Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-10-29

hold Of much less set down in decent
form. with a sourcon of sense, any
worthwhile impressions of this amaZ-
ing country, this amazing people, without
having lived in it and among them for
ten. or. better, twenty years? 1t is alb
surd. 1t can't be done. The surface can
be skimmed-but what good are these
cuticle Impressions, as l call them? None
whatever. except. perhaps, as showing
just how far certain individual. writ
ing the Impressions, can go wrong OF
course. there'd be amusement in seeing
how the performer of the impressions
can make a mess of it. 1t would be the
same if Shakespeare were alive ana
came TO this country. His impress
sionS.' after a joggled visit about the
United States. would be interesting simply
as showing how a first-rate mind could,
thus skimping his journey. get every
thing about the people and country quite
extraordinarily wrong and hashed. But
the Impressions of Shakespeare would be
of no other possible value. How infinitely
less mine. then? But the performance is
asked OF me- and ! am a d Scipllned per-
son having been for years newspaper
man I've learned to say that, you see.
though i'm Eng and we are Journalists,
and of course | shall tackle the 'impre s
sions lust the same as / would attack
dsquisition on the fourth dimension, If
that were orders.
Il know il is a ticklish job though.
I know how sensitive Americans are over
having IHtUlStlNtS anu tllcll todheiy
written up as the saying is. by Engl sh-
men | know also how sensitive Eng
Iishmen are over having themselves and
their country written up by American Oh
servers Englishmen hate TO admit this;
but il is the truth, we are quite as
touchy on that point as Americans. When
i Frenchman or an Ital an or Spaniard
or a German. writing impressions OF US,
hits at our foibles. We laugh; II doesn
matter, we don't care. Very different,
y n a OF
in To chaff us. We don't like that Cen
orally we don't like il because we have
a profound feeling at the back of our
minds that the American writers VINO
p II US to the stick are too outlandisniy
right in their observations. Moreover,
there Is that family feeling that has
something to do with the loneliness You
have noticed. no doubt. that we Will take
all sorts of tips. advice and even Cruel
ing about our faults and idloSyncracieS.
from our acqua ntanceS and friends. but
let one OF the members of our own family
our brother or sister. say-say the same
things 10 us. and, pouf, we are up in the
air. as Americans say. We don't like to
be told about our little fooleries by our
own folks: thus ii is in the matter OF our
loneliness when We are chaffed by Amer
lean writers, and also the American SEN
stivereSs over be ng chaffed by English
writer's; IL is too much in the family! 1t
Is all in the same tongue. and the thing
hits TOO near home,
Don't imagine that / am supposing
that am the first Eng ish writer to dis
Germ the puerilty OF trying to catch the
spirit tho underlying impu ses, OF this
immense American land and people in a
few random and hurried Impressions A
great many OF the really great ones in the
writing line who came here from Eng
land We're quick to catch the impossibilty
OF doing that. Thackeray was one of the
first. You remember what a prolonged
lecture tour he made OF the United States
about four years before his death--,n 1856
or -. | believe IL was. But he wrote
almost nothing about the United States
and everything that he did write was
carefully couched and wholly apart from
the impression line. He had the time
Of his life in this country; he told his
fr ends that when he returned to Eng
land. j know lot of very old men
around London clubs 10 whom Thackeray
made the remark when he got back from
the states that he never had had such a
time and never expected again to have
such time as he'd enjoyed on his visit
TO the states, But he never had the
least intention OF writing up America
and the Americans In the first place
WAYS was his predominant social chara
teristic. In the second place. he remem-
bered what had befallen DickenS-th,
storm of American Indignation that was
aroused by Dickens American Notes
and Martin ChuzZlewt.' Thackersy
didn't like Dickens. The dislike wa,
mutual. And Thackeray proiited BY