t which raged in France in the Bubble day.
If I had a cyclopaedia here I could turn to that memorable case, and
satisfy nearly anybody that the hunger for the sudden dollar is no
more "American" than it is French. And if I could furnish an American
opportunity to staid Germany, I think I could wake her up like a house
afire.

But I must return to the Generalizations, Psychologizings, Deductions.
When M. Bourget is exploiting these arts, it is then that he is
peculiarly and particularly himself. His ways are wholly original when
he encounters a trait or a custom which is new to him. Another person
would merely examine the find, verify it, estimate its value, and let it
go; but that is not sufficient for M. Bourget: he always wants to know
why that thing exists, he wants to know how it came to happen; and he
will not let go of it until he has found out. And in every instance he
will find that reason where no one but himself would have thought
of looking for it. He does not seem to care for a reason that is not
picturesquely located; one might almost say picturesquely and impossibly
located.

He found out that in America men do not try to hunt down young married
women. At once, as usual, he wanted to know why. Any one could have told
him. He could have divined it by the lights thrown by the novels of
the country. But no, he preferred to find out for himself. He has a
trustfulness as regards men and facts which is fine and unusual; he is
not particular about the source of a fact, he is not particular about
the character and standing of the fact itself; but when it comes to
pounding out the reason for the existence of the fact, he will trust no
one but himself.

In the present instance here was his fact: American young married women
are not pursued by the corruptor; and here was the question: What is it
that protects her?

It seems quite unlikely that that problem could have offered
difficulties to any but a trained philosopher. Nearly any person would
have said to M. Bourget: "Oh, that is very simple. It is very seldom in
America that a marriage is made on a commercial basis; our marriages,
from the beginning, have been made for love; and where love is there is
no room for the corruptor."

Now, it is interesting to see the formidable way in which M.
Bourget went at that poor, humble little thing. He moved upon it in
column--three columns--and with artillery.

"Two reasons of a very different kind explain"--that fact