranbsrryA
patches with little trouble They do! not
do these things, chiefly because nobody
has done them before, but also because ikas
demands Of the rich mans lllx,tr do no4s
run in that irection. The country ssenfa
made for. the rich and mAnagBd for the
rich. The abundance OF luxury and the
scanttness Of mere comforts 20 togsthazs.$
You feel the taiHt Of aristocratic jlDf1ueps,a
in all arrangements II the rich man
wants to go grouse shooting the trains can
be run ninety miles an hour to meets his
convenience and to compete for hl9 Gus &: &:
tom. The ordinary man has tospayi hiRhSs
for poor acc0nmoda tions Ia slow u
and more than once the train ], had taken
DID not start from the terminal sta loa
for from fifteen minutes to half IN hot1r;
after the time advertised One EAg1ighs'
friend laughingly expi iainsd the time tabisEs
TO mean merely that the trail 81 would sh1ts
start before the tffns ADVERTISED
Wonderful, &, III how ever, s is ieir III
ment with the whole system Of thing 3nd
their unread adiness tosadmit stlat We sors sanyts