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THE ENGLISHMAN IN THE WEST —II 



IN addition to the family fool, the types of Eng- 

 lishmen to be found on the Pacific Slope include 

 the parson's son, the fortune-hunter, the moral idiot, 

 the remittance man, and the sportsman. 



Of the parson's son one might quote the French 

 proverb : a cobbler's child is not the best shod. It 

 would seem that many of the Children of the Church 

 of England are not shod at all. They wander bare- 

 foot through the stony places, kicking furiously at 

 the flints of convention. Win their confidence, and 

 they will confess that the shoes provided by their 

 sires were too tight. Accordingly, they discarded 

 them at the first opportunity. As a rule, they go 

 without shoes to the end of their days — which are 

 not very long in the land of the West. You meet 

 them everywhere : beachcombing by the summer 

 seas of the Pacific, tending bar, selling cigars, herd- 

 ing sheep; and on most of them is the brand of 

 Drink. 



The fortune-hunter, on the other hand, is always 

 well-shod in boots cut by a crack London crafts- 

 man ; and he shuns the wilderness as he would a 

 poor relation. His credentials are his clothes and 

 his impudence. It may be said of his impudence 

 that it passes all understanding and endures for 



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