The Washington times., 1923-07-19
SIR SIDNEY LOW
/. SAYSENG[|SH
ARENOT DULL .
''Merrie England" Still Is Mer'
ny, Peer Asserts-Speech
to Blame.
BY LUTHER A. HUSTON.
International News Service.


LONDON, July 19.-This stuff
about England's being dull and
dreary and the English people so
slow and phlegmatic that they verge
upon the stupid is all wrong, in the
opinion of Sir Sidney Low, one of
Great Britain's most versatile writ
erS.
The English are not duh or stu
pid, Sir Sidney says, and their land
is bright and merry and full of pos
sibilities for amusement.
The appearance in London of a
play in which. some of the alleged
conventional peculiarities of the ira
ditional Englishman are satirized
drew a defense of his countrymen
traditional American is satirized in
the same play is passed over lightly
by him. After paying q little at
tention to the prevailing French
idea of the English, Sir Sidney
turned to the American viewpoint
and said:
Tells American Viewpoint.
"Our kinsfolk beyond the ocean are
impressed by another of our def.
cienoies. We are not only dull but
likewise slow. We don't get move
on Our work may be solid, trust
worthy, sound; but we spend too
much time over it: we are ultra.
conservative; we lack the priceless
gifts of hustle and pep.
THAT is the way we talk, too; 1t
takes an Englishman as long to
jerk out monosyllabic sentence as
it would take an American to make
a Fourth of July Grafton. An Eng
lishman is thinking about doing
something while an American is do
ing it.
81 will not say there is no war
rant at all for this conventional
criticism of our friends from
abroad, but most of 1t Is mere con-
vention, and a great deal Of it Is
wildly, even ludicroUsly, wrong.
1.-THE English are not dull people,
nor are they a sad or solemn peo-
pie. It was 'Merrie England in
the olden time, and on the whole,
in spite of all it's cares and trials
and discontents, think it is Merry
England still. Which of all the ma
lions Of the earth plays so constant
ly. and so variously as the English?
English Games Delight.
Others have taken to our sports
and sometimes beat us ct them, but
they are apt to make them
business rather than a jolly game,
as we do. We can fashion a game
out OF anything-of our politics, DIR
business, our private and public
troubles, our trumphs and revePses.
1--WE even made a sort of game out
of the tremendous affliction which
came upon a stricken world between
August, 1914, and November, 1913.
We took the war seriously enough.
Heaven knows it could not be taken
lightly by anybody. Yet we man.
aged to meet it smiling, and we kept
some spice of humor in it to the
end.
I'VE play in between our gravest
concerns. Our statesmen get a
round of golf while the fate Of ma
tions is in the scales. They do, it at
solemn conferences, as at Cannes,
where Lloyd George took NJ. BRAND
out on the links. The French were
exclaimed. Possibly. Compared to
the French or the Italians or the
Irish, think the English are little
frivolous, but frivolity is not dull
ness.
AUuuUH HAS AHlUSCIHCI1GSs
London, the foreigner is told, Is
dull capital. l wonder what the
teller means? / do not know any
other great city where man may
amuse himself more freely. Our
theaters and music hall are. more
numerous than those of Paris and
are cleaner, brighter, better kept
and more attractive. 1t is true the
plays. are not always of the first
quality, nor are those of Paris, Der.
lin or New York. If you want to
dance you can have every facility.
You can do your steps in the most
select and exclusive company at
the club, where you will see princes
and duchesses take the floor, and
assist at a cabaret show that is
daring and clever, without the
slightest trace or Vulgarity; or you
can go to a suburban resort, where
you pay small sum for admission,
and hire yourself a partner for six.
pence.
There are, Of course, night clubs
In LOndon-as elsewhere-that are
not exactly Sunday schools. But /
doubt II there is any other capital
Where one can dance so often and,
on the whole, so pleasantly and de-
Ct SAhIIJ HOLSI Ut nail. ANA
you may cheer yourself with a lit.
tie fermented liquor without break
ing the law or paying for the stuff
as II 1t were coined rubies."
Blames Manner of Speech.
Having demonstrated that the
English are not billiards who take
no pleasure as they pass down LIES
Vaie or tears, Sir Sidney proceeded
10 tell why II is that so MANY of
them seem to be that way.
The English are not dull or
stupid, though they are a little inex-
presslve, which is why FOREIGNERS
sometimes think us cold and stiff"
he said. I'm reality we are ex
tremeIy sentimental. But we shrink
from putting our emotions into
speech and cultivate an excessive
reticence. We do not enjoy CONVEX
sat1on and conduct it in indoIent or
sloVenly fashion. We get hold Of
some verbal cliche and apnlv n in.
olscrlminately. Ripping, or some.
thing of that kind, will serve alikA
10 convey the feeling aroused nv a
good cigar or by the Nile sunset
trailing Its banners of crimson and
gold over Tut-Ankh.Amen's tomb.
we are secretly proud of this
trait; but it is not really admira hie
IL Is unfortunate that our clurnsv in.
expressive sentences, our threa dhara
eplthets and our loose. careless elo-
cut4oH give us reputation for