Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-12-07
AS Dickens Saw America

W. -
Alfred Tennyson Dickens, eldest son Of
Charles Dickens. the author. IL in America
lecturing on the life and works Of his
father. In this connection It ia interest
ing to note some of the criticisms OF
American men and manners made by his
father when he visited America In 183.
When Dickens visited America In 1868
he expressed regret that he had written so
unkindly OF America n he directed his
publishers n descendants to publish in
all future editions OF his American Notes
his high appreciation of Americans.
The following extracts are from Amer
ran Notes."
Take the worst parts of the City Road
and P~entonville. or the struggling out
skirts OF Paris. where the houses are
smallest. preserving all their oddities, but
especially the small shops and dwellings,
occupied in Pentonville. but not In WASH
tngton. by furniture brokers. keepers OF
poor eating houses. and fanc.ers Of birds.
Burn the whole down: build 1t up again
In wood and plaster: widen 1t q little:
throw In part of st. Johns Wood: put
green blinds outside all the private houses.
with a red curtain and a white one In
every window: pillow up all the roads:
AAsA - NO0t vi O0ASG " ~ All CVSAJ
place where 1t ought not to be; erect
three handsome bu- ldings in stone and
marble, anywhere, but the more entirely
out OF everybody's way the better; call
one the postoffice, one the patent office
and one the treasury; make 1t scorching
hot In the morning and freezing cold in
the afternoon, with. an occasional tornado
of wind and dust: leave a brick field with
out the bricks. in all central places where
a street may naturally be expected; and
that's Washington.
1t is sometimes called the City of Mag
nificent Distances, but 1t might with great
CIR propriety be termed the City Of Mag
p.!icent Intentions, for it is only on taking
a b-rd's-eye view of it from the top of the
Capitol that one can at all comprehend
the vast designs of its protector, an as
riring Frenchman. Spacious avenues. that
begin In nothing and lead nowhere:
streets, mile long, that only want houses,
roads and Inhabitants; public buildings
that need but a public to be complete: and
ornaments of great thoroughfares, which
only lack great ~tlloroughfares to orna-
nlent-are its leading features. One might
fancy the season over, and most of the
houses gone out Of town forever with
their masters. To the admirer Of cities
1t is a Barrnacide Feast: a pleasant field
for the imagination to rove in; a monu-
ment raised to a deceased project; with
not ever a leg.ble inscription to record it's
departed greatness. Such as 1t is it is
likely to remain.
AS Washington may be called the head
quarters OF tobacco-tinctureL saliva, the
time is come when 1 must confess, with
out any disguise. that the prevalence of
those two odiOuS practices of chewing and
eXpectorating began about this time to be
anything but agreeable, and soon became
most offensive and sickening. In all the
public places of America this filthy GUS
tom is recognized. In the courts of law.
the judge has his spittOon, the crier his,
the witness his, and the prisoner his:
while the jurymen and spectators are pro-
vided for, as so many men who In the
course OF nature must desire to spit in
cessantly. In the hospitals, the students
OF medicine are requested, by notices up
on the wall. to eject their tobacco juice
into the boxes provided for that purpose
and not to discolor the stairs. In public
buildings. visitors are implored, through
the same agency, to squirt the essence Of
their guilds, or plugs as ] have heard
them called by men learned In this kind
OF sweetmeat. into the national spittoons.
n not about the bases of the marble
columns But In some parts this custom
Is ~inseparably mixed up with every meal
and morning call, n will all the trans
actions Of social life. The stranger who
follows in the track I took myself, will
fnd 1t In its full bloom and glory, luxur-
liant In all its alarming recklessness, at
Washington. The thing itself is an exag.
geration Of nastiness.
Upon this Ohio river steamer there are
three meals a day. Breakfast at 2, dinner
a half past u, supper at 6. At each,
there are q great many small dishes and
plates upon the table, with very little In
them. 30 that although there Is every ap-
pearance of a mighty Spread" there is
seldom really more than a Joint; except
Tor those who fancy slices of beet root,
shreds Of dried beef, complicated en-
tanglements Of yellow pickle; maize, In
dian corn. apple sauce. and pumpkin.
Some people fancy all these little lain
ties together (and sweet preserves be-
sidel. by way Of relish to their roast piR.
They are generally those dyspeptic ladies
and gentlemen who eat unheard OF guam
titles OF hot corr bread almost as good
for the digestion a. . kneaded pincushion),
Tor breakfast M supper. Those who dc
not observe this custom, and who helu
themselves several times instead. USUALLY
! suck their knives and forks m~ed.tatively,
until they have decided what to take next;
then pull them out Of their mouths: pui
saem In the dish: help themselves: and
fall to work again.
At length. upon the morning Of the third
day. we arrived at . spot 70 much more
desolate than We had yet beheld thai
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