The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1910-10-27

from her anything that may be in his
power to give" the correspondent
says. The American in Oxford seeks
to know nothing of his English sur
roundings and fellow undergraduates,
nor to impart any of the ideas and
opinions OF his own country. From
the first moment Of his arrival till
the time of his departure the American
Rhodes scholar makes friends only
with his compatriots. He might, in
deed, just as well be back in America
for all the good he does to himself
or to Oxford"
1t Is perfectly true that the root idea
OF MIR. Rhodes scheme was to promote
close understanding between Eng
Land, the United States, and Germany
which would secure the peace of the
world. The indictment against the
American students is therefore a Sc
rious one.
But there fs at least the other side
of the story. and 1t is presented in part
by another Oxfornian in a recent issue
of the same journal. He explains that
he knows not only Americans, but
these Americans, and knowing them
he finds 1t impossible to accept the
| !.
II recall inevitably the incident of
just six years ago. On the first night
OF term there comes into the hall Of
this college large an dtypical middle
westerner, a freshman. A group of
men are gathered round the fire. To
them advances the Americans, and
with simple directness wholly trans
atlantic I'm Smith, says he. who
are you" A stare is the only welcome
vouchsafed to this advance. They are
senior men. The freshman (who hap
pens In this case to be also the stran-
ger at the gate) has had his lesson.
What Experience Typifies.
Now | should not for moment ad-
vance this story as typical of the atti-
tude of the Britisher toward the Amer
ican. 1t is nothing of the sort. 1t is,
of course, typical of something quite
/ different-of the traditional attitude
of senior man to freshman. Still it
represents kind of experienc
through which the American in his
first term has frequently to pass"
The writer goes on to point out:
Each side finds something to criticise
in the other-and the same something.
Each thinks the other unresponsive
TO advances.
The English undergraduates lat
least as he appears in the pages of the
Daily MaiD accuses the American Of
retiring into his shell. while the Amer
ican is all the time conscious only
of great desire to arrive at some
real intimacy with his English fellow
student and Of finding himself baffled
by English 'formality' and emotional
repression And this is instructive.
1t reminds US that the problem is one
to the solution of which something
more must go than more passive good
will.
Complicates the Problem.
"These can be no talk where so
much is in common of failure to solve
The conditions Of solution are already
there. But differences of education,
of surroundings, of tradition, and Of
outlook do contribute to the situation
and Go help to complicate the prob
lem
The average Englishman fails to
loosen up or enthuse during early ac-
quaintance. His friendly advances
are not of the spc1taneity and cor
diality of the westerner, but his ten
tative friendliness means as much as.
often more than, the warmth of his
American cousin. But it takes long
time to find this out; hence the partial
failure of the Oxford experiment.