The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-10-28
--7--------- THE ERA OF GOOD FEELING.

Things are Different Since May 1.
 Before the era of good feeling, that is to say, before May 1, 1898, Americans in England always spoke scathingly Of the eggs and bacon breakfast, that seemingly like the laws of the Medes and Persians changed not. We also re- minded our cousins that there were no trolley cars in all London, that their lifts" were stuffy little traps that got stuck at the wrong floor, that thelr railway carriages were only stage coaches with college education, that the metropolitan railway should be abolished as a nuisance on account Of the carbonic acid gas in it's tunnels and that a ride on the Empire State express would open the eyes of an Engllshman to the completeness of the ideal in trave'ing, and reduce the size of the average bloomin' Britisher's head so his hat would fit.
 When the conversation turned to so cial problems (and we always to k pains discreetly and deftly to steer the conversation into social problems) we | John O. Groat's to Land End respec- table women drank whiskey at public bars; we spoke feelingly of the vice. dirt and misery of the East End and hinted at our intention of writing a book entitled "If Christ Came to Lon don" We sneered at Piccadilly, with buildings only three stories high, and asked with far-away looks of sadness, What pity it is that Westminster is so cluttered and crowded with monu- ments to nobodles?"
 No sympathy being expressed for the latter sentiment, we asked why they called it "stishun," and wasn't lady as good as "lidy'' and how prepo terous to talk of guineas when there was no such piece of money, or to have a half crown with no mark on it to show a what it was, or to circulate silver stamped lone f1orin'' and always call l it two shilings? And if you had pud- l ding why call it puddin', or prate of l biscuit when you mean crackers? | Then we asked conundrums as to the l difference between a top-coat ard an overcoat and wondered why Engl sh women wore clodhopped shoes. At the dinner table we expressed surprise that English people should take pride in showing the Tower of London when it's history was thing of which good peo- pie should be ashamed We inquired for the telephone at private houses i (knowing they had none) and said in nocently by way of apology, "Why in America there is telephone in every house" When we were given lighted candle and started to grope our way off to bed we referred to Edson's marvel
 ous inventions and facetiously quoted
 Victor Hugo's motto: More light, more light"
 Now it must be admitted that some of these questions and remarks sound rather indelicate, if not absolutely inn polite. But the fact is you can crowd even the best of people until you get
 the retort courteous and the quip crus-
 ty When you were asked by an Eng lishman if it were really true that there
 are a thousand lynchipgs in America a
 year; and do we really burn people at
 the stake; and does William F. Cody
 accurately picture the daily life of his
 native village, Buffalo, N. Y; and do
 we still hang witches at Salem: and
 how can we endure hot bread every
 meal: and why hasn't the States devel-
 oped literature of it's own and does
 Jesse James will stop trains on the New
 York Central railroad, and why is Sir
 Chauncey Depew so obscure in his
 jokes,-you grew a-weary.
 But things are different now. To be
 sure, I did not hear Paul Revere re-
 cited in London drawing-room, but
 they give you fruit for breakfast, and
 make no remarks about the voices of
 American women. The country gentle
 man explains of his own account that
 he is making arrangements to put in a telephone, and tells you of cricket
 club that is learning to play baseball | He speaks of an elevator" and asks if you noticed the corridor railway car
 riages on the Northwestern ard says
 ITO think! year ago you had to speak
 a week ahead if you wished to ride to
 Liverpool in a carriage that had a lava
 tory, and two years ago they charged |