The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1896-08-16
AMERICAN AND ENGLISH ZEN i.
The SiiIy-SeasOn Talk of n Woman
Who Lives in California.
Philadelphia Press

An American woman-judging from the
local coloring in her letter. a Californian
has been allowed to Illuminate to the extent
of a column and a half in the London
Chronicle on the enticing subject of Amer
lean Men and English Men," Her general
cations are so amusing that they may af-
ford a relief to those who are tired Of in
ternational questions of Il serious charac-
ter. In the first place. it must be said the
American woman who writes the article
has mistaken the arc of her own petty
and seemingly NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. for
that of the universe. She starts Off with
this remark: Il calculated the other day
that l had known some fifty American
men more or less intimately. and that /
had never had so much as a passing ac-
the embryonic stage She is sure the Eng
lishman has soul to burn, and is just the
mate for the romantic American girl whose
ideal in life is an Englishman, gained from
reading cheap English fiction; for the
American woman assures the Chronicle
readers that American women don't read
American books. fiction or history. and so
never form II conception of an American
ideal. AS she puts ii herself: Personally.
| had been married six or seven years be-
fore / read an American novel or history"
Having declared American feminine sub
serviency to English ideals, due to a pc
rusal of fetching summer novels, the writer
dives deeper into her differentiation of
character. 1.-The vast difference between the
EngT1shman and an American can be put
in a nutshell-the American never lived
that a clever woman could not read from
TIC lilSiOC IA "ht - w.,
after a brief friendship; 1T would take sew
eral lifetimes to understand an English
man. The latter is the homogeneous, closely
welded. solid product of many centuries. of
Il slowly developing civflization; and a bill
lion particles, accommodating In logical Sc
quence. have gone into his manufacture
The result is a curious, quiet harmony, an
infinite depth too solid to be mined. and an
egoism too great for egotism.' She con-
fesses the sublimated s~elfishness of the
English brute. but ticks his hand, as il
were. and goes on as follows: american
men are an eccentric growth, a hodge,
podge flung together in a galioping. money
grubbing civilization, and they are not fully
known to themselves. Eventually they will
be the greatest race OF men the world has
ever known; now the best of them are
amateurs in the art of being and living.
They haven't found themselves conse-
auently there is no compactness, little CO.
mire our fathers and brothers. but we
haven't any great admiration for our hus-
bands. although we may be rather fond of
bullies-when we divorce them-we can
manage them, and what woman ever felt
that she was realizing her possibilities with
a man she could manager
In addition to all this. this American
woman-she must be a lady of purest ray
serene. a graduate of Western ranch life
saws the American is so artless that Amer
lean women rule by fiattery, rule cruelty.
and that the reason why the English carry
off our best girls is not on account of titles.
but because he-your Englishman-is a
mystery and the American feminine mind
loves Il mystery. o just what English
readers thought of this silly season lucu-
bration Is not at hand. But American men
and American IN Will lose no sleep
over 1t. They are accustomed to being mis-
represented in England by ambassador. So
cial parasites and the prepaid tourist The
unfortunate American girls who find the
English husband a mystery whose solution
is not conducive TO peace of mind should
paste this -~entrancing epistle In their dia,
rios When one reads such a communion
ton IL becomes patent why the English fail
to understand US The reason is plain by
scientiic analogy: the clear photosphere of
American actualities which would give a
continuous spectrum OF American life is re-
versed and lined black by the transforma-
ton undergone in passing through the mis-
representative aura of the American-Eng-
fish colony. Whether TO enhance their own
value. to pose as clever, or whether from
a sheer inability TO conceive that their indi.
viduai experience is not symptomatic. the
Americans in London who paint such pic-
lures Of American life as the English like
to believe is typical are a Iretty lot. They
ant artfulness. Never read an American
novel or History TILL after marriage,''
Great Scott. Did she grow up with the
grizzlies?