/4 premium
and Norway sixes give way to ninety-five." They then read: "By the
Silver Sea, the Sunny South, or Glowing East"; ponder over lists of
those who are going to Egypt, America, or the Riviera; and end by
learning that the site of the old General Post Office was in St.
Martins-le-Grand.

In America it is rather different. On the front page of one of the most
important papers you read:

"Kardos has hopes of father's aid," "Men faint in public and lose
$153,000," "Death note writer caught in Capital," "Losses of women duped
by Lindsay," "Iceland cabinet falls," "Tokio diet in uproar over snake
on floor," "Saddle horse from Firestone, Harding's favourite mount," and
short notices on Ireland, Paris and London; you are encouraged to turn
to page 6, column five or column 8, page 5 and finish with "Dazzling
display of Princess Mary's lingerie."

It is difficult to say why most travellers are uninteresting. I do not
think it is because they have been to wonderful places, but because the
average man has not the power to assimilate or interpret what he has
seen; and they enlarge on their own sensations with such a lack of
humour and proportion, that you feel as if they were not only rebuffing
you, but claiming part of the credit of the master works themselves.
When told at a party that you ought to meet Mr. So-and-So, as he has
just come back from the Far East, Southwest, or North Pole, you cling
to the nearest door post, and make your escape while the hero is being
traced in the crowd. I like what I have thought out for myself better
than what I discover; and conclusions arrived at after careful
reflection are more enlarging than what is pointed out to you by
inquisitive spectators.

I am not a natural tourist, and Napoleon's shaving soap will never
interest me as much as the smallest light upon his mind or character.
There is a difference between curiosity and interest, and I regret to
say I am not curious.

I have come to the United States for the first time, not in a missionary
spirit or to study anything or anybody, but to see my daughter and to
enjoy myself.

In a rash moment, however, I promised to write my impressions of the
United States and Canada, and this may give rise to false hopes.

Lord Acton wrote in a letter to Mrs. Drew, "One touch of ill nature
makes the whole world kin," and I must make an effort not to disappoint
my thoughtful critics. I have been accused of failing to appreciate the
society