ngers are particularly
pleasant, and are much appreciated by their visitors. In some other
countries, the people, though not unsociable, surround themselves with
so much reserve that strangers are at first chilled and repulsed,
although there are no pleasanter or more hospitable persons anywhere to
be found when once you have broken the ice, and learned to know them;
but it is the stranger who must make the first advances, for they
themselves will make no effort to become acquainted, and their manner
is such as to discourage any efforts on the part of the visitor. You
may travel with them for hours in the same car, sit opposite to them,
and all the while they will shelter themselves behind a newspaper, the
broad sheets of which effectively prohibit any attempts at closer
acquaintance. The following instance, culled from a personal
experience, is an illustration. I was a law student at Lincoln's Inn,
London, where there is a splendid law library for the use of the
students and members of the Inn. I used to go there almost every day
to pursue my legal studies, and generally sat in the same quiet corner.
The seat on the opposite side of the table was usually occupied by
another law student. For months we sat opposite each other without
exchanging a word. I thought I was too formal and reserved, so I
endeavored to improve matters by occasionally looking up at him as if
about to address him, but every time I did so he looked down as though
he did not wish to see me. Finally I gave up the attempt. This is the
general habit with English gentlemen. They will not speak to a
stranger without a proper introduction; but in the case I have
mentioned surely the rule would have been more honored by a breach than
by the observance. Seeing that we were fellow students, it might have
been presumed that we were gentlemen and on an equal footing. How
different are the manners of the American! You can hardly take a walk,
or go for any distance in a train, without being addressed by a
stranger, and not infrequently making a friend. In some countries the
fact that you are a foreigner only thickens the ice, in America it
thaws it. This delightful trait in the American character is also
traceable to the same cause as that which has helped us to explain the
other peculiarities which have been mentioned. To good Americans, not
only are the citizens of America born equal, but the citizens of the
world are also born equal.

Cha