Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-11-09
MICHIGAN ON THE MIDDLE CLASS
There Are None in America He DecdesNo Reason Blush for S
From Podunk Europe-A Lunge Along the

"But calling silas that, for convenience,
where do you find him every SUMMER
Abroad Where do you hnd the correspond
ing class in Europe7 At home. There's the
difference Often enough the HawlSinses and
Simpsons, 1t is extensively true cause the
cultivated American traveller to squirm and
blush when they cross paths in Europe. The
first thing Sias does when he lands in Lon
don or Paris is to unfuri an American flag
and stick It in his buttonhole. He also puts
on the most offensive air at his command
Silas quickly calls down the impending
vengeance Of his Government when the bobby
in London or the gendarme in Paris eau
tions him on some infringement Of the rules
Of the land he is visiting sias focks in
hordes to the museums and galleries and
places Of interest, and makes those places
untenable to people who really want to see
art and enjoy It. Sllas speaks a dreadful
quality of English, and speaks It with nasal
twang. No matter how modest and how far
from snobbery you may be yourself, you are
reluctant to have Europe judge America by
its slas HawlSlnses.
Nevertheless you are doing Sias great
Four thousand miles from home. Meantime,
where are the Silas Hawkinses Of France,
Germany, Italy, Switzerland? At home,
safely securely, prohtably at home Doesn't
that argue something for the enterprise, for
the wealth. for the zeal for Improvement
which seem to be the exclusive property of
our people? Bless you, in comparison with
their like elsewhere our Silas Hawkinses are
purse-proud plutocrats, every one of them.
You have to admit 1t, in all modesty. Middle
classes elsewhere? You see what 1 mean
when say that there are none.
"TETHY, far from blushing for these travel
w ing Silas Hawlinses of ours, we ought
to be proud OF them-and the prouder the
more hagrantly they diverge from the ideal
Of refinement. The rougher they are, the
more they ought to be travelling, and the
better for us that they do travel. They are
the people who need travel =
And, what is more, their bad manners
abroad are often the veriest affectation. They
have been good citizens at home. They are
the people who hurrah the loudest when the
stump orator tells us we are the greatest peo-
pie on the face of the earth, that our navy
can lick the world, that no other nation has
such beautiful town halls such pretty women,
such model citizens. When these people set
foot In England or France, they probably see
the surprising fact that other countries also
have wonderful buildings, magnificent cathe-
drals art galleries outdoing anything we
have at home, and shops, too. Naturally,
Silas is shocked and abashed to discover that
there are actually wonderful things else
where than in America-and what is more,
that there are good many wonderful things
in Europe that he hasn't got in America
at ALL
" A ND what does silas do? He has been
"A reared in the illusion that America is
the only oountry-and he tries his best to
save that illusion from being destroyed He
won't admit II, even to himself. He puts on
airs, American airs, chiefly for his own bene-
flt. He is determined that Americans will
be nothing but the most remarkable people
on earth. All that swagger, ell that impress
siveness that Silas assumes, is put on not so
much to impress the foreigner: it's to impress
himself; to keep alive the stubborn ancient
belief that America can't be beat. Some of
Silas' bad manners have worn off by the time
he gets home You see the subtle differ
ence between an American crowd sailing
eastward on an Atlantic liner and the same
crowd sailing homeward at the end of their
travels. In spite Of themselves, they have
seen wonders other than their own at home
They go back to Podunk, not less proud Of
their country, but convinced that there are
still other wonders that we must have, and
shall have. by thunder.
ct TELL you,' said Mr.. McGnllgan, 'it's a
i good sign. It's a good thing for this
country that Silas Hawkins goes abroad,
even If he takes an Ohio accent with him.
What must all we Americans be learning,
how rapidly must we all be lunging along the
path to liberalism; to new activities in the
arts, in commerce, IN everything that goes to
make a strong nation. when our most hum
BILE citizens take the pains to venture 50 far
from home to see and learnt"