The New York herald., 1922-06-25
CHRONICLE AND
COMMENT
BY ARTHUR BARTLETT MAURICE.

THOUGH some of our very good
\ friends the Canadians may be
inclined to resent the charge. the
Canadian, especially when he is
where the Atlantic Ocean is to the
west of him. is far closer, in every
thing but his political Affiliations, to
the people of these United States
than he is to the people OF Great
Britain. Over here the Canadian is
professedly. and at times aggres-
sively, British subject" Over
there he is often. and far more ag-
gressively, an American. After all
Mr.. Kip'ing seems to have been just
a little twisted in the lines of Our
Lady of the Shows:
Daughter am in my mothers house,
But mistress in my own.
Which is to say that the Canadian
Is willing enough to confess the
daughtership when at home or to
shout it in the States, but in the
mothers house is as much inclined
to protest independence and de-
termination to lead his own life as
a iapper who has listened to the
voice of Greenwich Village.
"A LII Of which comes to mind in
a reading Mr.. Stephen Leacock's
my Discovery of England" recent
ly issued by Messrs. Dodd, Mead &
Co. There is a divergence of opin-
ion about Mr.. Leacoek as a humor-
ist. Some persons find him exceed
ingly funny; other persons do not.
But there are very few who ques-
tion the geniality of his outlook
upon life. the sanity of his phil
osophy and his discretion when
dealing with international matters,
a discretion which seems to. be
based upon judgment and, better
still, upon a genuine politeness of
the heart. In this book he has had
the courage to write frankly from
the American angle, which is the
natural angle. And that despite Sir
Owen Seaman's introduction of him
in England as "all British, being
English by birth and Canadian by
residence" But there was one point
that Sir Owen emphasized very eff
fectively in that introduction. He
was contrasting English and Amer
lean humor, and went on to say:
when we fail to appreciate their
humor they say we are too dull and
effete to understand it; and when
they do not appreciate ours they say
we haven't got any"
THE book is well named, for in
Il the British Isles Mr.. Leacock
made some surprising discoveries.
For example, he refers to the idea
rather generally prevalent that the
Scotch are addicted to the drinking
of whisky. This, says Mr.. Leacock,
Is purely delusion. During the
whole of two or three pleasant
weeks spent in lecturing in Scot
land he never on any occasion saw
whisky made use of as bererage
He saw people taking it, of course,
as a medicine. or as a precaution,
or as wise Offset against the
treacherous climate; but as a beve-
rage, never. He illustrates the point
of view: "At my first lecture in
Glasgow the chairman said to me
in the committee room that he was
afraid that there might be a draft
on the platform. Here was a seri-
GUS matter. For lecturer who has
to earn his living by his occupation,
a draft on the platform is not a
thing to be disregarded. 1t might
Kill him. Nor is it altogether safe
for the chairman himself, man al
ready in middle life, to be exposed
to a current of cold air. In this
case, therefore, the chairman sug-
gested that he thought it might be
'prudent'-that was his word, 'pru-
dent--if ! should take small drop
of whisky before encountering the
draft"