Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-11-26
NEW AND OLD ENGLANDERs.

The Generally Accepted Type md
What Is Familiar to Modern Eyes.
From the New York World.
The latest contributor to our knowledge OF
ourselves Is the eminent British author, Mr..
Hall Game. AS Mr. Game is undoubtedly an
acute observer and a careful delineator, he
carries the presumption of authority in his
utterances. He has begun his studies of the
genus homo Americans" in New England
He has visited Buzzards Bay, has driven
over the sandy soil and through the scrub
oaks of Cape Cod, and he has found out why
the descendants of the Puritans are "a thin.
wiry, lean, lantern-jawed race" and why the
hard lines grow around their cheeks and
that double bar across their forehead.
1t is possible that the traditional descrip-
ton of the New Highlander is correct 1t is
also possible that 1t may be erroneous. His
ancestors were not given to the pleasures of
the table. Common consent has fixed the
type of Brother Jonathan and of Uncle Sam
to fit Hall Gaines description. Still. few
facts which will hardly be disputed leave the
question an open one.
In the revolutionary war the generals and
statesmen from New England were not
noticeably lean. On the contrary, they were
rather heavy weights. The athletes of our
New England colleges are as heavily built
as their competitors in Old England. Our
rowing crews and foot ball teams equal
theirs in weight. In the athletic contests
the English excel in speed and agility. the
New Englanders in strength. The New
England dinner alike in New York or Chi
cago or st. Louis presents an array of solid
and comfortable-looking citizens. The New
England Congressman hold their own on all
scales.
On the other hand, we are familiar with
rany types of Englishmen. Those whom
we do not know personally we know by their
portraits. If John Bull of a hundred years
ago was overfed and beefy. the English gen.
tleman OF today is different. The English
men of letters look like men of letters The
college professors, the poets and painters of
England are certainly rather lean than fat.
The English actor is a personable man.
The English diplomat and tourist might
wear an American ready-made suit. Even
the English ariStocratS who have married
our heiresseS are not noticeably heavy
weights III any way. In the absence of an
thropometrical statistics it would be unfair
to dogmatize. No scie mist would offer to
weigh New England dinner against a lord
mayors banquet. But, taking the two races
generally, there does not seem to be a wide
variation In the physical type, and there
ought not to be.
If the early settlers of New England Jared
badlytheir descendants are not kept thin by
munger. For several generations now the
get the best that the country could furnish,
and he has enjoyed it. The modern high
standard of living owes much to New Eng
land influences. To those who know him
perhaps better than Hall Game does the
modern New Highlander is the type of COM
fort
There is eminent authority for believing
that what every one says must be true.
There Is also eminent authority for the
dfctum that every generally accepted opin-
ION Is erroneous. Perhaps in following the
generally accepted opinion of the type of the
New Highlander Mr.. Hall Game has merely
lent the weight of his authority to a myth
which ceased to be true before he saw New
England.