The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1909-06-18


And when they look at this statue
they don't have to ask explanations
Of anybody. They want to shake
hands with it. It is the antique por-
trait-statue Of Augustus Caesar, that
was executed by nobody knows whom
and dug up somewhere out in the
neighborhood Of Tivoli. Now it stands
in the Braccio Nuovo at the Vatican.
Every line of the features and ev-
cry detail of the body breathes fine
intelligence and brute strength COM
bined. The forehead is broad and not
too high; the hair is short and tousl-
ed; the chin is square, but lean; he IS
lean all over, though big-boned ana
muscular; it is the leanness Of the
athlete, not the ''lean and hungry
;ook' Of CassiuS; he thinks, but nvt
too mqc?'. He could do things. Had
he been bG1n a young American, lie
would 90 to college and study 2tAlc:'
and philosophy, but he would be half
back on his Varsity team; when he
grew to be an older man, ne would
forget both ethics and philosophy,
and become a railroad president.
When he spoke it would be in verbs.
These characteristics are sticking out
all over him, plain as warts on the
! back Of toad, and that is why the
sight of him awakens enthusiasm in
| the American-business-m -man-of-o -on-va
cation, who finds himself bored to
death bv most Of the art works Of the
! old world.
! have often noticed that the typi-
cal American man in Europe-I don't
mean the professional tourist or the
rich idler, but the middle-aged man
with a family, who has crossed the
ocean for the first time to please his
wife and daughters unhappy as
fish out of water, restless and uncom-
Portable. His women-folks, on the
other hand, are in paradise. There is
a reason for it. The man has been
going down to his Office every morn
ing at nine o'clock for twenty or
thirty years, with maybe one days
vacation annually, and has been stay
ing in that office each evening until E
p. NJ, grinding, grinding for the
dollars. His business has become for
him not only labor, but a kind OF
game in which he is wrapped up to
the exclusion Of most other interests.
! He has left "culture,' that is, art,
/ literature, music, and the like, to his
wife and daughters, not because he
despises culture, but simply because
he hasn't time for it. A year ago,
when the family petted him into
promising a trip to Europe, the wo-
men Immediately began to plan and
read and dream and brush up their
French, but the man kept on going
down to the Office at 9 a. m., just as
before, and one fine morning found
himself standing on the liners deck,
watching the statue Of Liberty fading
in the distance, without ever having
given Europe ten minutes serious
! thought. And when he reached Paris,
; if someone had suddenly button-holed
him and asked the Biblical question,
"What went you out for to see?" he
couldn't have told to save his life.
; He is proud to hear wife and daugh-
ters glibly chattering about pre-Raph-
aelie art. but it frets him just the
same, and it frets him still more not
to be able to speak or understand
word Of the foreign language, not to
be able & order a cup Of coffee for
himself buy 4 5@x Of olatch~,s
without the aid # - caughter or
guide-ln;erpreter. H. las lost his
! independence. He * bored by every
! thing because he has ;.ot come pre-
pared. But the n2!nc4 have read
enough, anticipated enough to enjoy
every minute of it. If they are ln-
telligent- most American women
are-they know enough about pictures
architecture and the rest, really to
appreciate and understand if they are
stupid, they spend their time posing
to create the impression that they
understand, which keeps them occu-
pied and contented just the same.
But the American husband likes the
statue Of Augustus Caesar; the Am
erican life Of business and dollar
getting may have made him marrow,
but he is man for a ''that, " and