YANKEE-DOODLE 203 



ways. It is one of the foibles of the Yankee that no one 

 understands him ; that no one is capable of drawing 

 a truthful picture of him and his country but himself. 

 This nonsense I refuse to respect. It is from outside 

 criticism that the truth is to be gleaned ; not from the 

 self-conceited opinion of a people themselves. No inci- 

 dent could better illustrate what I mean than one which 

 occurred after I had penned the bulk of this chapter. 



It was announced in a London newspaper that a 

 company would shortly be registered to provide the 

 people of this country with American " quick luncheons." 

 The Yankee gentleman who seems to be the founder 

 of this scheme is reported to have said, "Londoners 

 have no idea of what our system is. They think that a 

 quick lunch is something that is thrown at them. But 

 they will discover their mistake when they find how 

 we treat them, and there are pretty well fifty new and 

 tasty dishes which we can offer them which are almost 

 unknown La this city." 



This is the language of a man who has a concern to 

 run, and who seems to know very well that the 

 American mode of eating will never be tolerated in 

 this country. The quality of the dishes is not in question. 

 The fact remains that in his own country the average 

 Yank feeds much like a hog that is, his chief object 

 seems to be to get as much into him as possible in the 

 shortest space of time ; and the picture drawn by Dickens 

 of the offensive brute on the river-boat (in " Martin 

 Chuzzlewit ") is true to this day. 



The fact is, as I have already said, that the Yankee 

 cannot tolerate criticism. He gives no one thanks for 

 praise, or even for flattery ; and yet his vanity and 

 self-esteem are such that he imagines himself and his 

 institutions to be too exalted to be understood by be- 

 nighted, antiquated -E^-ropeans. 



I set down nothing in malice, harsh as my language 

 may seem to those unacquainted with the bounce and 



