432 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



public houses are in servile situations. If he adopt towards 

 them imperious and harsh language he gives offence, and pro 

 duces coldness and possibly resentment, so that the interview 

 ends in mutual dissatisfaction. If the traveller should write a 

 book he of course enlarges on the rudeness of American manners, 

 and it is very possible that even the servants of our inns may give 

 him some occasion for such remarks, if they are treated as 

 persons of their condition commonly are in Europe.&quot; Mr 

 Stuart seems to have forgotten this sensible quotation while 

 in Illinois, and I have no doubt had himself to blame for any 

 rudeness he may have experienced. The heart is the source 

 of true politeness, which is often better conveyed by expres 

 sion of feature or tone of voice, than by words or gestures. 

 The possessor of such civility is incapable of, and invulnerable 

 to, rudeness, and will be well received in every part of the 

 world. At the time Mr Stuart told Tom Bentley &quot; how ut 

 terly unfit he was for his situation,&quot; he himself committed a 

 flagrant outrage on decorum, and justly merited any treatment 

 that could have been bestowed on him. There is a ludicrous 

 anecdote related at Springfield of his demands on Hornden, 

 which, if true, shows how unlikely it was any American land 

 lord could comply with them. 



The manners and customs of a people, like objects in a land 

 scape, may be coloured by the medium of vision, and they will 

 not only appear different to individuals, but seemingly vary to 

 the same individual according as his feelings may alter. It is 

 evident Mr Stuart was out of humour both at Jacksonville 

 and Springfield, and could not have been a dispassionate judge 

 of what was passing around him. His situation and mine in 

 Illinois must have been very different. He had travelled for 

 some time before in slave-holding countries, where he had 

 fared sumptuously on canvass-backed ducks and other delica 

 cies, attended by crouching and despised creatures. For 

 many weeks I had sojourned in the rudest parts of Upper 

 Canada, Indiana, and Illinois, leading a demi-savage life, 

 and faring, as it were, by the way sides. He was travelling 

 with a carriage and pair, accompanied by a store of venison hams, 

 and whisky. I trudged on foot, quenching my thirst with in 

 different water, and occasionally satisfying my hunger with 



