Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1898-05-11
AS SOME FOLKS SEE US.

sia In view of the apparent danger that
the Americans will contract "A case Of
" sweet head on account Of current
events it Is encouraging to note that
4 SO patriotic and SO intelligent IA gentle
/ man as Professor Charles Eliot Nor
X ton, OF Harvard, has taken the matter
In hand and is doing everything in
IS his power to save the country from
the terrible effects of {; too exalted
4 opinion of itself In Il recent address
this patriotic educator made the fol
lowing remarks in reference to his
1. dearly beloved land:
1T is characteristic of the Americans
to be trihing. They have ac-
quired the varnish of civilization, but
their natures have not been refined.
The American people have been
Il spoiled by prosperity. The
II American people are not we'll educated.
- We excel in nothing but sci
: ence-we have no literature, no art.
There are very few gentlemen
4 in the United States. The Americans
i; are 100000 good natured people
gifted with a fatal optimism, with no
serious thought of any of the grave
+ fine sense of honor: they cannot dlstin-
guish between what is honest and
what is dishonest. / feel with
v Sir Horace Walpole that could be
d proud Of my country if il We're not for
my countrymen.
2 It is to be hoped that all Americans
4 will take this just and severe arraign-
ii ment to heart and proceed to remove
< the last barrier to the perfect bliss
and the unqualified commentator of
3 Professor John Eliot Norton.
Some persons may be so foolish as to
take exception to the views expressed
+ by this great and good man 1t may
y even be asserted that some OF his OBJ
1ections to American character are
no objections at all. For instance.
\ some unmannerly swain who has
never explored the Iclysian fields of
and art may be tempted to
q say that gentlemen are not as i'm
sportant TO the welfare Of the nation as
plain, common. practical men" but
3 no one of intelligence can doubt Pro
/: fessor Norton's transcendent right and
n Quallhcation to deliver an authorita
Il tive opinion on the subject He hints
that there is a dearth of gentlemen.
Il Therefore, 1t goes without saying that
gentlemen" are the prime necessity OF
D the United States today
In answer to his declaration tina,
the Americans take no "serious
OF any OF the grave duties o.
sllfe," the theory that the duty Of Sc
curing an honest living which faces
n most Of the Americans might be con
4 sldered a grave" one without stretch
Il 1hg the meaning of the adjective un-
4Eduly, but when one compares this dun
Is an sordid conception of duty with
those higher and nobIer branches of
S8s che same virtue which have 10 dea,
with SUCH abstract questions as ..What
Ss Is our Relation to Yearly OUTPUT of
~ Meteorites From the Planet Mars ~
the utter absurdity and insignificance
of the former becomes apparent. What
dull and insensate clods to toll for food
@ and apparel when the mind might be
roaming through the beautiful and
Il entertaining avenues of thought pre-
sented by such a grave question as
what }'.S Would We Be If We Were Not
What We Are?"
We fear. however. that Professor
Norton has undertaken a hopeless task.
nch q az We wish him success In his