They Want Things To Be Soft And Easy; As Republican As
You Please, But With As Little Noise As Possible.
The President is
there for four years.
Why not elect him for eight, for twelve, or
for life? - for eternity if it were possible to find one who could
continue to live? It is to this way of thinking that Americans are
driven, when the polish of Europe has made the roughness of their
own elections odious to them.
"Have you seen any of our great institootions, sir?" That of
course is a question which is put to every Englishman who has
visited New York, and the Englishman who intends to say that he has
seen New York, should visit many of them. I went to schools,
hospitals, lunatic asylums, institutes for deaf and dumb, water-
works, historical societies, telegraph offices, and large
commercial establishments. I rather think that I did my work in a
thorough and conscientious manner, and I owe much gratitude to
those who guided me on such occasions. Perhaps I ought to describe
all these institutions; but were I to do so, I fear that I should
inflict fifty or sixty very dull pages on my readers. If I could
make all that I saw as clear and intelligible to others as it was
made to me who saw it, I might do some good. But I know that I
should fail. I marveled much at the developed intelligence of a
room full of deaf and dumb pupils, and was greatly astonished at
the performance of one special girl, who seemed to be brighter and
quicker, and more rapidly easy with her pen than girls generally
are who can hear and talk; but I cannot convey my enthusiasm to
others. On such a subject a writer may be correct, may be
exhaustive, may be statistically great; but he can hardly be
entertaining, and the chances are that he will not be instructive.
In all such matters, however, New York is pre-eminently great. All
through the States suffering humanity receives so much attention
that humanity can hardly be said to suffer. The daily recurring
boast of "our glorious institootions, sir," always provokes the
ridicule of an Englishman. The words have become ridiculous, and
it would, I think, be well for the nation if the term "Institution"
could be excluded from its vocabulary. But, in truth, they are
glorious. The country in this respect boasts, but it has done that
which justifies a boast. The arrangements for supplying New York
with water are magnificent. The drainage of the new part of the
city is excellent. The hospitals are almost alluring. The lunatic
asylum which I saw was perfect - though I did not feel obliged to
the resident physician for introducing me to all the worst patients
as countrymen of my own. "An English lady, Mr. Trollope. I'll
introduce you. Quite a hopeless case. Two old women. They've
been here fifty years. They're English. Another gentleman from
England, Mr. Trollope. A very interesting case! Confirmed
inebriety."
And as to the schools, it is almost impossible to mention them with
too high a praise. I am speaking here specially of New York,
though I might say the same of Boston, or of all New England. I do
not know any contrast that would be more surprising to an
Englishman, up to that moment ignorant of the matter, than that
which he would find by visiting first of all a free school in
London, and then a free school in New York. If he would also learn
the number of children that are educated gratuitously in each of
the two cities, and also the number in each which altogether lack
education, he would, if susceptible of statistics, be surprised
also at that. But seeing and hearing are always more effective
than mere figures. The female pupil at a free school in London is,
as a rule, either a ragged pauper or a charity girl, if not
degraded, at least stigmatized by the badges and dress of the
charity. We Englishmen know well the type of each, and have a
fairly correct idea of the amount of education which is imparted to
them. We see the result afterward when the same girls become our
servants, and the wives of our grooms and porters. The female
pupil at a free school in New York is neither a pauper nor a
charity girl. She is dressed with the utmost decency. She is
perfectly cleanly. In speaking to her, you cannot in any degree
guess whether her father has a dollar a day, or three thousand
dollars a year. Nor will you be enabled to guess by the manner in
which her associates treat her. As regards her own manner to you,
it is always the same as though her father were in all respects
your equal. As to the amount of her knowledge, I fairly confess
that it is terrific. When in the first room which I visited, a
slight, slim creature was had up before me to explain to me the
properties of the hypothenuse, I fairly confess that, as regards
education, I backed down, and that I resolved to confine my
criticisms to manner, dress, and general behavior. In the next
room I was more at my ease, finding that ancient Roman history was
on the tapis. "Why did the Romans run away with the Sabine women
asked the mistress, herself a young woman of about three and
twenty. "Because they were pretty," simpered out a little girl
with a cherry mouth. The answer did not give complete
satisfaction, and then followed a somewhat abstruse explanation on
the subject of population. It was all done with good faith and a
serious intent, and showed what it was intended to show - that the
girls there educated had in truth reached the consideration of
important subjects, and that they were leagues beyond that terrible
repetition of A B C, to which, I fear, that most of our free
metropolitan schools are still necessarily confined.
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