MY IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18091, 26 February 1927, Page 5

MY IMPRESSIONS OF AMERICA.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

(By HeV Majesty the Queen of Rumania.)

On board the Berengaria (Eastward Bound).

We are homesick for America, my children and I. We feel a strong yearning to be back again and we think of those three weeks \n our tfain, of our cabins, so close together, so intimate and so full of flowers brought to us fresh and beautiful at every station, even the smallest. And always something new. llow exciting it was to arrive at each fresh place, to look out of the window and see the landscape ever changing till we finally had travelled over the whole great continent and reached \he ocean on the further side. Now it is all over like a long dream, but one that has not vanished with the wakening. Now I am wondering if it was all very different from what I imagined when on the Leviathan I penned the first of these articles. Do you sometimes try to recall the visions of places you had before you went there? I often do and it is most amusing to compare them with reality. But in the case of New York, for instance, the reality was so different from the preconceived picture that I can hardly conjure it up again to draw a comparison. That strange skyline’, so unique, so unexpected; more imposing still than the lirst vision from the boat was being inside the great streets with the giant houses looking down upon you and telling you all the time that there is no good in trying to compare them with anything else. They were just unique America's invention, the invention of a New World that sees big. What also forcibly strikes the European is the stupendous expenditure of electricity. Nowhere in Europe are towns lit up so extraordinarily. Noththing seems impossible in America. You never seem to pause to consider what a thing will cost. We, for instance. would light up our great buildings on certain festive nights but not for once and for all as you do your Washington Capitol, your Kansas City' War Memorial, and other great, monulents I have seen during my wanderigs. Those formidable reflectors used il the year round would mean to us i:ii impossible luxury we would not dare to impose upon a town. It must be wonderful to have millions at your disposal and to be sure of realising your dreams. Dreams of beauty are, just imagine, never to have to hesitate but to just go forward and realise is glorious indeed. 1 have often

had stupendous dreams but I wove them into mv fairy stories knowing that I would never be able to realise them on earth, but you realise your visions, all of them, and you mean to realise bigger things still. It is a little like reading' good old Jules Verne’s books. Someone once called you a nation of gamblers. You do not keep your money in your pockets, but immediately put all you have in some great scheme. Because you do this you generally succeed because there is no hesitation—you just rush in and wdn. Should you lose your money in the undertaking, what matter? You just begin again. Yes, it is very wonderful, very remarkable. It teaches us a new point of view. We, with our old inherited fortunes, places, houses, are afraid. We cling to what generations have made ours, so we are not so daring, not so . free. We are too afraid to lose. We would mind too much, and would feel too humili ated if we lost. You are certainly colossal organisers. Everything is practical and thought out and then entirely realised without a hitch. That gives you the reputation of being materialists only but this is an unfair criticism. I think I have found plenty of idealism in America. Of course, you are pleased with what you do. There is nothing extraordinary in that. You have every right to be proud of your achievements. They are such marvellous ones and you want others to see what you have done and rejoice with you over it. That is comprehensible. I, when I create the smallest thing, want others to come and rejoice with me. It has no charm unless one shares it with someone, unless someone approves and calls it good or wonderful. Then there is also this which has made you so great. You are a mighty continent and yet one country. You have every resource in yourself, no tariffs, no taxes separating your different states, no frontiers. You are one enormous whole and yet each state vies with the other to do marvellous things, to become the most wonderful, the richest, the most-developed, the most prosperous state. That also makes you big, tremendously big. Yes, we must use large adjectives when speaking about you.i It cannot be avoided. j T feel very presumptuous talking of huge America as though I really knew it I quite realise that I saw" but a minute part of it, observing, realising,

understanding just what I could in that quick rush in which I was never allowed to pause or break through on any side line. I would never have written these lines for publication if I had not been asked to do so. They must not be looked upon as criticisms nor as absolute judgment. I feel in no wise justified in considering them anything else but a summing up of the impressions of one who with an open heart and eyes tried to grasp and understand all she saw. I know also that as a queen I was not able to penetrate into things as another could have done. I had to follow the road traced for me so as not to complicate the task of my hosts. All things were showered over me in such an abundance that I only just had the strength to stand up amongst the too much of it all that was offered me But never shall I forget the magnificent hospitality of it all. That dream-like advance amidst so much love and appreciation shown me bv everyone, high and low. I feel that I want to say, “Thank you, thank ydu, all of you*” over and over again. Thank you, everyone of you, I>ig and small, cities, states and human beings. I shall never forget the way you received me and extended your many hands towards me in mighty friendship. I shall never forget your lavish hospitality, your generosity, your openhearted appreciation and that delightfully expressed pleasure to have me amongst you which made everything I did so splendidly worth while." Somehow I felt that all barriers were down. There was no hesitation about our likings for each other. It was mutual and complete. Am I wrong? Am I wrapping myself up in illusions? Perhaps I am, but then do not tell it to me too harshly or let me feel it too suddenly. It would hurt me dreadfully after having been so gloriously, dcliciouslv, unexpectedly spoilt whilst I was your guest. As I trace these words the boat I am on is bearing me further, further away from your shores to I know not what destiny. There is a great anxiety in my heart for the life of one whom I love. You know that it was because of this cruel anxiety that I had to hurry home before my time. Good-bye, dear America. Do not forget. I was so happy amongst your people and when one has been happy somewhere and is heavy-hearted to leave, the only thought that consoles is the hope of returning again one day. Good-bye. Good-byel MARIE. Copyright by the “Star” and the North American Newspaper Alliance. All rights reserved.