The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-08-28
HOMEWARD BOUND.
w. Z. Morgan Glad to See the
Shores Of Old England.
Providing Around London Re-
minds Him of America.
NOT MUCH DIFFERENCE
Are Away Behind Time With
Their Street Car Service.
Finds the King Out of Town and
Parliament Adjourned.
OF MUCH DIFFERENCE
London. August 8. 1906.


felt after wandering in other coun-
tries, where strange language and Pc
culiar customs mark the difference of
race and education as we'll as nation
atty. When the boat which brought
as from France had anchored at the
pier in New Haven and I heard the
good old English language on every
side I felt like I was nearly home. In
many little customs our people differ
from those of England. but in the main
we have the same traditions, the same
standards. the same prejudices. the
same virtues and the same vices. Ex-
cept for hanging onto a few old ways,
the people of Great Britain are just as
democratic, and free as those in Amer
lea, and nearly ali OF our ideas in gov
eminent, religion, society and business
have been taken straight from the Eng
fish, sometimes changing them a little
for the better, occasionally. a little for
the worse, but in the main only making
them conform to the conditions of
new country where precedent is not al
hand to be quoted and where there has
not been time for Ivy or moss to grow
on the walls or on the customs. The
English people understand this even
better than ours, and I have never yet
known them to fail to respond to my
suggestions of kinship, although, with
the true English reserve, they usually
let me make the advances. They have
funny ideas about our country. I was
at Westminster Abbey in the hall where
the first parliament sat. An English
officer in charge was pleased with my
evident interest and explained every
thing to me. This hail." he said, lis
the cradle Of English liberty" YES" I
responded, land, as a matter of fact, it
is the cradle Of American liberty. too"
He did not quite understand me, and
continued; Yes, you have such a hall,
which you people think of as we do of
Westminster" I saw his error and let
1t go with an expression of agreement,
and he continued proudly to show his
knowledge OF America: Yours is Tam
many Hall, I believe" And then I
hollered.
Riding on a train with a welI-read
niddle-class Englishman, he was speak
ing most kindly of America But" he
said, turning to Mrs. Morgan, lin Eng
land you can travel anywhere and not
have to carry a weapon. 1t is not nee
essary- You can hardly do that in
America" He was in sober earnest and
I don't think he quite believed our pro-
testation that we never toted guns when
at home But, after all, the people about
Boston are as ignorant in regard to
Kansas as are the English about Bos-
ton. have friend who is a gradu
ate of Harvard and who asked me if
the people in western Kansas had got
ten out of the log cabin stage" The
fact is, people everywhere are not much
concerned in what is going on in the
other countries and get peculiar ideas
about folks they have not seen. The
most popular American novelist in Eng
land is ]. Fenimore Cooper and the
British people love to read LongfelloW
Who can blame them for thinking that
Hiawatha, Uncas and Deerslayer are
the leading citizens of the United States.
The English people do not approve
of changes unless they are tried and
not changes. There are no electric
cars in London, except in the suburbs,
and not many there. Most Of the
street traffic is by omnibus, and the
sight of the long lines of buses with
passengers inside in almost a London
peculiarly. But, recently, enterprising
companies have inaugurated a service
of motor buses which go a good deal
faster but which are very unpopular
with the best English people. The
newspapers are full of complaints
against the innovations and hardly any
one but deprecates the introduction of
this fast excellent and smelly service.
OF course. they are a good thing, for
they bring the people in from the sub
urbs quickly and handle the traffic
more speedily, but, they offend the
aesthetic taste and the antagonism to
changes and the opposition is bitter.
An EngllSnnan VINO goes Ddck 10 Lon
don now after an absence of several
years will be shocked at the change
which these motor buses make, as
they go noisily and speedily along the
streets He will be shocked but. if he
is in a hurry. he will ride on one and
the end of the horse bus is not very far
in the future in spite of the screams OF
prejudice and the protests OF prece-
dents.
Speaking of the English streets. I