France.

Then as to his method! I saw by his own intimations that he was
an Observer, and had a System that used by naturalists and other
scientists. The naturalist collects many bugs and reptiles and
butterflies and studies their ways a long time patiently. By this
means he is presently able to group these creatures into families and
subdivisions of families by nice shadings of differences observable in
their characters. Then he labels all those shaded bugs and things with
nicely descriptive group names, and is now happy, for his great work is
completed, and as a result he intimately knows every bug and shade of
a bug there, inside and out. It may be true, but a person who was not a
naturalist would feel safer about it if he had the opinion of the bug. I
think it is a pleasant System, but subject to error.

The Observer of Peoples has to be a Classifier, a Grouper, a Deducer, a
Generalizer, a Psychologizer; and, first and last, a Thinker. He has
to be all these, and when he is at home, observing his own folk, he is
often able to prove competency. But history has shown that when he is
abroad observing unfamiliar peoples the chances are heavily against
him. He is then a naturalist observing a bug, with no more than a
naturalist's chance of being able to tell the bug anything new about
itself, and no more than a naturalist's chance of being able to teach it
any new ways which it will prefer to its own.

To return to that first question. M. Bourget, as teacher, would simply
be France teaching America. It seemed to me that the outlook was
dark--almost Egyptian, in fact. What would the new teacher, representing
France, teach us? Railroading? No. France knows nothing valuable about
railroading. Steamshipping? No. France has no superiorities over us in
that matter. Steamboating? No. French steamboating is still of
Fulton's date--1809. Postal service? No. France is a back number
there. Telegraphy? No, we taught her that ourselves. Journalism? No.
Magazining? No, that is our own specialty. Government? No; Liberty,
Equality, Fraternity, Nobility, Democracy, Adultery the system is too
variegated for our climate. Religion? No, not variegated enough for
our climate. Morals? No, we cannot rob the poor to enrich ourselves.
Novel-writing? No. M. Bourget and the others know only one plan, and
when that is expurgated there is nothing left of the book.

I wish I could think what he is going to teach us. Can it be Deportment?
But he e