From Dublin to Chicago: Some Notes on a Tour in America |
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Popular passages
Page 128 - That's well said ; And for that wine is dear, We will be furnished with our own, Which is both bright and clear. John Gilpin kissed his loving wife ; O'erjoyed was he to find, That, though on pleasure she was bent, She had a frugal mind. The morning came, the chaise was brought, But yet was not allowed To drive up to the door, lest all Should say that she was proud.
Page 255 - ... man who was injured, told me that he had the same accident happen twice within the last three months, and exhibited scars on his face and ear where the broken glass had cut him. He also informed me that the railway did not supply them with protectors necessary to prevent the possibility of injury. I do not know whether this is true or not, but if true it unquestionably makes the railroad responsible for any injury to individuals, on the ground that they have not taken proper precaution to protect...
Page 286 - There are also all over England clubs especially devoted to particular objects, golf clubs, yacht clubs, and so forth. In these the members are drawn together by their interest in a common pursuit, and are forced into some kind of acquaintanceship. But these are very different in spirit and intention from the American country club. It exists as a kind of center of the social life of the neighborhood. Sport is encouraged by these clubs for the sake of general sociability. In England sociability is...
Page 287 - ... and so forth. In these the members are drawn together by their interest in a common pursuit, and are forced into some kind of acquaintanceship. But these are very different in spirit and intention from the American country club. It exists as a kind of center of the social life of the neighborhood. Sport is encouraged by these clubs for the sake of general sociability. In England sociability is a by-product of an interest in sport. The country club at Tuxedo is not perhaps the oldest, but it is...
Page 283 - ... any risk, however small, that a stranger, glancing through the window, might actually see him. Yet the Englishman commonly leads a blameless life in his own home. He seldom employs his leisure in any shameful practices. His casement curtains are simply evidences of an almost morbid love of privacy. The first thing an Englishman does when he builds a house is to surround it with a high wall. This, indeed, is not an English peculiarity. It prevails all over western Europe. It is a most anti-social...
Page 287 - Sport is encouraged by these clubs for the sake of general sociability. In England sociability is a byproduct of an interest in sport. The Country Club at Tuxedo is not perhaps the oldest, but it is one of the oldest institutions of the kind in America. In connection with it a man can enjoy almost any kind of recreation from a Turkish bath to a game of tennis, either the lawn or the far rarer original kind. At the proper time of year there are dances, and a debutante acquires, I believe, a certain...
Page 284 - Cintra, one of the world's most famous beauty spots, the walls are grey, and there you cannot even see the sky, because the owners of the houses inside the walls have planted trees, and the branches of the trees meet over the road. The Americans do not build walls round their houses. The humblest pedestrian, going afoot through the suburbs of Philadelphia, Indianapolis, or any other city, sees not only the houses but anything in the way of a view which lies beyond them.
Page 284 - ... custom and ought to be suppressed by law, because it robs many people of a great deal of innocent pleasure. The suburbs of Dublin, to take an example, ought to be very beautiful. There are mountains to the south and hills to the west and north of the city, all of them lovely in outline and colouring. There is a wide and beautiful bay on the east. But the casual wayfarer cannot see either the mountains or the bay. He must walk between high yellow walls, walls built, I suppose, round houses ; but...
Page 285 - ... branches of the trees meet over the road. The Americans do not build walls round their houses. The humblest pedestrian, going afoot through the suburbs of Philadelphia, Indianapolis or any other city, sees not only the [262] houses but anything in the way of a view which lies beyond them.
Page 289 - The fact that the experiment was not wrecked long ago on the rocks of snobbery goes to show that society in America is singularly fluid compared to that of any European country. That a considerable number of people should want to live together in such a way is a witness to the sociability of America. No other country club has realized its ideal as the club at Tuxedo has, but every country club — and you find them all over America — has something of the spirit of Tuxedo.