ENGLISH CHARACTERISTICS. 



NGLAND is a mellow country, and the English 



- L - - ' 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 degrees 

 higher in this country. By contrast, things here are 

 loud, sharp, and garish. Our geography 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 occasion- 

 ally 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- 



