The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-07-03
NINE. BLANC ON AMERICA.
4 NEW nook ABOUT us AND Dun
WAYS BIZ tn. BENTON.

woman New ENGLAND and Arkanana ne
They Appeared to Her - appreciation or
sidney LAnier-The ChewInE.Gun Habit.
America has been q sort of peep.show for lit
erary Europe. Ono by one the writer's from
across the Atlantic buy a ticket, take n souint,
and forthwith rush of to their publishers to
tell what they saw, or what they thought they
saw. or what they thought they werc going to
SEQ, or something that will fill tho requisite
number Of pages. Foreign swords have never
amounted to much against America. Therefore
foreign countries have been pleased to reflect
that tho pen was mightier anyway.
Aldrioh tells about an Arab gentleman who
after entertaining guest. in fair battle strikes
him dead With the same pleasure that he gave
him bread" Foreigners employ similar tactics,
but it is the guest who docs the striking. Amerl-
cans have grown somewhat accustomed to en-
PERTAINING foreigners of a literary persuasion
who won't home and misrepresented the people
whose hospitality they accepted. That sort of
thing has happened so often that 1t has ceased
to cause very much surprise; but conformation
seizes upon us when tho opposite thing happens.
1t is hard not to be Rbjoctly grateful for COM
mon courtesy from literary foreigners.
This being true, 1t is not strange that any
book by Nine. Marie Therese Blanc E Til. Bent
Eon y should command the respectful interest
OF Americans. Few foreigners have approached
the ~peephole with 30 much common sense as
she has shown, and fewer still have looked at us
so long and rs carefully. Consequently readers
in this country will welcome the appearance of
a new book by Nine. Blanc. Chooses ct Gems
d'Amerique' c"Matters and People in Amer
ica'l. 1t is OF n more serious tenor than her
previous book, Les Americaincs chez Files"
("AmericRns Mt Honey, and will probably DO
less popular; but it will serve to increase Amer
lean appreciation of Nine. Blanc's critical and
literary ability, and to add to her welcome when
she shall again cross the Atlantic.
There are but FIVE subjects treated in the new
book: Communism in America" A Ameri.
can Lott" "a Musician Poet" In Arkansas
and Family Life in America" The last OF
these appeared in the Forum in March, 1896.
and was widely noticed at the time. In prefac.
ing the present republication in French OF this
article Nine. Blanc explains that to the question,
what do you think of family life in the United
States2" She replied, without evasion, but
with the feeling that / could not be entirely i'm
partial on n subject about which every one in
evitably feels the influence OF the dearest Gus.
toms, tho most tender souvenirs. That which
has meant love and happiness for ourselves al
ways seems to us superior to a state OF things
which interests our neighbor, and which we
only half understand"
This spirit Of preconceived and natural pref
uulCe III LhNOT u CTeICn ndDltS anu theories ana
Of half understanding of corresponding Ameri-
can ideas runs through tho article on family
life. Nevertheless. one feels that the writer
does not revel in an abandon of criticism, and
that, taking into consideration the difference in
tho point of view. her observations are reason
ably accurate and Just.
The article on "Communism in America" is
divided into two parts. Communism in Fic-
tion" and Communism in Reality" The
former is an exhaustive review Of Bellamy's
to a Shaker village in Maine. AS is inevitable,
Nine. Blanc makes an occasional slip in &C.
4 is Decoration Day, and again when she says
that the Shakers alone among the comnunistic
settlements in Americ' have succeeded in exist.
ing during a whole century, The same record
is enjoyed by several OF these societies. the
Amana villages in Iowa being even moro
However, such trivial points are OF no conse-
@n,ence in the estimate Of Mime. Blanc's studies.
poets Of nature to which she was unaccustomed
The article called Dams rhrkansas" pictures
a country almost as little known to Americans
there to visit Octave Thanct at Clover Bend.
Her stay there evidently afforded her a constant
axe, but the torch: Uncle NSis. who > had d mar,
him Of only one wife; the colored mothers who
wero SO proud OF their mulatto children; the
around the stove; the horse breakers whose
skill and courage astonished her.
"A little boy OF years stands with the men
near the horse, his hands in his pockets. intrepid.
His parents let him 90. trusting to his shrewd-
ness. Since he has to be a man. let him take at
of prudence. Such is the American education."
OF course. Judge Lynch comes in for n bit Of
notice. A certain officer of the law was Of the
When I cry, out against the law of Lynch.
calling 1t barbarous, tho magistrate smiles
without saying anything. One can easily sec
that he thinks it necessary in certain cases.
Apropos of the Italians. for instance, killed Mt
Now nrIannQ hn IA Ia frnU n 1 = II tAna to
solve a great difficulty; one knew that they
would be released understand, from hints
which escaped him. that with the prevailing
corruption it is sometimes difficult to be suro
that Justice will Ne done"
When Mime. Blanc sees the gum trees in the
swamp she is not unnaturally reminded OF
ing. Of which American children arc passion
ately fiona; and not only the children. but the
majority Of the common people. In the cars, in
the railway trains. noticed everywhere, this
automatic movement of the jaw which shows
the chewing habit; it is an inoffensive guild
admit that this substitution has sometimes
what excuse can there be for the women2 But
let us forget this vulgar. product before the
trerS from which II comes"
Here is her tribute to another national insti-
tuition, the train newsboy:
One of the characteristic features OF a rail
sion at regular intervals. in the long gallery
called the car. of a young dealer in journals;
chewing gum. At each station he rushcs i" in.
carrying packages which represent sometimes
food for the mind. sometimes food for the body;
his shrill voice shrioks in your ears with alto
Rether special iptonation: Papers! last novels!
chocolate! candy! sandwiches! oranges! bH-
nanas! popcorn! chewing gum!' as the case may
be; and the object announced falls into your
lap, which does not mean that it Is given TO you,
hut merely that you are allowed time for reflec.
ton. Pretty soon n quick hnnd snatches it
away from you. at least i you, do not indicate
by paying that you want to keep II. | tried,
out OF curiosity, most of these products.'
Speaking OF the New England farmers whom
she saw on the train, she says that they were
exactly like badly dressed townsmen."
1t was under the guidance OF Sarah Orme
Jewett that Nine; Blanc visited the Shakers,
but sho was first detained in the home of her
friendly cicerone by d storm which lasted sew
eral days. she describes this house at South
Berwick as follows:
Il stayed in a house. dating from the first
half of the, last century. solid and massive. al
though built of wood. as are all the houses
which the traveller sees in the United States,
always with great establishment. transported on
four wheels. from one place to another. TO re-
join their foundations. Filled with family
treasures, the house OF Miss 9. ]. gives an
impression of permancnce, just as II IL were built
OF granite. This American people. which is