Life — April 28, 1921 — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Anglo-American Exchanges By E. V. Lucas I AM always doubtful if foreign nations can learn much from each other; because the conditions usually are too different for the transplantations to flourish. Londoners, for example, come back from Paris asking why in their city there are no tables and chairs on the sidewalks as in the French capital; but there could never be such an amenity, for our climate is not equable enough and the air of London is too full of grime. But when it comes to England and America, which are not foreign nations, but related a blue! In New York no fewer than nine clubs extended their privileges to me in the same delightful, spontaneous way. But before I can make an American friend a member of any of the London clubs to which I belong, there must be com mittee meetings or tedious formalities, and so much time will elapse that most of the fine flavor of the compliment evaporates, Here is surely one case where England might learn from her young relative. The conditions of club life lend themselves to just the intimacy and complementary na- tions, the interchange of ideas and practices can be constant. It is easier to make a list of the things that the English get from America than of those which England sup- plies to her cousins, America is so vast and young and enter- prising, and England is so small. But for America we should have no pipe tobacco, and no cotton, and very few moving pictures, and very little rag-time music; and to her we owe, I believe, the telephone and the typewriter and the cheapest motor cars. From us America gets traditions rather than actual commodities ; classics of literature that were being writ- ten when she was virgin forest—Shakes- peare, Milton, and so forth; styles in ar- chitecture; pictures; legal forms; zsthetic DEAR PAGAN SPRING A passionate poet was Bing; For months he'd not do a darned thing, Through the Summer and Fall And the Winter and _all— But he'd bust on the first day of Spring! better understanding that is so important. For men meet there on common ground, and are able to talk with freedom. In this connection I am re- minded of a story of Charles Lamb —not one of the best-known —to the effect that when the name of some public character was once mentioned in his hearing, he ex- claimed: “ How I hate that man!” “But,” a friend re- monstrated, never met him. “that’s why I hate him! I can never hate anyone I've ever met.” A good many in- ternational hostilities are based on the same principle as Lamb's and could be as easily removed. Blondes O. K. HE barring of blond women as jurors by a certain JAMER MONTGOMERY FLAG examples and ideals. To America, England is largely the past in its most alluring shape. To us, America is the home of the practical, the alert, the time-saving. But now and then America can teach England something un- practical but ameliorative too. Let me cite an example. I don’t suppose that when it comes to private hospitality any nation is better than any other, but in public hospitality America can give England a lesson. We have in London, for instance, almost none of the charming machinery for entertaining American visitors which is so quickly set in motion in American cities for the benefit of the strangers within their gates. Before I had been in San Francisco twenty-four hours I was an honor- ary member of four clubs, each invitation dropping upon me like the blessed dew of heaven; out of a blue sky too—and such judge because they are too fickle, need not disturb the entente cordiale that now exists between blond women and dark-haired men. Besides, the judge is wrong. According to the scientist, blond félk originated in cold climates, are more restless, less studious in their temperaments, and prefer the sea and the open air, Their love of change, however, is more physical than other- wise. Norse maidens and other types with flaxen hair and blue eyes, are highly domestic and steadfast in their affections, They cherish few resentments, but usually make a more complcte job of it when angry, clearing out the establishment in one inning. There is much more scenery in a blonde in a passion than in a brunette. Her intuitions are more highly developed and instantaneous, but this is by no means to assert that her judg- ment is any more unreliable. comicbooks.com ae ee ee ee oT Sous