THE AMERICAN TYPE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16911, 9 December 1922, Page 21

THE AMERICAN TYPE.

EAR-MARK OF A YANKEE. SHEER “ AMERIDIANITY.” 1 luive been startled again and again since 1 came to England by the readiness with which T ’nave been recognised as an American—sometimes, in spite of what an English tailor and an Eg lish barber have done to me, before f opened my mouth to speak. How do you tio it!" (asks “ Amerikanski,” in the “ Manchester Guardian ”). America- is so vast and complex that we sometimes feel that we have nj national unity. Tlu. Southerner us different from the New Englander. There is an old story of a young woman who was twenty-one before she knew that “ damn Yankee ” was not one r ord. The Middle Westerner and tho Far Westerner represent still different types; and within any one .section there are great differences. Our oommunities are made up of many races. The Germans, Irish, Slavs, Italians, French, English. Syrians. Spaniards, Scandinavians, and all the other races that come to us have each their peculiarities. It is hard, nj think, to say what, the American type is, or even that there is such a thing I have, however, been comparing note-; lately with some oU my fellow-country-men and I find that whether our name be OJosen or Zbitowski, whether wo hail from Boston or Albuquerque, we are known for Americans. This astonishes us, even while we glory in the unity it seems to- indicate. Mark Twain’s Eve. , without an/ hesitation, called trie tiger by his right name. She knew him, she said, by the stripes. We have come to think that we must some special markings such a's these. Of course, wc recognise that thro is a distinctive? American fashion m clothes, in hair cuts, and in spectacles. We value such outward uniformity, for often it is the mark of inward and spiritual unity. Something distinctively Amelean has triumphed over the peculiarities of Slav, Italian and Greek Wc are glad when young men who come to us from Europe discard thenold collars, buy new suits with a- dif fevent cut, and begin to look Ameri can. But my own; experience has led me to think that you identify us by something more intimate than this. Mr IT. G. Wells says that our women hove soft cheek bones like ‘ Amerindians.” Can it he that w* men also achieve Amerindianity ? T like the idea, and what a blessed word it gives us! It is true that as fa a ; our port and presence is concerned there are two distinct groups of us. The long, lean Uncle Sam type sti-1 abounds, but he ‘s for the most parr far from the haunts of such Europeans as visit us. Ho is almost extinct in Now England, his old home. In the great agricultural States bordering on the Mississippi, east an I west, there are myriads of him scattered aljout. Six feet or more he is, lean, sinewy. FT.* is, T think, the of i Anglo-Saxon type. But his cheekbones—T remember it now—are. >’r> this generation. Amerindian. MINGLING OF THE RACES. But there is another type of Ameri can,, on the whole shorter than our Uncle Sam. Members of this secon : group are plump and pleasing. They are wide-awake, too, and very cheerful Their smooth, tanned cheeks an’* ample, though not excessive,' girth suggest peace, prosperity, and good food. They are to be found especial 1 / at Rotary Club luncheons, at political ccnventions, and in the offices of Big Business, hut the,* are as übiquitous as sparrows.' They are not all business men. Some are labourers striking for their hire. Others are doctors, lawyers, ministers or even professors. They are a hybrid race, a mingling of the races of Continental Europe. But, again, they have—l remember it nov.—the soft cheek-bones. Further reflection has convinced me that our Amerindianity appeals to the ear as well as to the eye. At first 1 was £old thafc all Americans talk alike. We are very much awaYe oi our differences. V Southern friend or mine visited ~n coll‘ge in Pennsylvania and was entertained at a Fraternity house. After dinner his student host-: gathered about bin and said. “ Now talk.” ** What about? ” said he. *‘ lt doesn't mattef ” they replied ‘‘lf isn’t what you sav, so much as tho noises you make.” And yet, 1 sup pose, hero in England lie and his best would seem to make similar noises. : can only explain *,ms as another cas 1 ol Amerindianity. Tho Indian had

not only a war-whoop but several otheweapons. He could lift up his voice, and he loved to do it. The climate made him so, and now it- is having its way with his successors. We Americans always yell when we are excited or when we wish to be. I have attended some big football matches over here, and the comparative stillness of the enormous crowds has amazed me. At most they give utterance to a mild, hoarse roar. At our baseball 'games pandemonium breaks loose at the beginning an-! stays loos© until the game is over. At American colleges the cheer leader is a necessary and important person. You see him and his assistants leading the processions of undergraduate, conspicuous in white flannel trousers, sweaters of the college colours, and at times fantastic headgear. Each carries a. megaphone. The students are at last in the grandstand. “ Now,” the leader calls, •fifteen rah’s for the team.” And ; they give them, while he dances about, i in mad gyrations, literally tearing out ! of them vast shrieks of sound. They yell like that at every phase of th.-? j game, and even when there isn’t any phase. It is sheer Amerindianity. This manifestation of Americanism ; begins in our early youth. It is even : said that we land on the planet with • a yell. An English friend of mine j heard his two small daughters shriek- j ing with all their might. He rushed ; madly to the scene of the disaster, only to find them calm and serene. They had recently been playing with some American children who were living near, and they explained to their astonished parent that they had just ibeen priet ending thev wore little Americans. THE NASAL DRAWL. Our nasal drawl may he due to our life T long habit of yelling. Your English voices sound throaty to us. You clip your words and make staccato noises. Jf you practised yelling your voices would either he ruined or else they would l>e placed out of your throats : and you could not he staccato. In other words, you would develop «i nasal drawl. We do not wish to show any feeling of superiority at all. Our powers are the result of the climate. They are Ameridianity. Wo yell as cloth the wild cat yell: wc only yell because we must. T shall j go hack to America much less con- j cerned than I was over the problem of assimilating the immigrant. Nature made the Amerindian, and she will not rest until we. diverse as we arc in origin, conform to the type she has fixed on for America. Already our cheek-bones and our voices show that wc are blood brothers.