170 WINTER SUNSHINE 



n 



ENGLISH CHARACTERISTICS 



England is a mellow coimtiy, and the English 

 people are a mellow people. They have hung 

 on the tree of nations a long time, and Avill, no 

 doubt, hang as much longer ; for windfalls, I reckon, 

 are not the order in this island. We are pitched 

 several degrees higher in this country. By con- 

 trast, things here are loud, sharp, and garish. Our 

 f^eography is loud; the manners of the people are 

 loud; our climate is loud, very loud, so dry and 

 sharp, and full of violent changes and contrasts; 

 and our goings-out and comings-in as a nation are 

 anything but silent. Do we not occasionally give 

 the door an extra slam just for effect? 



In England everything is on a lower key, slower, 

 steadier, gentler. Life is, no doubt, as full, or 

 fuller, in its material forms and measures, but less 

 violent and aggressive. The buffers the English 

 have between their cars to break the shock are 

 typical of much one sees there. 



All sounds are softer in England; the surface of 

 things is less hard. The eye of day and the face of 

 Nature are less bright. Everything has a mellow, 

 subdued cast. There is no abruptness in the land- 



