ell, his
experiences are not mine. Throughout the whole States I received
kindnesses and attentions that I can never forget. I had the pleasure of
staying in the houses of most charming people. I found that whenever you
met an educated American gentleman there was no distinction to be drawn
between him and an English gentleman. His ways of living, his modes of
thought, his amusements, his entertainments, are the same as ours; there
is no difference whatever to be found. In Mr. Capper's case I can readily
imagine that he spent most of his time in the halls of hotels, and there
you do see those wild fellows rushing about; they convert the hall of the
hotel into a mere stock exchange, and look just as uncomfortable as our
"stags" who run about Capel Court. You may just as well enter a
betting-ring and come away with the impression that the members represent
English society, or that that is the most refined manner in which English
gentlemen enjoy themselves.

Well, gentlemen, there are just as exceptional peculiarities here as on
the other side of the water. The Americans are the most charming people on
this earth. When we enter their houses and come to know them, they treat
us in a way that cannot be forgotten. I noticed a very great change since
I was in America before. Whether it is a greater acquaintance with them or
not I cannot say, but there is an absence of that which we can only
express by a certain word called "cockiness." It struck me at one time
that there was a good deal of cockiness on that side of the Atlantic, that
has entirely disappeared. Constant intercourse between the two countries
is gradually bringing out a regular unanimity of feeling and the same mode
of thought.

But there are some things in which the Americans are a little lax,
especially in their history. At one of their exhibitions that I visited,
for instance, there was a placard put up--

"The steed called Lightning, say the Fates,
Was tamed in the United States.
'Twas Franklin's hand that caught the horse;
'Twas harnessed by Professor Morse."

Now, considering that Franklin made his discovery in 1752, and the United
States were not formed till about thirty years afterward, it is rather
"transmogrifying" history to say the lightning was tamed in the United
States.

Again, where the notice about Professor Morse was put, they say that the
instrument was invented by Morse in 1846, while alongside it is shown the
very slip which sent the