The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1917-10-21
BACK OF THE
AMERICAN FRONT
RECIPROCAL NEWS SERVICE
From ~. Queen Annes Gate. London
selayed by X. C. Office
Ry GEORGE T. ByEJ

By GEORGE T. BYEJ
The first thing / learned OF the Eng
lish. while waiting In London for my
credentials To military camps ana thc
front. was that they and Americans arc
the only two people In the world whose
tongues and arms are not intercohhect'
I'd. We make speech coherently WIN
out the use OF fingers. wrists, elbows
or shoulders-and it's n great conNeh'
ience on crowded street cars.
I should like to send out a second si'
gantic ripple of intelligence; that the
baw.haw.bah. .jovc-old-chappi type OF
Enclishman that we have In captivity
In American vaudeville would get as
many laughs here as at home They
simply don't exist In natural life IN
England. any more.
NV third discovery was that the Eng
lish are a proud and sensitive race. par
ticularly their house painters. re
marked to one who was admiral oil
feet of little carts that was bringing
I0O-foot ladder up the street.-ln my
country we do this differently. Ana
explained our sliding and interlocking
ladders, and the adjustable scanoids
used BY American painters. Here they
have three-story ladders for three'story
buildings, and five-story ones for hve-
story structures. Probably as soon as
taller trees are discovered. which can
nc converted into taller ladders, English
buildings will go beyond the iive-story
limit.
At any rate continued briskiy. How
absurd to have these high ladders that
block traffic when you move along the
street. and that stick up ridiculously in
your front yards when not In use.'
All that painter said was, I'VE have
got along a thousand years or more In
our own peculiar way. and very well
too, I'm thinking" His eye glittered
and then he clumped up the street with
his capital l. ladder and its attendant
lads.
I went to Brighton the other day
There were eight Englishmen in my
compartment Without the slightest
bit of self-consclousness. they sat as 81
lent as stone men. was as II alone
But It wasn't long before l began to
admire them for self-control. Why
should they have interrupted each 9th
er's thoughts with "Loolis like more
rain" or "War seems to be going on as
sharp as ever" or We're making fair
time"-aii brazenly obvious facts which
+ would have offered as cleaning bits
OF intelligence. in my American way
ON n train at home. fell to thinking
and looking out across the country. and
pretty soon saw an old spire. Forget
fully I blurted out, What Is that place
please?" The Englishman across from
me rocked In his seat for minute IN
thrusting himself out Of his tomb OF
thought, said BEG pardon" and then
brightly told me of the retreat of the
Cartusian monks, makers of Charteuse
formerly of France. who never turn
away a male visitor without food and
drink and an invitation to make use of
their library, said to be one of the finest
I'm the world.
The Embellishments admirable reticence
in public is gone at home. He hurries
to his family each evening to do his
talking. In common with all Europe
ans, the English have conversations
meals. They have what we have not
the pretty faculty Of making drama
out of small things" Dinner In an Eng
lish household consists largely OF each
member of the family reciting some odd
or comical adventure of the day, and IS
punctuated by earthquakes Of laughter
Listening Americans think Somebody
got off a good one that time" But
father had only been telling how Vim
pus, the family dog. had slyly followed
him to the station that morning, Illus
trating facially how Wimpus had had
the impudence to pretend he didn't hear
etc, etc.
England is a great place for adverbs
umbrellas and those windcords on straw
hats which men actually anchor to
their lapels as a matter of morning
toilette. 1t is also the place where
grown sons kiss their fathers good
night.
said something about the English
having the American habit Of resenting
casual criticism by foreigners. AS in
America, II you leave the native alone
he will soon point out the deficiencies
that you have noticed and will whack
them gladsomely for you. And / have
found that the Englishman usually
winds up his lambast with, Our tradi'
tions make us stick-in-the-muds in lot
of ways. You are not anchored down
by customs that have thousand-year
roots. But we are tearing loose fast
now. The war has supplied the awak-
ening shock"
Since this will be read by home
folks. let me arrogantly call this very
perceptibie change In England its Am
ericanization" 1t will be complete,
though probably the monarchy fiction
will endure.
In society the greatest step toward
100 per cent democracy has been In the
eye-to-eye association Of high born sons
with those Of the former middle and
lower classes. Deep friendships have
been formed. The trenches are making
all Englishmen brothers.
Not only has the inter-class comrade-
ship been formed in the trenches. but
the hospitals and munition factories
have seen the attendance of the top
most fixtures of the nobility. Ouch
esses have bathed hucksters' sons. Ba-
ronesses have scrubbed corridors Wo.
men who could write Lady" before