The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1910-03-02


n tears nv examples of this ssoutness
which prefers starvation ~ charity or 70
the smallest acknowledgment Of do
faillAnce And in . higher clAan. that
Of poor gentility. what triumPhs ~ sell
denial are exhibited by the Tag ends OF
d~cent families IN order TO ksep up on
petty incomes the standard u rank proper
" their original station In the organism
One returning from tho comparatively
faciIe welfare &c American life and know
ing what these psople's incomes are
cannot help being a-tOuDdesi ny the
bisnsAance and social culture which they
manage Co maintain In their kindred ee'ab-
hshments. and IL has seemed 10 me that
tho classes below conspire with an amazing
ambition with those just Ebove them
ia the often heroic edort ~ che latter
In perpetuats the ideal Gradau a " the
social organism ~ far a. theS are con
cerned. The class below 10 frequently
a. rich or richer than the poor gsntiltty.
and IL IL chose ." disregard the gentilitys
feeble threadbare pretensions cynically
Il could brush them aside a. easily a. a
cobweb. But no such thing! IL wohld
hurt the patriotic instincts of the lower
class To do so. and 30 II chertshes those
thraadhars pretensions OF superiority as
tsnsierly as II they were its own. Foolish
IL NAV be- but at least IL Is pathetic, and
it IL loyal That. think. IL the prime
merit Of this possibly snobbish system.
that IL breeds loyalty. The American
citizen il born to everything. the British
Ia something.
did not set out with any intention
Il being hithyrambic about the British
class system. which az bottom repels
RE no~: but to e returned native who
has seen many cities and many men
abroad that system seems. I should say.
to IL Anal necessity " British Hie which
no political change can ever do away
with. |, is too old. too firm, too much
the mould into which the national life
has for centuries heen poured. and though
reluctantly I must recognize in u the
source of some 81 the greatest of the
national virtues oT Briton- And whether
an ideal chaos will ever yield a. good
practical results a. a very mortal kind
II order has done hitherto remains, alasi
to ~ seen. must still venture To say.
The fact that the uppsrmOss class 81
the British hierarchy 10 a leisursd class
~. apaaking abatractly. an accident.
The top -, u a hierarchy might just
az we'll be- a class AZ busy as bees The
result. therefore. Of the British top sst
being leisured IL not Of universal appli-
cation, nevertheless. IL 10 strongly marked
locally. ! find IN my note book an entry
made soon after my landing at Liverpool
which runs Appearance % ruddy ease
and carslessneas % the people, even Of
the poorest after the pale intensity of
New York On the train going UP from
Liverpool 90 London ! noted with sur
prlsa the aristocratic. dandified appear
ance 81 clerks. or some such. in third
Glass carriages. wearing velvet waist
coats with watches strapped to their
wrists. and 80 on had expected from
that admirable self-boominG Europe
depreciatIng habit 81 the American press
to find myself in a depressed careworn
nation Nothing Of the kind! The people
of England even IN tatters. seemed 90
mo a trde more self confident and some
thing more than a trihs prouder than
those had left ON the other side ~ the
Atlantic Tie German scare has pro-
iucsd evident results
Farmers going Ia n cattle fair m Thomas
Hardy's country. ~ ] observed the other
day IN the nsighborhood Of Dorchester.
az pastoral a district as any in the king
dom. set out TO cheaper beasta with their
calves strangely swathed in cloth put
teee. SIX years ago you would scarcely
have found puttee OF the leg Of Brit
ish Indian officer The retired Anglo
Indian 10 coming INTO his own in the matter
Of influence And - course the example
81 the upperno~t lsisured class has other
results than this There are many popu-
lous towns in the southern half 81 England
mia bited entirely by retired folk. most
~ them with quite small incomes. from
hut a thousand dollars upward Why
have they quit active business 80 soon,
NVsrely think because the petrided social
regime ~ the country permits 81 very
limited social hopes from an increase %
income That 10 10 say, the social hope
prevails in Great Britain beyond the
financial hope