The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-05-16

heart to write disparagingly of his hosts.
it is better that what he writes should not
be published. And if a learned and emf
nent person should be most warmly re-
ceived in congenial circles. and should so
disregard the usageS of society that he
was declared to have carried himself like
a Saxon swineherd before the Norman con-
quest" and to have secured for himself
the undisputed possession of one house, his
host and hostess having finally despaired
ana fled, then 1t might have been better
for that distinguished man and for his ma
tive land if he had remained at home. 1t
is right, however, to add that such prime
val manners We're original rather than ma
tionaI, and did not endear him to every
heart, even in England.
DON'T IKE THE ENGLISH.
One must sadly admit the fact that En-
glishmen are not greatly admired or ar
IDENTIFY loved by the American nation, but
the reason is not always realized. 1t is not
the amazing folly of our government in the
wal of independence, nor the unfortunate
conflict of 1872, nor even the avowed SYM
pathy Of English society with the South
in the civil war, although all those mis-
takes have left a heritage of bitterness.
What i~rritates Americans quite as much
as any of our family quarrels, so it seems
to one visitor, is the attitude of the indi-
vidual Englishman. He is supposed-with
some measure of truth, certain1y-to be
unsympathetic and critical, or fearfully
understanding and patronizing-in fact, to
sniff mis- way through the States. Very
likely the poor man is simply dazed by the
noise and Whirl of life in that electrical
atmosphere, or is laying himself out to
please. 1t did not, of course, show much
tact to advise an American woman who
was meditating a visit to Scotland to read
Sir Walter S~cott-whom a good American
knows from "WaVerley" to Count Robert
of Paris'-but it was not really meant for
an insult; and when an English woman
congratulated an American on speaking
without a twang she intended to pay a
compliment, and it was unnecessarily cruel
to congratulate her in return on not drop
ping her his. Our hand (and our humor)
is heavy, and a people ought not to be
judged by insular gaucherie; it may con-
ceal a true heart. What is sorely needed
is more going to and fro between the coun-
rlesmEnglish going west, as well as
ships between individuals and more under
standing one of the other. 1t ought to be
laid to heart by every visitor to the States
that he is travelling among a bright, emo
tional, kind-hearted, sensitive people, and
it might be useful for his clever hosts to
same stock, where it is quite honest and
grateful, but proud and shy, and where it
has no nerves.
GENUINE SIMPLICITY.
What lends a peculiar character to Amer
lean manners is their genuine and attract
i've simplicity, and q traveller does feel that
his ideal of democratic citizenship has been
III JIG PdA llCuldl at ICool, dlAAN III
one way it strikes a foreigner that the
States lose by not having a leisured ruling
class, with traditions of public service, of
incorruptible honor, of trained statesman
ship. In another way the States gain by
counting all their citizens eligible for pub
lie duty, because the rulers are not a caste,
do not give themselves airs, are affable
and accessible. The in~definable atmos-
phere which surrounds one of our civil Off
Gals, and which he never throws off, which
he breathes with evident relish, but which
is rather rare for ordinary lungs, cannot
gather in the perpetual motion of American
life. A citizen is summoned from his bank
or office or mandatory or from the ed
ltors chair to a seat, say, in the Cabinet,
not because he belongs to a certain family
or even because he has much personal in
1uence, but because he is the best man
for the post. He is not changed by the
sudden elevation, and is exactly the same
man in Washington as he was a month
ago in Boston or Chicago. When his term
of office is over he withdraws to the ranks
again, and has not in his talk the note of a
b~ureaucrat. No man with common sense
tries % stand, apart in the States or hedge
speak with a Cabinet minister or a mil
lionaire or a railway president-one of the
most powerful functionaries in the land-or
even an editor, without difficulty, and with
no necessity for Obsequious observances.
Policemen and car conductors wear uni
form, and the judges of the Supreme Court
oO' - DNNNA NAS"AA NCoAP
any official dress outside the army, and ex-
cept at West Point the army is invisible.
There is no sentinel at the White House,
no policeman, no gay-colored lackeys, and
it is a pleasant surprise to find perhaps the
most autocratic ruler in the world except
the Car living as a private gentleman.
Perhaps there may be too little privacy in
American life, and it might be some time
before an Englishman could make up his
mind to live so much in the open, where
one cannot refuse himself to any person
and the very gardens have no walls. There
is surely some slight danger that life so
unshielded, so entirely exposed, where any
detail may appear next day in the news
papers, is likely to become common and
vulgar. A visitor can detect a wistful de-
sire for shelter and quietness among
thoughtful Americans, even a pardonable
ambition for color and stateliness. AS
years go by it is not unlikely that public
functions may be marked with a certain
regulated pomp, and high officials use a
just authority; but the chief dignity of de-
mocracy must always be its severe and
august simplicity-the strength which
comes from the mind and conscience of an
intelligent and free-born nation.