Americans and Americans

Southland Times, Issue 15076, 23 October 1901, Page 4

Americans and Americans

(By E'iztbeth L, Banks,.) [ At interv&U duiing the past two months ' readers of the Mornicg Post have noticed ; certain advertisements in which " English ladiea of position r ' and " Englishmen of b'.rth and breeding" have appealed to Americana to come to them and be polished off and be taught English " as she is spoke " In the high society of the metropolis. A certain Oxford B.A. bos been inviting Americana to visit his London chamber?, anj, for a consideration, learn from him " the English of cultivated people." He has represented himself as beiog a " specialist in purifying the voice of twang, drawl, and nasal intonation." An English lady advertises for American ladies who will let her CPtne and "stay with them" at their homes, she to pay for her board and lodging, and, 1 presume, carriage drives, theatre and opera boxes, etc., etc., by imparting to them (the American ladiea) a " good pronunciation and intonation." This lady days that she herself speaks with " pure accent and without provincialism.' Stilt other advertisements have been appearing in the papers, ore of which announces the advertiser's ambition to tfaob American ladies a " wnart pronunciation." She is most artful, adroit, and tactfnl in the wording of her advertisement, declaring that she does " not mean to intimate that American ladies are inferior in culture to their English sisters, though there is a sufficiently marked difference in the intonation of the American ladies to at once reveal their nationality " ! I am not too cruel, and I will not, therefore, stop to argue out the question of what a " smart " pronunciation may be, and whether or aot a " smart " pronunciation ia necessarily a correct one, aad a thing to be desired and btriven for by those of my . countrywomen with whom this English lady has apparently come into contact. Nor will I succumb to the temp»a*ion to be ironical over the viJUinoas " split infinkive '" of this " smart " advertiser of correct English. I will not only be just, I will be generousgenerous, perhaps, to a fault — in my treitment of this lady and her confederates who are anxious to start in business as polishers, and I am detei mined that I will no! critically plunge into a di9eu?sion of ar'jective*, proper and improper. I will only s*y, in passing, that I suppose ahe usea tbe word in its English sense. In my own country, we, won have not become to a certain extent Anglicized, use the woid " smart " in a somewhat different manner. Id England I underttand that to be "smart" me aos to be stylish, and BO I will take is for granted that tbe English lady is prepared to teach American ladies how to speak with a "stylish pronunciation." But, as I have said, I will bogererous, aid will not here eatay to ajt thep»n cf carping critic so far as English pe?p!e and their ways are concerned. Rather let me take unto mysa'f the better part of " showing up " some of the inhabi aats of my own sweet native land, who, taking up their residence in London or travelling about, not only ia England but on the Concinect, are daily caatiug disgrace and discredit upon the American name, the American language, *nd American manners, t*> say nothing of American moralp. Heaven forbid that the Oxford BtAt Whp aypiree to leach Americans the " English of cultivated people " and the English lady who wants to impart to them a ♦' smart pronunciation " shonld continue any longer in their state of ignorance concsrning cue partiatlirfa'/ifJ of Americans with whom they apparently bave been accustomed to &BBOCiate, and to receive as representativs inhabitants of the iand lam proud to call • my own, the lacd of Yale, Harvard, Princeton, Coreell, Welles'ey, V».sar, Oberlin.acd the Chirago University ! I myself am not a " jingo American." Dear me, no ! I bave lived in London eight years. I have learned to cay " I fancy " instead of " I guess " (aad I'm sorry for i\ tco ;for I contend that oar American " guesswork " ia just as proper as your EngHsn " fancy-work " to s»y the least !} ; Ino looger use my silk Americas flag for a piano cover, having discovered that such familiarity breeds contempt, to s&y nothing of bad tamper over repeated failures to teach the housemaid the correct way of arranging it. Though I am as firmly convinced as ever that I was born in " tlie greatest country on eattb," I eujoy that kao wledge in tbe privacy and quietude of my own son], and ceased to mention tbe fact to my Eogiish friends fally seven aod a half yearß Bgo. I mention this to show the unbiased and unprejudiced state of mind in which I now take up the cudgel in defence of American culture, American manners, and the American language. Why is it that such advertisements as I have quoted should be found in the column* of London papers ? Why shonld Oxford B.A.'e and '* English ladies of position " advertise that; they are willing, for a consideration, to teach Americans in Locdm the art cf speaking correctly end behaving themselves properly ? Whenever such al--vertisements appaar