190 AN OCTOBER ABROAD 



ENGLISH CHARACTERISTICS. 



/v- 



ENGLAND is a mellow country ,\ and the English 

 people are a mellow people. They have hung on 

 the tree of nations a long time, and will/ no doubt, 

 hang as much longer ; .for windfalls, I reckon, are not 

 the order in this island. We are pitched several de- 

 grees higher in this country. By contrast^hings here 

 are loud, sharg, and garish. Our geography is loud ; s 

 the manners of the people are loud ;^our climate is 

 loud, very loud, so dry and sharp, and full of violent 

 changes and contrasts j and our goings-out and com- 

 ings-in as a nation are anything but silent. Dcrwe 

 not occasionally give the door an extra slam, just^for 

 effect? 



In England, everything is on a Iowj3.ke.y, slower, 

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

 in its material forms and 'measures, but le^s violent 

 and aggressive. The buffers the English have be- 

 tween their cars to break the shock^'are typical of 

 much one sees there. 



All sounds are softer in England v the surface o. 

 things is less hard. The eye of day and the face 01 

 are less bright. Everything has a mellow 



