CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE 



But, since, alas ! frail beauty must decay, 



CuiTd, or uncurl d, since locks will turn to grey ; 



Since painted, or not painted, all shall fade, 



And she who scorns a man must die a maid ; 



What, then, remains, but well our pow r to use, 



And keep good humour still, whate er we lose? 



And, trust me, Dear, good-humour can prevail, 



When nights and fits, and screams and scolding fail.&quot; 



355. This beautiful passage, from the most beautiful of poets, 

 which ought to be fastened in large print upon every lady s dressing 

 table, the American women, of all ranks, seem to have by heart. 

 Even amongst the very lowest of the people, you seldom hear of 

 that torment, which the old proverb makes the twin of a smoky 

 house. 



356. There are very few really ignorant men in America of native 

 growth. Every farmer is more or less of a reader. There is no 

 brogue, no provincial dialect. No class like that which the French 

 call peasantry, and which degrading appellation the miscreant 

 spawn of the Funds have, of late years, applied to the whole mass 

 of the most useful of the people in England, those who do the work 

 and fight the battles. And, as to the men, who would naturally 

 form your acquaintances, they, I know from experience, are as 

 kind, frank, and sensible men as are, on the general run, to be 

 found in England, even with the pow r er of selection. They are 

 all well-informed ; modest without shyness ; always free to 

 communicate what they know, and never ashamed to acknowledge 

 that they have yet to learn. You never hear them boast of their 

 possessions, and you never hear them complaining of their wants. 

 They have all been readers from their youth up ; and there are 

 few subjects upon which they cannot converse with you, whether 

 of a political or scientific nature. At any rate, they always hear 

 with patience. I do not know that I ever heard a native American 

 interrupt another man while he was speaking. Their sedateness 

 and coolness, the deliberate manner in which they say and do every 

 thing, and the slowness and reserve with which they express their 

 assent ; these are very wrongly estimated, when they are taken 

 for marks of a want of feeling. It must be a tale of woe indeed, 

 that will bring a tear from an American s eye ; but any trumped 

 up story will send his hand to his pocket, as the ambassadors from 

 the beggars of France, Italy and Germany can fully testify. 



357. However, you will not, for a long while, know what to do 

 for want of the quick responses of the English tongue, and the 

 decided tone of the English expression. The loud voice : the 

 hard squeeze by the hand ; the instant assent or dissent : the 

 clamorous joy : the bitter trailing : the ardent friendship : the 

 deadly enmity : the love that makes people kill themselves : the 

 hatred that makes them kill others. All these belong to the 

 characters of Englishmen, in whose minds and hearts every 

 feeling exists in the extreme. To decide the question, which 

 character is, upon the whole, best, the American or the English,, 



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