there are some Americans who fly into tempera and take offence at them! I am not one of those thus affected, knowing »b I do know that London ia fall oi Americans who do need to be taught how to speak and how to act and how to comport themselves generally ! Knowing this, I know tLat the English advertisers who w»Dt to undertake the task of " polishers '" to Americans have been meeting numerous members of the class to which I refer, aod, understanding not that there are Americans and American?, just as there are English and English, have mistaken these hordee of our ignorant and ill-bred as representing their country, when tbe-. onJy thing they are capable of doing is to mis-represent it. It is cad but too t;ue that some of the worst Americans seem to come to London— tbe worpt morally, the lowest socially, aod the least cultured. Many of them come touring, and taking up temporary reaidence in Loadon hotels, fill the puolicdiniog rooms with their loud, boisterous complain to, acd make themselves so unpleasantly conspicuous that wh n a really representative American dees cotrw into contact with them, he suffers shame and mortification on their account. Monfy is made rapidly in America. The bod-carrier of yesterday may be tbe millionaire mineowner cf to-day, and then his brazen, ignorant wife and daughtersdemsnd immediately a "Ewops&n fcavrcr " — which tb'ey get. 11---deed, tbey not only get the •' tower ' ; they also get a presentation at the Knglish C- urt (or at least they used to get it meet easily.) Then they pasß for " (ypical Americans," and Oxford B.A.'p, meeting them, take a notion that they ought to be taught the " English of cultivated people," and so they ought ; but they could learn it at home just as well as they could in England. I was recently at a country bouse and, walking one afternoon with an iuiglish l&«y round the garden, she said to tne, " Ia it nob- strange how great a difference there is between tbe English and the Amer icau ways of pronouncing even the most ordinary words. For instance, Americans aay • rhododsndrum ' don't they ?" " What !" I returned in a bewildered sot t of way. " I never heard the word ! What does it mean ?" •' Why, this flowering shrub here !" Bhe answered, " But thst Is a rhododendron I I have never heard it called by any other name !' I replied. " Mrs Blank Cilia it ' rhododandrutn,' and, aB I thought her a typical American, I supposed Americans pronounced it that way ! She also eaya ' apple flitters.' In England we say • fritters ' ! " "So do we !" I answered, laughing, " although, come to think of it, I remembsr having heard oar washerwomen in America speak of corn aad apple ' flitters*. ' They might also have said ' rhododandrum,' but I don'b remember that." Now, Mrs Blank, who said " rhododandrom " and " flitters" was the wife of a rich American residing in England. But I lake "this opportuoity of protesting against tbis particular Mrs Blank and a larg4 number of other Mrß Blanks being accepted as representative Americans, io jutt the same way that an Englishman would protest against hla oountry people being judged by the ignorant, though rich Cockney, who drops his h'«,or a barmaid elevated by marriige to the peerage, and calling herself a " perfect lidy. 3J America may b 9 better judged by the people who remain in it than by the majority of those who go out of it. Quite recently we have bad a very kindlycritio of our American customs, manners, educe tios, and culture in the person of Mr Frederic Harrison, who, during hia ecjonsn in my country, apparently associated with our representative, cultured, educated people. We also had the same sort of critic ID Mr Jamps Bryce, M.X We would like to hare other Englishmen acd Englishwomen, toe, of this type, visit ub and report upon ue. It will, perhaps, help us to " live down " the repu'ation we, as a people, are in danger of etub!iahing,by onruouotrymen and countrywomen who are addicted to " Eoxopaan toweis." Bat I had almost forgottca something to which. I intended to call attention in the advertisement of the " English lady of poeition" Who desires t» t»ach Americans a " smart pronunciation. ; ' She eayß that she is prepared to reroova from " Ameiuan ladies " the -intonation which "at once reveal their J: *«ioßaU&y." Evidently the

English lady has been meeting " American ladies " who were desirous of hiding their nationality ! Well ! Let it be hoped that tfcis instructor will bave the great good luok successfully to teach snoh " American ladies " how to bide it, for Amerioa would rather not claim them ss her own ! lam no lover of the aggiessive " twang " or " drawl " that marks its possessor &9 being an inhabitant of certain provincial part* of America any more than I am an admirer of certain Englißh provincial " twangs " and dialects, but any " American ladies " who are desirous of getting rid of an intonation in order to hide their nationality should be encouraged to do ao, and all truly good and sensible Americans will be only too thankful to Oxford B.A.s and English ladies of position for their kind assistance in the matter !