The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-11
Local observations Friday.
THE AMERICANIsM OF CANADA.
An English Visitor Disp1eased with
What He Finds.
Literary Digest.

Literary Digest.
An English Visitor" who gives no clew
to his identity has been making obServa-
lions in Canada and finds himself much dis
appointed. He expected to find himself feel
ing at home with fellow countrymen, and,
on the contrary, he feels like a foreigner IN
a strange land. He does not pretend that his
impressions are other than superficial, but
such as they are he sends them to the St.
Jamess Gazette, which gives three-fourths
of a page to their publication. English Wis
itor, says, among other things:
MY first and most vivid impression was
a rather disagreeable or at least disap-
pointing, one. 1t was the marked Ameri-
canism OF the average Canadian-perhaps l
ought to say his un- English character. The
French Canadians are the French, the Brit
ish are American, or quasi american. And
this is more particularly true of the En-
glish; less so of the Scotch. am aware
that the statement needs much Qualifica-
ton, and subsequent experience has conSd-
erably modified the original impression; but
1t remains. An Erglshman who goes to
Canada in an ordinary way and mixes with
the people, expecting to feel as he does in
any part of these islands, among Aus
tralianS or Cape British, will be disap-
pointed, except when he finds himself in the
very best society, which forms only small
fraction of the population. With that ex-
ception, 1 have felt, and have been made to
feel, all the time that was among foreign
erS and treated as a foreigner. 1t is not too
much to say that / have repeatedly felt
mere strange and less at ease with my COM
pany in Canada than in almost any part of
the continent of Europe, although the peo-
pie speak EngliSh-Of a sort
THE accent has a great deal to do with
the matter. British Canadians have ac-
cent Of their own. AT first it sounds very
American-and by American | mean per-
citizens of the great republic have no eX-
elusive right to the title-less, indeed, than
red Indians and Eskimos; but being the
a name, they may De allowed the use of
this for convenience sake. Canadians. who
have a name of their oWn-and much bet
for ono moo NO 6rQ a
are apt to do) The Canadian accent, then,
sounds American at first to English ears,
though difference is soon perceptible To
American ears the difference is very great.
They are fond OF denying any resemblance,
but that is all nonsense. Granted that the
two are distinct yet the Canadian speech
is nearer to American than it is to English,
and the fact is rather a disagreeable sur
prise"
Among other things we are told that the
Canadians call lift" an elevator" a
tram" is a street car" a bag is a
In the states says the writer, great in
genuity has been expended lin dfferentiat-
ing the language from the English" and
terms ter and the Yankee infections as; as we'll veil
But this is not all:
Speech is not the only thing in Canada
that smacks of the States. The people eat
and drink American, they affect American
games amusements. manners and customs
They would probably repudiate the charge
with Indignation, but that is because they
know no other country except America and
only see the difference between the States
and themselves. If they knew England
too, they must recognize that the re-
semblances are much greater than the diff
ferences. I do not see how it could we'll be
otherwise. For instance he must
he prepared in a hotel to order all the
courses he wants for each meal at one go
and to have them all brought in together;
he must expect to find English dishes called
by American names and prepared in Amer
lean style; to see every one drinking iced
water and nothing else; to meet with wait
ers as independent as himself; to have nc
letters or boots brought up to his room, and
so forth. Similarly in the street the shop
or the railway train. And every now and
then he will met with another thing point
ing the same moral, and that is an English
waiter or shopman or clerk who will recog-
nize him with joy and make much of him
ard exchange condolences as between two
fellow-countrymen meeting by accident in a
foreign land"