The Washington times., 1901-10-13
AMERICANS In ENGLAND.
LondOners Crowded Ont by the
Great Influx of Westerners.
Customs Which Are Strange to Nn-
tives of the United States-The De-
lights of Country Week End Par
ties-Hosts Noted for Generosity


tives of the United states-The De-
lights of Country Week End Par
ties-Hosts Noted for generosity.
There are thousands of Americans,
who, going to London each year for a
few brief weeks, during the season, re-
turn, saying to their friends, England
is so delightful" England is delightful,
but it can hardly be said that London,
during the mad rush of the gay months,
is England at all. So large is the con-
tingent of Americans who have obtain
ed through wealth, a precarious recoS-
milton in Londons sets" SO great is
the admixture of transplanted French
men, so many Germans are there who
have deserted their fatharland, one
happens upon so many citizens of Great
Britain's colonial dependencies, swag-
ger Australians, who speak like Ameri-
cans; Canadians, too, and handsome
olive-skinned, black haired nabobs and
rajahs, exiled from their native India;
SO many such, one meets in London
drawing rooms, that the real essence
of the English life is diluted to such an
extent as to be hardly recognizable.
What remains of the Merrie England
and the PEOPLE who made it merry and
hospitable, as well as, perhaps, bolster
Gus, deep-drinking, and gay, is now
releeated to the counties, the shires,
where hunting, shooting, and all the
rest goes on, with the Londoner. who is
a Londoner only, merely an onlooker.
There are, of course, many Londoners
who are both Londoners and owners
of estates or country houses, but these
in London are by no means what they
are when within the four fences of their
own grounds.
The few, and there are very few, Wis
itors to London who gain the charmed
circle of the people in the country
shire" people, so to speak-are lucky
indeed. Whatever may be said of the
Briton. when ne is abroad, however
much he may be criticised as a grumpy
fault-finding travelling companion, in
one place he is absolutely unrivaled.
As a host. at the head of his own table
and looking out for the welfare Of his
guests, he is admirable. The keynote
of English country life is quiet, peace,
rest, and comfort. These four quail
ties are the main desiderata, and charm
insly are they attained. The English
man, as a host, is the main factor IN
their attainments, because of his api-
tude for doing things in purely unos-
tentatious way. There is no fuss, and
no furry What the guest wants is
there when he wants it, be it bath
one of the most essential of all the daily
provisions in the life of a country visit
or-or a toothrick. Here is the great
difference between English and Ameri-
can country visiting, as anyone who
has visited in American houses can tes-
tify. He who arrives for a few days
stay at an English country house has
less fuss made over him than Is made
over the master and mistress, return
ing from a drive, while the guest in
America is met at the train by the
whole family bothered and bUstled, and
hurried and worried from the moment
he sets foot on the station platform
until he climbs into the train to go
away. The American guest is driven,
the English guest goes his own pace.
Every county has its beauties and its
= ,,
blooming with their harvests, to drive
between hedges blossoming white with
hawthorne, or purple with blackber-
ries, by road sides and new-cut corn
fields that are splashed with great
streaks of flaming poppus; to fish in
placid meandering streams, under rust
ling trees, broad shading and stately
TO be able to look out over landscape
topped by lazy-fioating clouds, and to
see it so well ordered, so properly filed
with curving hedges, sloping hills, and
trees that it might be a constable land
scape suddenly realized out of its frame
for your special benefit. All this could
not but produce the mood for enjoying
to the utmost life of mingled medita-
ton and activity, such as one finds in
an English country house.
II you are an American you will no
doubt beam with pleasure when you
secure a short note from lord and lady,
requesting that you spend the week
end" with them at Edgerton Manor.
The week end ends Monday morning,
and begins any time from Friday morn
ing TO Saturday night. 1t is space of
time invented to accommodate the
greatest number of people at the same
time, especially the men who happen
to be kept in London the greater part
of the week by their work. 1t Is espe-
cially useful during the season, and en-
abIes those people who are not in Lon
don TO have a little of its gayety. a
week end party is Of people who gather
chiefly 70 arfoU each others CprDnanV
It means a little walking, a little talk
ing, little riding, and little driving
and dining. Perhaps sometimes it is
made to take in some special event, such
as a cricket match, among neighboring
teams, or a village fete, or Sunday
school feast.
Usually, however, 1t is an opportunity
afforded to people mutually interested
to become better acquainted, and, by
the way. in general, country visits are
about the only means which English
life prOffers for this purpose. Abolish
country visits and you would practical
ly destroy the English matrimonial
market. There seems to be a formality
about the daily life in the country
houses, but the formality is merely tbs
routine, which makes everything rur
smoothly, and makes it possible fol
everyone to do as he> or she please:
without interfering with others.
So you are invited and probably youi
host has told you what train to take
and has indicated the people you are tC
meet The invitation means that yoI
are to bring your valet or your maid