New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-08-19
By FRANK DILNOT
Correspondent for The London Daily Chronicle

spirally IN his calf 10 his knee. 1t is
/ an expert business TO make those put
tees look neat, and no practice is re-
| quired for the American gaiter. Alto
gether, therefore, in dress the Ameri-
cans will introduce a note Of smartness
into the ebbing and flowing tide OF
soldiers which now sweeps through the
main London streets by night and day.
No less striking to the old country
than the clothes will be the faces OF
those young men from the West. or
course, many Of them with an Anglo
| Saxon strain in them might well be
Europeans themselves, but, taken IN
/ bulk, the American soldiers will have
/ distinctive physical traits OF their own.
| Compared with the English, they will
| not be quite so thick set, they will APP
| pear leaner in build, with nervous
| alertness in their movements which Is
/ alien to the old Anglo-SaXon type at
/ home.
British Seem Heavier
: The British infantryman, whether
| he be drawn from the farms, the work
shops or the big stores, has in contrast
! a certain staple steadiuess, maybe a
I touch Of heayiness across the jaw and
/ a thickness Of the neck and a deep
chest, which go well with those steady,
| imperturbable blue eyes and that UNI
| exultant but unconquersble spirit which
/ is always so trying, not TO say agoniz-
/ ing, to his enemies in the field. Against
| this the Americans will present a
/ springiness and litheness, a kind OF
( electric nerve force. which. translated
: into war action, will make them a ter
rible fighting machine.
/ Then the Englishman's face is more
| of an oval, with q good deal Of full
ness about il, whereas the American IS
: OF rather classic type, with thinner
] face, more of Julius Cesar, latent with
nervous energy. The English people
/ will certainly see both strength and
I fire in the faces of these young Ameri-
cans.
There is, Of course, a good deal OF
/ difference in their tastes and habits, as
/ compared with the British Tommles.
I Chewing gum is a wonderful thing 10
| those not used to it, and the steadily
moving laws of the Americans will GER
/ tainly be regarded with interest by
/ those who take their sweets straght;
that is to say, believing that part OF the
necessary process in connection with
| all candy havors is the actual swallow
| ing. This gum chewing is only triiie,
/ but II is the trifes which make up the
/ vivid impression on the whole.
! Something more than trife will be
J the alienation of the American soldiers
! from alcohol. ! don't mean that sup
nose all OF them are teetotallers, but l
/ do mean that they will not be so habit
/ uated to the drinking Of alcohol-of
course mean in moderation-as the
! inhabitants Of the damper and more
| varied climate of Britain. A visitor
/ coming from Europe TO America, aceus-
/ toned to his glass Of claret or his bot
/ tie of beer with dinner, finds that re
/ has really little or no taste for 1t on
this side of the Atlantic. And so il
comes about there will be traits in the
/ soldiers of the New World which will
gladden. the heart of the prohibition
/ lists.
Slang is Contagious
What will strike the Londoners as
much as anything will be the talk OF
/ the Americans. They will speak rather
more slowly than the average Lon
/ doner. but with different and higher
information. The country of their
origin will be indelibly marked on
/ them by this, if not by any other char
acteristic, and | forecast that the
( sound Of their voices will prove an
/ omen sesame to all kinds of hospitality,
/ to every sort Of welcome. If the actual
] pronunciation is not enough TO marx
/ their nationality, their phrases will
certainly be sufficient to do it.
There Is racy, epigrammatic flavor
to American slang which makes II at
I tractive 10 strangers -increasingly at
tractive as its allusiveness is better I'M
derstood. Appeals to forget it," cues
tions as to "hagging" a car, general
! scorn OF an "alibi," the comprehensive
= "gee," the emphatic atiirmativeness OF
! sure,"-all these things and many
I Others will have a refreshing tang TO
the Britishers, who will assuredly ap-
propriate a good many of the words
and phrases before very long.
! Naturally, tho Americans themselves
will find in London many habits and
methods to which they are unac-
customed and which have interest fol-
them. They will leave new cadences
of the English tongue, and many OF
| them who have not travelled before will
hear with interest the softness and
low pitch of the Londoner's words
! Some of them will be surprised also al
the amenities among the ordinary peo-
ple. how one never takes ticket on O
trolley car without saying "thank you
and getting "thank you" in return, how
the same rule applies to every pur'
chase, however small or large, in q
store.