Year: 1872

in those of any city in the United
States in six months. ..3


The admirable system of public
schools-in which q purely gratuit-
Gus education is offered to oil alike
which exists throughout the whole
of the Northern and Eastern States,
has done very much to elevate the
moral as well as the Intellectual
character of the people. In New
England the percentage Of crime to
population is less than that of any
European country, with the excep-
tion, possibly, of fHolland. Even the
State Of New York-the chief city
of which is the common receptacle
for ignorance, poverty and crime
from all parts of Europe-presents
a very fair record in this respect;
and if the foreign population be
eliminated from the calculation, an
excellent one. Few persons, indeed
are aware how much this same
foreign population contributes to
the statistics Of crime in America.
In the State of New York alone 70
per cent. of the offenses which are
brought under the cognizance of
the tribunals are committed by in
dividuals OF Irish parentage, while
the fair proportion of this class
would be less than 20 per cent.


AS an evidence Of the moral
development of the people which
has resulted from education, may be
adduced the readiness with which
they arc disposed to subordinate
their Individual preferences to what
they consider to be for the good of
the common wealth; of this the
'prohibitory liquor law" is a con-
spicuous example. .5 e.
Whatever differences of sopinion
may exist in this country as to the
abstract merits of such law, there
can be, l conceive, no question but
that the very fact of its existence
prcsupposes considerable amount
of sclt-dcnial OH the part of large
number of those who have been in
strumental in passing it. Many
thousands, in fact, in various States,
voted for what is known as the
"Maine" law, who had never been
nor were ever likely to be guilty of
excess themselves; but who denied
themselves what they believed to be
a perfectly innocent indulgence
purely for the sake of those of their
fellow-citizens less able to exercise
self-control.


The American is proverbially
sensitive-almost morbidly so-as
to what is said of his country by
foreigners. Curtis,perhaps, scarcely
exaggerated when he asserted that
after the disaster at Bull RIM, what
troubled his countrymcn most, was
not the reverse their arms had sus-
tained-that they knew they should
retrieve-but the thought of what
the Times correspondent would say
about it. But this very thin-skinned-
ness-though defect in the nation
al character, as cvincing certain
lack of dignity-has yet its counter
balancing advantages. The sufferer
writhes and cries out under the lash
of his critics; but his punishment
makes a permanent impression on
him, and he sets himself seriously
to work to correct the faults or fol-
lies which have been condemned or
satirizcd.


Many years ago, when Mrs. Troll
lopc visited New York, the oc-
cupants of the upper tier of boxes
of the Park Thcater were in the
habit, between the acts, of resting
their legs upon the balustrade in
front of them, and were guilty of
other breaches of etiquette. But SO
much did the people take to heart
what the lady said of them in her
book that, for years afterward, if any
of the practices she had commented
on were indulged in, cry was
raised of ga Trollope! a Trollope!"
and the offending individual was
obliged to desist. At the present
day the propriety, the order, the
courtesy Of manner to each other of
an American audience, are remark
able. A play, too, is seldom or
never what is termed in theatrical
parlancc damned. If a performance
does not please those who witness
it, they show their dissatisfaction
only by silence, being apparently
Of Lovelace's opinion, that to "mani-
fest dislike to a play by tumultuous
disapprobation" is in bad taste.
The only exceptions can remem-
Der to this rule were when per-
former was guilty of some viola
ton of dccorum by either word or
gesture, and then he has been dealt
with sharply enough.