The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-07-27
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

Birrell lis sheer folly gave vent 70 some expressions about America which brought down on the head of the cynical dean much wrath on this side of the Att lantic.
 I'll set it down here so that you who read may see just what small opinion ae had of Americans, for he was bold enough to ask, In the four quarters Of the globe who reads an American book, or goes to an American play, or looks at an American picture or statue? What does the world yet owe to American physicians and surgeons? What new sub- stances have their Chemists discovered, or what old ones analysed? What new consultations have been discovered by the telescopes of Americans? What have they done in mathematics"
 
 But not satisfied with shutting out Uncle Sam from literature. medicine and science, he continued his queries by throwing off on his ability as a manufac- turer. Just listen to these charges: Who drinks out of American glasses, or eats from American plates, or wears American coats or gowns, or sleeps in American gowns?' When the irascible and spenetic critic of our country got going there were few things he left out of his indictment of these United States.
 At the time his pointed queries cre- ated storm of humorous'i indignation on this side of the pond, and was quoted and requoted, only to be furiously com bated in every Yankee-Doodle article that attempted to blazon forth the literary scientific and commercial prowess of Americans. He thought little of a people ipendence, were still so dependent for mental and moral pabulum from the mother country, claiming in particular that they had done nothing for the science, fot the arts, for literature, as stated above, but not satisfied with such boldness, added, Cor even for the states manlike studies of politics or political economy"
 And then, as if he had not done enough to anger Uncle Sam's amour propre he, with that exasperating way which is pe- culiar to certain type of Englishmen
 cooily appropriates our best men, by saying, Our Franklins, and Washing tons, and all the other sages and heroes , of our revolution were born and bred sut- jects of the king of England, and not , amongst the freest and most valued of his subjects. And since the period of their separation, far greater proportion of their statesmen and artists and po- litical writers have been foreigners than ever occurred before in the history of any civilized and educated people,"
 l am glad he failed in nerve to com- ment on American manners for be itA re- { membered that this English dean this literary celebrity, this splenetic gentle man, dining at house where the part ! of the tablecloth which was next to r him happened to have small hole, tore { it as wide as he could and ate his soup
 through it. His reason for such be-
 havior was, as he said, to mortify the lady of the house, and to teach her to lpay a proper attention to Chousewifery. , The singular thing is that any woman
 in England had so little spirit as to let him perpetrate such an outrage without being shown the door.
 I am glad that another story shows |, that Mrs. Seneca of Drgheda, a widow
 lady of very respectable family, who kept an inn, was able to give him back in coin of the same kind his insolence , for when he complained of the sheets
 being dirty, Dirty, indeed!' exclaimed
 the irate landlady, you are the last man, 3 Doctor that should complain of dirty sheets" And so indeed he was, says Bir- . rell for he had Just published the . 'Ladys Dressing Room" very dirty sheet, indeed.
 , Confining himself to the same period
 he asks, Where are their Foxes, their
 Burkes, their Sheridans. their Windhams, Itheir Horners, their Wilberfoces? Where are there Arkwrights, their Watts, their e Parrs, their Burneys or Bloomfields their Scotts, Campbells. Byrons. Moores or Crabbes, their parallel to the hundred other names that have spread themselves 1 over the world from our little island, and e blest or delighted mankind by their s works their inventions or examples?"
 set out the list simply to ask those of you who look it over to see if you rec 9 iognize all of them as celebrities whose . names and deeds have lasted through q the century. Some of them rank among
 the truly great, while others have fallen into oblivion
 S It's hardly fair for Swift to grab the , great names of the revolution and label
 them as subjects of the king, for they | gained their greatness by throwing off T their allegiance to royal rule. and so for one claim the revolutionary fathers as the best type of Americans, for they
 risked their social, financial, political yes, their very lives, in order to be free and write their names down ins the book |. of the truly great, m let no one take n away from me without protest Frank :, lin Washington. Hamilton, Jefferson q others who made political history and n gave to political economy new and
 broader meaning.
 T. But did not, sit down to take seriously t fthe charge of the insular- minded English a scold. but to use his creed merely as 2 . basis for asking my readers to stop for ' a moment and think of the wonderful e strides which America has made durins If 1.-the past 100 years in literature, arr b science and manufacture. Never agan
 will any Englishman have the nerve tt ldraw such a contrast between the accom-
 plishments of John Bull and Uncle San
 las was drawn by Dean Swift, for durins -- the last few years America has showr j. to the world that it was a reservoir Il 1t power and resource in helping to sav' fertilization.
 If the dean could return to life hl
 would have to run his eyes for he would le find that America had truly become 2 It giant and. stranee to say. that Gulliver