Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1918-10-02
Varieties of ATIies-SOme Con-
traStS.

England and AmeTiCa-one sees
them side by side out here IN
France for purposes Of compari-
son and what strikes one every
where and all the time is the diff
( frence between them. There is no
mistaking one for the other.
The American is taller, narrow
err. not so thick through, carries
himself more erect, and moves
more stiffly. His comparative
straightness may be due to the
lesser period he has been under a
| pack; almost every British soldier
! has a. bent-forward look from that
/ Sc pound burden. The American 5
clothes look to fit him better, but
! they nav fit him worse when they
have been soaked few times. Our
mems coats are sagged with the
rain they have so often carried,
which makes them look-in Paris,
! for example, where one can COM
pare them-the more slOvenly
But on the march the tables are
! turned. Thomas Atkins is mar
vel for keeping himself up to form
under adverse conditions, and the
! Yankee has not yet learned how to
steal the odd five minutes for
shave and a wash, so that a British
column always looks fresher than
an American when on the road.
And the contrast is accentuated
| in their transport. But Tommy's
wagons are a wonder the world
over; they alone seem able to jest
at dust.
In face the difference between
British and Americans must be ap-
parent to all. It is curious and IN
expected to find the American,
with his more varied ancestry, con-
forming more TO type. A composite
photograph made from 100 Amerl--
cans would look much less like a
composite than one made from the
same number of Englishmen.
The American head is longer,
narrower, and straighter of profile
than ours. The features are more
regular and with less variety, and
the expression is altogether differ
ent, closer, tighter, telling less
about itself
Of course it must be remembered
that these men have still the civil
stamp on their faces; they are
fresh from business and profess
siOns, whereas our men have ac-
quired the queer blank, casual look
of war. And curiously enough the
American in no way resembles the
men from our dominions- no, not
even from Canada-while ne is to-
tally unlike both Australian and
New Zealander, who certainly have
the most decisive and self-cOnfident
countenances of any troops out
here.
And the differences run to char
acter. Under fire it is the British
habit to grow more casual, but the
American becomes more tense. I
once saw three men of a Scots reg
iment, and they were not all scots
men, on a shell-swept field putting
their heads together to take a thorn
out of a kittens foot. Americans
would have felt just as humane,
but they would probably not have
seen the kitten; their minds would
have been too sternly concentrated
on the boche. That's a point in
their favor the boche will not ap-
preciate.
Of course the American of the
western plains differs from the New
Yorker, but not sufficiently to af-
feet the general American resem-
bIance, which is a very notable
thing. The Americans have made
themselves very much at home in
Paris, but you will see them sit
ting erect, alert, in the cafes, TAX
ing every novelty in. Thomas At
kIns lounges at his ease as though
the whole place had belonged to
him for centuries.
"A Candid Englishman