Bridgeton pioneer., 1912-10-03
DO AMERICANS
TALK TOO MUCH?
Pierre Lott, French Writer Now
Here, Thinks We Do.
MAY JUDGE US BY REPORTERS.

BY These He Is "Bombarded by Inter-
rosations"-Thinks Time Spent In
"BanaIities of Modern Discourse"
Wasted-Compliments Us on Ma
teriaI Progress.
Among those arriving at New York
recently on the Savoie from Havre
was Captain Louis Julien Vaud, retir-
ed, Of the French navy, who as Pierre
Lott has achieved worldwide fame as
an author and an oriental traveller and
latterly as a playwright. His works
known best in this country are The
Last Days of Peking" and "MmeI.
Chrysantheme," from which he de-
clares David Belasco's play, Madame
Butterfly" and Pucclnis opera of the
same name were taken. Like the ma
1ority of men who follow the sea.
Pierre Lott Is short in stature and
modest in speaking of himself. He,
can read English perfectly, but does,
not use it in speaking. In Turkish he
can converse as fuently as in his native.
tongue.
This dreamer, student of sensations
and writer Of many shadowed prose.
submitted to several American inter-
views. "Bombarded by interroga-
tions," he expressed 1t. Among the
first of the things he said, or, ratheri
delicately intimated, was that Ameri@
cans talk too much
Oti boS 1ivo1 much in
and among the orientals, which may
explain Ills viewpoint regarding things
American. In the course of his in
terviews he said:
II admire the control of speech ex+
hibited by the orientals, who have
learned the value of silence. The time
lost in futile outpouring of words
can never be- recovered. 1t is better,
as | view it, to dream to mediate and
not to interrupt the course of revery
than to immerse ones self in the ba-
nalities of modern discourse It is
the example of the silent orient shown
in its reluctant yielding of its secrets
to me that has So far guided me. 1t
Is unnecessary to seek other reason
for my reticence.
Hard to Understand Yankees.
81 must confess" he went on, that
it seeu3s to me vastly harder to assume
the state Of being of a Yankee than
that of an oriental.
1T is all bound up with the battling
factor of temperament Yours, ID
seems to me, is admirably adapted for
Cfp;o In, q
is proving so triumphant. | can ad-
mire it without experiencing the feel.
ing that | have been born for this new
mode of life.
"Have you not perhaps paid" he
asked, 'are you not perhaps paying
too dearly for your material progressr
1t is i'll to lose the faculty of con.
temptation and the conditions of life
that encourage it. Progress in COM
merce and industry you have achieved
to a point which overwhelms But I
fear you have allowed yourselves to-
forget progress which is to be pre-
ferred to these forms of It, The kind
of progress l mean results in the greatt
est happiness and the greatest liberty.
"Contemplative nations, like China
and Turkey, in the early days of their
history were happier than we with an
the accompaniments of modern discoy.
cry. More and more, if these traditions
of peace and inwardness are destroyed
and the world learns to quicken it's
pace without corresponding deepening
Of thought, decadence certainly sets in.
Need of Contemplation. g.
at is necessary that men should ba
made to think, without commotionl
even without movement, if they are to
advance toward the attainment of
moral perfection and self poise. The
contemplative nations represent among
the nations of the world what the
churches and the monasteries stand
for in the individual nation
"In the United States, which as
nation is very young, it is necessary to
its growth that its feverish preoccupa-
tion with material affairs shall be coun.
terbalanced by a great literary and
philosophic literature which would
penetrate more and more deeply among
your people through the influence OF an
elite of thoughtful men.
ITO think is itself a form of action
and, in a sense, a superior form Of it.
1t is this discovery which America
could make with supreme advantage
to herself"