LIFE IN AMERICA.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 41, 12 November 1907, Page 3

LIFE IN AMERICA.

: LETTER FROM MRS. GRACE NEILL. Grace Neill has not forgotten New Zealand and her friends here in the interests Of her new life in the United States. She writes to a friend in Wellington saying that the ladies of a travel club in one town where she.stayed for a time had made Mexico tlieir subject for cine year's reading, arid were this Ear to study . New Zealand, which the rarian irreverently, designated "the jump-ing-off place.'.'.. Mrs. Neill savs:—"l lent her my year book for 1906, and. also suggested,that .she should apply, to the'Tou.-<st Department, using my name if she liked, and she would get all manner, of-detailed inforrriatipn about the' beauties of the Dominion. Tno book of. pictures\the Department. was so kind as topresent to me has done mu -h duty "in the way of attracting .adniirers. If you do send these people any pictures,, avoid those that have show or :snow-covcred mountains; they have plenty of that at home. The slumberous Christchurch Avon style or bush arid river scenery, like the Wariganui appeals to therii. Whatever quarters- wo occupy- yo : i would find views of New Zealand all over tlio walls and in every available'resting place. ,'. 'This is a great- .'country for strikes! The telegraph operators have b'een' oiit for weeks past, and only the very- most tirgent . life and death wires can be' sent. Tlie companies have the cheek to take your money and send w ' re onV to ' its destination by mail. Telephone ( op6rators are also out, so a company is introducing an independent telephone that: will obliterate the "Hello'! girl. ■ A dial with the units round its face is fixed tip in .your/room, arid,you .put pointers, to the : grcnip of • numbers you want, and ring'up your inend s offico • direct. ' QJhey have already a number, of them .working : in Butte.. .TW have,irt Butte a.central heating plant—steim heat for the radiators,, and also hot' water, ate .transmitted .by pipes to subscribers' dweldoes ,away with the uncertain vagaries of-the; furnace in private houses, and of course there.are no supplementary open gratesj and Jri view of a prospective coal famine this winter, owing to deficiency, of railroad service and labour strikes, it will prove a" decided . advantage ' to th& residonts . f Butte.' Butte is a real live city with its 60,000 inhabitants, but I fear th'ero is a bad tinle ahead for'.the next few months so long as this slump lasts, or until the Wall Streot speculators allow the price of 'copper to £u ' •' • - /'Butte has a big library, but they donot give one acc?ss to the shelves; which annoys me, for I like to have a look at a volume before taking it out; arid I. do,not know the flames - 0 r- styles'' of. half these American authors. Besides fiction (mostly , rubbish) I have been reading up the various United States, problems—immigration, colour linn, and various sociological books —and also tha of the innumerable monthly magazines. The illustrations, of the latter are a long way better than their reading matter. Picture magazines and breakfast foods are the mind and pabulum over here.' There' is a want of solidity about both, but the combination reflects a. national characteristic. Wo take the. English 'Spectator, 1 lest we forget the language. • I do riot speak through my noso as vot ■ in fact, I have been astoniscd'to find so littlo difference in accent between these, western, regions and pur own c6lonies. I'fancy that down East what we call the Ameripan accent is more pronounced. The women certainly—or most'of tliom—have a high-pitched, harsh voice, but the average man and boy, is not nasal at all, and when one has learnt a few of theirt terms, such as coal-oil for kerosene,-.street car for tram, faucit: for water tap, automobile ■ for motir, tomato to rhyme with potato—the -natives in the stores (not shops) do not gape at yoa and jerk out' How?'," • When washing coloured imitation suede gloves remember, always to turn them inside orit to dry. They invariably .dry in: streaks, but by this means the streaks-will come oil tlie insido and will not show. ■ Brass-headed tacks along the 'edge of the ' sewing-table Carefully, measured 4>tf to show one-guarter, . one-half, three-quarters, and one-yard spaces, as on a dry-goods; connter, will b6 found of great convenience.