The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-04-20
PRINCE HENRY ON AMERICAN HOME
LIFE.

LIFE.
Events follow each other so rapidly now
adays that the most important incident is
scarcely closed before it begins to be for
gotten. The recent visit of Prince Henry
absorbed public attention to an unusual
degree while it was going on, but comment
on 1t has almost wholly ceased. The prince,
however, has not forgotten the kind treat
ment he received, and he still embraces ev-
cry favorable opportunity to speak well Of
the country and people. He did this in a
recent speech at a banquet Of a merchants
association in Hamburg. 1t was the first
public speech he has made since his return
to Germany, and he began 1t with an allu-
sion to his visit to this country. He said:
look back for a few moments to the lays L
spent in the United States. ! found In that
country not only what is called on the other
ton, but a nation striving Wit all its en-
ergy TO secure pure and ideal possessions.
There prevails in the United States an in
tellectual and pleasant family life, and no
better life of the kind can be found In this
country. Where this life does not exist
every effort is being made to attain II.
The friendly tone of this is unmistak-
able. but its main point of interest is the
allusion TO American family life. OF course,
Prince Henry. like all other Europeans,
has heard more or less concerning the al
legged mercenariness of Americans, their
pursuit of the almighty dollar their sub
ordination of everything to making money,
etc. There has been a great deal of nom
sense talked and written on that line, and
perhaps Prince Henry expected to find us a
nation of mere m~oneymakers, grasping
Shylocks, without an idea above the
music or art and without any true family
life. If so he was evidently disabused of a
wrong Impression. He admits that he
found something of the dollar-hunting
quality, as one will find in all countries,
but at the same time he found "a nation
striving with a. it's energy to secure pure
and ideal Professionalism merely mer-
cenary and material objects, but pure and
ideal possessions. There can be nothing
degrading or belittling in the dollar-hunt-
ing quality as long as it is accompanied by
the constant striving after higher ideals,
and he must be a very superficial observer
of American life who does not discover this
TO be one of it's most constant quantities.
The growth OF our manufactures is not
more surprising than that OF our colleges;
new libraries are established, as we'll as
new farms opened, and the artistic ana
spiritual life of the people is as expansive
and progressive as their commercial life.
American home life has never received a
higher compliment from a foreigner than
that paid by. Prince Henry. True. he did
not see a great deal of it, but he knew
something. and a good deal of the people
it produces, men and women, and he inter
preted their faces and their manners for
himself. In travelling several thousand
miles he saw many thousands Of homes in
towns, villages and country. He noted the
evidences of thrift that generally sur
round them, and the smiling faces of their
occupants at doors and windows and at
railroad stations. He met and talked with
representative men and women, with col
lege professors, teachers, professional and
business men. He attended a few social
parties and saw some of the people with
their best clothes and manners on. AS a
result of it all he declared that there pre-
walls in the United States an intellectual
and pleasant family life, and nc better life
of the kind can be found In this country
Germans pride themselves, and justly, on
their home life, and when Prime Henry
assured a German audience that no better
family life could be found in Germany than
exists in the United States he paid the
highest compliment 1t was possible for him
to pay and one which his audience could
easily understand. He showed, moreover,
that he had OWNED the true secret Of ma
tional greatness, and that the highest
achievement of a state is in happy homes.