The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1912-08-13
AMERICANS
And BfltOns And How They
Impress The Traveller

"The Briton abroad and the Briton
at home are two utterly diverse con-
coctions," writes President Scherer of
the Polytechnic Institute in the Inde-
pendent. Meet him outside of his
right little, tight little island and he is
likely to prove himself bear; meet
him upon his truly native heath and
he is an angel of ready goodfellow.
ship.
THAT, at least, was my own unfail.
Ing experience. suspect the truth of
the matter to be that he is usually un-
comfortable when away from home
and self-conscious because he Is un.
comfortable and arrogant to hide his
uncomfortable self.consciousness and
therefore disagreeable.
"He is even liable to lose his good
nature when shut up in one of his
shrill little express trains, enduring a
provincial change of air but meet him
when he is really in his own neighbor-
hood, climbing his native hills on
neighborly bicycle and you find him
the paragon of bipeds.
"The proper treatment for an Eng.
lishman In secluded railway com.
partment is dose of Indifferent 81.
lence. When. yon enter the cozy, up
holstered cubbyhole with its single
monopolist occupant he treats 1t as an
impudent invasion of his rights. The
national motto, 'Dieu ct mon droit!' is
written large on his countenance. His
arms reach forth for his possessions
In the manner of an irritated hen gath
ering her own to her bosom.
Then he crackles out his huge
morning paper into screen between
him and you until the only extant signs
Of humanity are a pair Of indignant
legs Terminating always In spats) two
eloquently red nervous hands and
three or four stiff upright hairs that
Obtrude above the edge of the paper
screen for all the world like sentinel
antennae to observe the movements of
the enemy.
But YOU become unaware of his
presence and look just as naughty as
you dare. Presently the huge paper
rustles and he steals a swift glance at
you as he creases back the seam down
the middle. Play your part with suf.
ficient Indifference and when you look
again at the top of the screen the
antennae have lost some of their stiff.
ness. BY degrees the screen is lowered
SO that the head protrudes into vision
like crustacean emerging from it's
! shell.
But the average English traveller,
with all of his insular reserve, is a
thing, II not OF beauty. yet of a very
deep and satisfying Joy. when com.
pared With that type OF the Ameri.
can, traveller whOm-or which-one
meets all too frequently at large and
abroad. He is, of course, always Mr..
Newly Rich and he is never afflicted
with reserve. There are SO many
Messrs Newly Rich among us that
we export them IN cargoes to europe
and Europe receives the impression
that these people are typical Ameri.
cans
II have never seen q typical Ameri-
can to know him, but do know that
| he 10 not the gay and strident zebra
who capers in herds through Europe
every summer. cracking the air with
his clangor and shaming the sun with
the peculiar variety Of his polish, until
Europe is willing to pay any price 10
be delivered from 'Americanismus' ex-
cept her highly cherished heirloom,
the apron of Danae. II the almighty
dollar Is omnipoteDt here-as do not
, for one moment believe-it is no less
omnipotent there.
But as have heard more than one
Englishman say, while the great Amer
ican 'blaggard," as they call him, is
perhaps the chief of the species, the
! true American gentleman whom one
may find all over the world-if one
/ looks for him--is easily the peer of
his kind. The bother of the black
guard is this, that you never have to
look for him. He is SO obtrusively and
glaringly conspicuous that he throws