354 MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND [PART II. 



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 pos 

 sessions, 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 in 

 deed, 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 wailing ; 



