The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-05-27
FINDS NEW YORK POLITE.
The Visiting Ensiishman Thinks d
Behind Us In This Respect.


Il came to New York a few weeks ago."
said the visiting Englishman, with my
mind filled with inffumerable English
ideas Of the American metropolis, but most
Of them have since gone by the board.
mo preconception was more firmly
rooted in my mind than that New Workers
were too busy and too independent to
trouble much about politeness | was,
for instance. under the impression that
men dashed along the sidewalks at express
walking speed j~ostling into people with
out sol much as a word of apology, but |
fnd that there IL no more hurry here than
in London, and that If one is bumped into
the culprit will raise his hat and ask pardon.
And that is not very often ones experience
in London; indeed. candor compels me to
admit that, speaking generally, the New
Yorker is q potter individual than the
Londoner.
1T is a small thing for a man to raise his
hat or to remain uncovered, and yet in its
way it is a mark of good manners and of
respect and homage to the weaker and
fairer sex. The New Workers. hand seems
to jump to his hat spontaneously. II a
lady who is accompanied by an escort
pOdIuS IL HllttJ u any WIN oho NhNdNCo
his seat in her favor the escort is certain
to raise his hat and thank the man who
could not sit while a lady was standing,
but in London the cavalier, if he took any
notice of this courtesy at all, would content
himself with a slight nod of the head, which
might be accompanied by a suspicious
look.
Il went into a music hall the other evening,
There was only standing room and l had
to be content to lean against the wall at
the back. / had not been there three
minutes when a boy in buttons came up to
me and whispered: Excuse me, sir, but
will you please take of your hat2' Abashed
and Inundated, ! hastened to obey, and
casting a guilty look around the house
realized that I was the only nan in the place
who had kept his headwear on. Now in a
London music hall-a far more respondent
place thar the New York ~house-nearly
every man keeps his hat on, unless by so
doing he interferes with some ones view
Of the stage.
Americans whom I nave met in London
have praised TO the skies the London bobby
for the Willingness and civility he shows in
helping them to find their way about, and
have complained that things were very
different in New York. Well, personally,
/ lave not found them 30. Several times
have l found II ~expedient to ask a police
man. and l have not yet proved him
wanting in any respect.
"One more point; All men are equal in
this country, | suppose, and n cat may
look at Mr.. Roosevelt, but l am at a loss to
understand how it is that the idea should
prevail in England that in America the
hotel porter, the office boy, the newer of
wood and the drawer Of water each assumes
one and all, including his own
master, an I'm as good as you and don't
you forget H. air and refuses to unbend.
A few hours in New York shattered that
absurdity, and | am now beginning to think
that if one wants to find truculent indie
pendence in the individual one had better
look for 1t in imperial London rather than
in republican New York"