第13章

It may be objected, indeed, that there are no gentry; and it is very true that I have not yet encountered a character of the type of Lord Bottomley,--a type which I am free to confess I should be sorry to see disappear from our English system, if system it may be called, where so much is the growth of blind and incoherent forces.It is nevertheless obvious that an idle and luxurious class exists in this country, and that it is less exempt than in our own from the reproach of preferring inglorious ease to the furtherance of liberal ideas.It is rapidly increasing, and I am not sure that the indefinite growth of the dilettante spirit, in connection with large and lavishly-expended wealth, is an unmixed good, even in a society in which freedom of development has obtained so many interesting triumphs.The fact that this body is not represented in the governing class, is perhaps as much the result of the jealousy with which it is viewed by the more earnest workers as of its own--I dare not, perhaps, apply a harsher term than--levity.Such, at least, is the impression I have gathered in the Middle States and in New England; in the South-west, the North-west, and the far West, it will doubtless be liable to correction.These divisions are probably new to you; but they are the general denomination of large and flourishing communities, with which I hope to make myself at least superficially acquainted.The fatigue of traversing, as Ihabitually do, three or four hundred miles at a bound, is, of course, considerable; but there is usually much to inquire into by the way.The conductors of the trains, with whom I freely converse, are often men of vigorous and original minds, and even of some social eminence.One of them, a few days ago, gave me a letter of introduction to his brother-in-law, who is president of a Western University.Don't have any fear, therefore, that I am not in the best society! The arrangements for travelling are, as a general thing, extremely ingenious, as you will probably have inferred from what I told you above; but it must at the same time be conceded that some of them are more ingenious than happy.Some of the facilities, with regard to luggage, the transmission of parcels, etc., are doubtless very useful when explained, but I have not yet succeeded in mastering the intricacies.There are, on the other hand, no cabs and no porters, and I have calculated that I have myself carried my impedimenta--which, you know, are somewhat numerous, and from which I cannot bear to be separated--some seventy, or eighty miles.Ihave sometimes thought it was a great mistake not to bring Plummeridge; he would have been useful on such occasions.On the other hand, the startling question would have presented itself--Who would have carried Plummeridge's portmanteau? He would have been useful, indeed, for brushing and packing my clothes, and getting me my tub; I travel with a large tin one--there are none to be obtained at the inns--and the transport of this receptacle often presents the most insoluble difficulties.It is often, too, an object of considerable embarrassment in arriving at private houses, where the servants have less reserve of manner than in England; and to tell you the truth, I am by no means certain at the present moment that the tub has been placed in the train with me."On board" the train is the consecrated phrase here; it is an allusion to the tossing and pitching of the concatenation of cars, so similar to that of a vessel in a storm.As I was about to inquire, however, Who would get Plummeridge HIS tub, and attend to his little comforts? We could not very well make our appearance, on coming to stay with people, with TWO of the utensils I have named; though, as regards a single one, I have had the courage, as I may say, of a life-long habit.It would hardly be expected that we should both use the same; though there have been occasions in my travels, as to which Isee no way of blinking the fact, that Plummeridge would have had to sit down to dinner with me.Such a contingency would completely have unnerved him; and, on the whole, it was doubtless the wiser part to leave him respectfully touching his hat on the tender in the Mersey.No one touches his hat over here, and though it is doubtless the sign of a more advanced social order, I confess that when I see poor Plummeridge again, this familiar little gesture--familiar, I mean, only in the sense of being often seen--will give me a measurable satisfaction.You will see from what I tell you that democracy is not a mere word in this country, and I could give you many more instances of its universal reign.This, however, is what we come here to look at, and, in so far as there seems to be proper occasion, to admire; though I am by no means sure that we can hope to establish within an appreciable time a corresponding change in the somewhat rigid fabric of English manners.I am not even prepared to affirm that such a change is desirable; you know this is one of the points on which I do not as yet see my way to going as far as Lord B--.I have always held that there is a certain social ideal of inequality as well as of equality, and if I have found the people of this country, as a general thing, quite equal to each other, I am not sure that I am prepared to go so far as to say that, as a whole, they are equal to--excuse that dreadful blot! The movement of the train and the precarious nature of the light--it is close to my nose, and most offensive--would, I flatter myself, long since have got the better of a less resolute diarist! What I was not prepared for was the very considerable body of aristocratic feeling that lurks beneath this republican simplicity.I have on several occasions been made the confidant of these romantic but delusive vagaries, of which the stronghold appears to be the Empire City,--a slang name for New York.I was assured in many quarters that that locality, at least, is ripe for a monarchy, and if one of the Queen's sons would come and talk it over, he would meet with the highest encouragement.This information was given me in strict confidence, with closed doors, as it were; it reminded me a good deal of the dreams of the old Jacobites, when they whispered their messages to the king across the water.I doubt, however, whether these less excusable visionaries will be able to secure the services of a Pretender, for I fear that in such a case he would encounter a still more fatal Culloden.I have given a good deal of time, as Itold you, to the educational system, and have visited no fewer than one hundred and forty--three schools and colleges.It is extraordinary, the number of persons who are being educated in this country; and yet, at the same time, the tone of the people is less scholarly than one might expect.A lady, a few days since, described to me her daughter as being always "on the go," which Itake to be a jocular way of saying that the young lady was very fond of paying visits.Another person, the wife of a United States senator, informed me that if I should go to Washington in January, Ishould be quite "in the swim." I inquired the meaning of the phrase, but her explanation made it rather more than less ambiguous.