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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY.— SUPPLEMENT. 



some real funny things to-night ; I could hardly 

 help laughing." Mr. Holmes was comforted. I 

 also heard of a politician from the South who 

 made a long speech to a political meeting in New 

 England without provoking the faintest expression 

 of sympathy or approbation. He thought that 

 the audience was unfriendly. But as soon as lie 

 sat down a gentleman rose and moved, with great 

 gravity, that the meeting should give the speaker 

 three cheers; and when the motion had been duly 

 seconded and formally put from the chair, the 

 cheers were given with well-regulated enthusiasm. 

 The last two stories seem to show that this 

 undemonstrativeness is characteristic of the New- 

 Englanders, and is not common in other parts of 

 the country, though perhaps it may exist in those 

 districts in the Middle and Western States which 

 have been settled by immigration from New Eng- 

 land. My own impressions favor this suppo- 

 sition. I think that the manners of the people 

 I saw in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York, 

 though quiet, were freer and more cordial than 

 the manners of the people I saw in New England. 

 There was less restraint upon the expression of 

 kindly feeling, in words and tone and bearing. 

 The New-Englander is apt to keep his heart where 

 he keeps the furnace which heats his house — 

 underground. He does not care to have an open 

 grate in every room, and to let you see the fire. 

 But the fire is there, and the heat makes its way 

 secretly to every part of the house. You see no 

 coals burning, but behind the door of the dining- 

 room there is a hole in the carpet, and through 

 the register there comes a stream of hot air which 

 keeps the room at 70° on the coldest day. There 

 is another register in the hall and another in your 

 bedroom. I missed the sight of the fire. When 

 we had what the Americans call the first " snap " 

 of cold weather, I wanted the assurance of my 

 eyes to make me believe that though there was a 

 frost outside there was no reason for shivering in- 

 doors. Sydney Smith tells us that soon after the 

 introduction of plate-glass Samuel Rogers was at 

 a dinner-party, and thought that the window near 

 him was open all the evening. The window was 

 shut, but Rogers went home with a severe cold 

 which he had caught from an imaginary draught. 

 Unkindly critics might affect to mourn that his 

 imagination was not always equally active when 

 he was writing his verses. He soon learned that 

 a window might be shut though he could not see 

 the window-frame ; and I soon learned in America 

 that a house may be warm on a cold day — too 

 warm, indeed — though I could not see the fire. 

 And so, though Americans, and especially per- 



haps the New-Englanders, are not demonstrative, 

 a stranger soon discovers that they are among the 

 kindest people in the world. There are no limits 

 to their kindness. They find out what their 

 guest would like to see and to do, and spare 

 themselves no thought or trouble to gratify him. 

 Their hospitality is of the best sort ; they do not 

 force a stranger to visit the places which they 

 themselves may think the most interesting and at- 

 tractive ; they consult his tastes, and place them- 

 selves absolutely at his disposal. A Brooklyn 

 host would probably be very much distressed if 

 an Englishman persistently put aside a proposal 

 to drive to Greenwood Cemetery, and a Philadel- 

 phian would be vexed if he could not persuade 

 his guest to take a drive through the charming 

 park in which the Centennial buildings were 

 erected ; but they would bear their disappoint- 

 ment quietly. I wanted to see the common 

 schools. Most of my friends had become fa- 

 miliar with the common schools, and saw very 

 little in them that was novel or surprising ; they 

 therefore wished me to go to lunatic asylums, 

 prisons, and hospitals, where they thought thatT 

 should see something that was much more re- 

 markable. But when they discovered that my 

 preference was no mere whim they took a great 

 deal of trouble to satisfy it. 



I was struck with the admirable temper of the 

 people. Though I traveled several thousands 

 of miles on steamboats and in railway- car- 

 riages — westward as far as Chicago, and south- 

 ward as far as Richmond — I never heard the 

 noisy quarreling which some sketches of Amer- 

 ican manners might have led me to expect. On 

 my way from Chicago to Washington, the train 

 was delayed for several hours. The "watch- 

 as I think they called the man who 



man, 



had charge of a portion of the line near one 

 of the stations, had left his post to attend a 

 Democratic meeting. While he was away, a 

 wooden bridge was burned down. The train was 

 stopped for an hour or two at a small station 

 some ten or twelve miles distant from the burn- 

 ing bridge. There was no refreshment-room, no 

 " bar," and the passengers could do nothing ex- 

 cept lounge about the line, speculate on the cause 

 of the accident, smoke, and wonder when the 

 train would get to Washington ; but every one 

 was in excellent temper, and accepted the delay 

 without any resentment. After a time we went 

 on, and when we were within a mile of the river 

 which the train could not cross, we were met by 

 an omnibus, and several of the rough wagons of 

 the country. The passengers packed themselves 



