Evening star., 1923-01-23
AMERICAN IMPRESSIONS
By EMILE COUE
ARTICLE Nv.

What do you think of American
women?" is a question frequently put
to me, among host of others, by my
new friends over here, whose interest
in me and my work deviates with
often startling celebrity to my opin-
ions on seemingly Irrelevant sub
jects. Now, 1 am not going to an
swer that question just yet. The
unchallenged queen of every realm
Of American activity demands long
er study than have yet been able
to give her. I merely pause here, in
my breathless rush through the
States, to do her homage, reminded
as l am of her omnipresence by the
predominance Of the feminine ele-
ment at most of my lectures.
This preponderance' is especially
noticeable at Washington, where /
am writing these notes. and 1 am
wondering why it should be so. 1t is
true that two out of three lectures
have been given in the afternoon. at
hours when most men are at work.
but l have observed the same dis
proportion at evening sittings. 1
think the reason may we'll be that
in America, more active intellectual
ly, without taking into account their
greater inquisitiveness. which is a
natural attribute of Eve the world
over!
Finds Audiences Attentive.
However. in one respect at least,
American men and women are alike
that is in their invariable attentive
ness. American audiences are ideal
from this n0int nf view Not
far. have / had the slightest difficulty
in capturing the attention of every enc
at the beginning of a lecture. either at
New York, Philadelphia or Washington,
or in holding 1t right to the end. l
hope | am intelligent enough to know
that this is not because of any superior
qualities Of my own. On the contrary,
it Is an undoubted fact that my hesi-
tatfng English. pronounced with a for
eign accent, although it may be under
stood quite sufficiently, ought to have a
soporific effect on an audience, and
put an abnormal strain on it's powers
of concentration. / understand now
why so many European lecturers prefer
to address the American public. They
are sure of getting an attentive, COM
pretending and appreciative audience.
And none but public speakers can really
understand the thrill of pleasure eX-
perienced when one feels the fluid Of
every soul in the hall vibrating III uni
sun Will oliC Wv IL vi ItdlILe
the torture of knowing that there S
something "out of tune" and that the
audiences attention is wandering
Personally. ] shall never forget the
delight Of watching my American
listeners eyes riveted on me in a
manifest desire to lose nothing OF
my lecture.
American audiences have two other
characteristics which I have rarely
encountered in Europe; they smile
while they listen to you, and at the
end of the lecture they are fresher
than at the beginning. The first one.
will confess, almost dismayed me
at the start of my opening lecture.
When people began to wear a pleas
ant. smiling expression. 1 was afraid
that I or my ideas were the object
of their amusement, or that, for some
reason, they were unable to follow
me. l now think with a little con-
fusion how surprised they must have
been at my too-frequent, uneasy
queries: DO you understand" No.
that is the American way. They sit
through even lengthy, possibly
rather dry conference with ease as
we'll as understanding. In Europe.
people are apt to have a tense eX-
preston on their faces, If they are
following a speaker on any serious
subject; or else they look just a