The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-03-11


| on lis and have treated us in the best
possible way. They made us one with
them and no distinctions because we
| were English"
He was silent awhile and then spoke
again. Another reason for coming that
| Americans do not as q rule appreciate
is the social side-the classes of Eng
land. Over there the class distinctions
are strong. Why, if you go along the
street, there are certain people you
meet that you must tip your hat to-
you must do it and there is no help for
it. My people had store in a village
| there and were earning an honest liV-
! ing and were good people, but they had
| to tip their caps to every man who had
a little villa and $500 a year and did no
work We were in trade and we had to
do it. Every man who had just enough
to keep the wolf from the door but who
! did no work was our superior, and, if he
! deigned to speak to us, he did it with an
air of patronage that hurt. That did it
with an air of patronage that hurt.
| That is one thing we do not have in the
| United States, and l want my children
to grow up where they are not subject
ed to this constant suppression. An
other thing, too. over here l can get a
| chance for my boys and my girls. In
England l would have to pay for the
| privilege of having my boy learn a
trade besides supporting him, while in
| the United States he would receive some
| pay at once and more later. And in
| England there is nothing for my girls.
| if l needed to have them work, but Il
| large store, and that is very bad for a
| girl where she is expected to dress well
and receives from 81 to s1.25 week.
| There is some chance here
Have you ever been back to your
| home?"
Yes, after I lost my father. ] often
went over to see my mother in the old
village. and. although l have been over
the world and mixed with people, the
| same petty non-workers would, if they
noticed me at ALL still speak in the same
| condescending way to me, and | had to
take it for the sake of my mother and
of my brother. who runs the store. Why,
| there are many there who devote their
| whole lives to studying how they can
make other people uncomfortable by be-
| ing overbearing and condescending to
them. They seldom or never speak to
| tradesman on the street. Yes, l re-
member once when living in England
that the grocer who supplied us and
| who was man of wealth nearly fell
down when my wife one day bowed to
him On the street. He had been very
attentive to lis and had gone to a lot Of
trouble for u.s. So, when my wife bowed
| to him, he grabbed his hat and bowed
| low and his face lighted up 1t was so
| servile that we spoke of it to one of our
English gentry friends, who told us that
| tradespeople were never noticed out Of
| their stores.
AN incident shows the difference in
the way people over here feel. On one
of my trips across the Atlantic. one of
the officials. the vice president. of a
| large railroad. was passenger and he
presented to me letter of introduction
from the master mechanic of the read,
a friend of mine. saying that this mas
ter mechanic was his friend. An Eng
lishman would not have done that. He
| would have said it was a letter from
our master mechanic or my master
mechanic. 1t was the word friend that
was the difference"
They probably started at the bottom
together and kept up their friendship"
Yes. but few Englishmen would use
the word friend Mind5you, the Eng
lish gentleman, the real gentleman, is
the finest man in the world. and there
are many in England, but it is the petty
people who have lived in small towns
and villa ges that act in this way and it
is a daily degradation to be under the
system. I Travelled one summer 10000
miles in the United States and make the
boast that l never once in all that time
did l receive an unpleasant word or
=.
porters. expressmen. clerks, all were po-
lite and kind: and then l went to Eng
land and Liverpool and I remarked as !
went ashore that l was sure to have an
unpleasant episode shortly. 1t came at
once. | had to go to an office window
to give an account of who / was and
my business When it came my turn
l glanced behind me and saw an elderly
man next to me, so I stepped aside and
let him go before me to the window AS
soon as he had finished his affair I
started forward and one of these would
be gentlemen that England is full of ell
bowed himself in front of me. l was
dressed in blue serge, just as you viii
find a hundred sea captains in Liver
pool any day, and this man thought he
could push me aside as is the custom;
but l had travelled too much not to
know better and had been an American
citizen for year, so I told him, I beg
your pardon, but it is my turn He
glared at me and snapped out in a surly
way, Well. hurry up. Then I had my
chance and took fully five minutes do
ing what I could have done in one. all
the time making remarks to exasperate
him. When he left the window his
knees were tottering and his face was
lvid, he was in such a rage. That
shows the difference in the feeling here
and in England. The well dressed pre-
tended gentleman daily browbeats and
snubs the worker"
Suppose you should fail to tip you,
hat?"
In some way you would find you had
made a mistake. If in business, all the
friends of the man would go elsewhere
to trade. If holding a clerkship. pres
sure would be brought to bear and you
would lose your place"
How are the business relations?"
The distinction comes there, too, If
a man of the non workers should adj
dress letter to me he would not begin
dear sir or my dear sir He might
begin Mr.. Jones' but some are even
worse than that. A certain squire over
there never put anything before the
mans name in addressing a letter to a
workman. He would begin the letter
with Jones and then go on with the
text. 1t is a daily humiliation that I
want my children to never know
Suppose you should become wealthy
and go back to your native village and