The Costume Is The Same As Our Own; And I Need Hardly
Say That It Is Not Picturesque.
And the time for the tombs of
celebrated men has not yet come.
A great man's ashes are hardly of
value till they have all but ceased to exist.
The visitor to New York must seek his gratification and obtain his
instruction from the habits and manners of men. The American,
though he dresses like an Englishman, and eats roast beef with a
silver fork - or sometimes with a steel knife - as does an
Englishman, is not like an Englishman in his mind, in his
aspirations, in his tastes, or in his politics. In his mind he is
quicker, more universally intelligent, more ambitious of general
knowledge, less indulgent of stupidity and ignorance in others,
harder, sharper, brighter with the surface brightness of steel,
than is an Englishman; but he is more brittle, less enduring, less
malleable, and, I think, less capable of impressions. The mind of
the Englishman has more imagination, but that of the American more
incision. The American is a great observer; but he observes things
material rather than things social or picturesque. He is a
constant and ready speculator; but all speculations, even those
which come of philosophy, are with him more or less material. In
his aspirations the American is more constant than an Englishman -
or I should rather say he is more constant in aspiring. Every
citizen of the United States intends to do something. Every one
thinks himself capable of some effort.
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