AMERICAN CUBIOSITY.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1999, 4 January 1875, Page 2

AMERICAN CUBIOSITY.

j Mr Black, the novelist, has published I the following amusing letter on this subject 'in the "Athenaeum: — Beform CLUB, Sept. 9. lam sure many of your readers, who \ are much better known in the world of ; letters than I am, must have wondered at ; times whether the communications they receive from unknown correspondents in America are to be taken as representing a national characteristic. Are all Americans possessed by a wish to know minute details of the private affairs of any person whose name turns up occasionally in the public prints ? I do not seek either to explain or cpmdemn this curiosity— perhaps it is innocent enough ; but only to ask if it is the whim of individuals or a national habit. Every one, I suppose who has resorted to literature to earn what may by courtesy be called a living, knows that in all parts of the world there are friendly folks who will, after reading a book, sit down and write a letter of grateful and even effusive thanks to the author ; and that there are few things more welcome to an author than these evidences of kindly feeling coming from strangers whom he, will probly never see. But I find that if I write a civil note to an Englishman who has sent mo such a letter, the little incident naturally drops ; whereas, if I send the same sort of note to an American, he immediately replies with a polite request that I should send him some particulars of myself and my domestic affairs. Now, , my domestic affairs are pretty comfortable ; but I cannot for the life of me understand why they should be of the slightest interest to a stranger. Of what concern can it be to anybody to know whether my income is derived from India four per cents, or from a share in a public-house — whether I have a blind aunt, or a brother gone over to the Boman Catholic Church ? And if this objection applies to private inquirers, how much more to public and official inquirers 1 Some little time ago the sub-editor of a New York daily newspaper wrote to me begging me to Bend him the proper materials for the construction of an "obit." He said it was the custom of his journal to keep these " obits" in readiness. " Heaven forbid " — as near as I can recollect, these were his pious and c&mforting words — " that I should speculate on the possibility of having to use these biographical memoranda in your case ; but I must tell you that sometimes we find occasion to use an ' obit' during the life of the subject." It may be said, "Whydont't you leave these friendly but imprudent letters alone?'': But wait a bit. The other day a gentleman , commissioned to represent one of the best known American magazines, wrote to me : as follows : — " Another matter, of which I speak with diffidence, is Mr — — 's anxiety to secure a critical-biographical sketch of your l : fe and works. I have reason to believe that you shrink from the sort of publicity entailed by a biographical notice, but you know American publishers and editors. They will have it some way — correctly if possible, incorrectly if not ; and it would surely be better to have fact than fiction." This sounded so very like a threat that I im-i mediately began to ask myself whether I had ever picked a pocket, shoved anybody down a well, or insulted a bishop. My next impression was that I ought tc send to this enterprising person such a history of myself a3 would have turned his hair white in a single night ; but life is scarcely long enough for practical jokes. However, my correspondent spoke the truth. The American editor " will have" the biography some 'way ; and publish your portrait, too, without giving you a chance of revising your own features. In the number of "Appleton's Journal," which has just arrived in this country-^ " Appleton's," by the way, was not the magazine represented by my correspondent — I find a biography of myself, which amply confirms his warning. Now it is in no spirit of protest of complaint that I call attention to this latest instance of a curious curiosity. One cannot feel offended with a writer who is evidently moved by the greatest goodwill, and who speaks of one's writings with a hearty and generous praise, in which, if one were a little younger, it might be possible to believe. But an j Englishman, whatever his calling may be, feels at once surprised and amused to find it recorded of him that, at a certain reception, he wore a flower in his buttonhole ; that " his dress was a faultless evening attire ;" that "he carried himself with a careless ease, which had in it neither affectation nor consciousness that a hundred eyes were watching him ;" and so on, while details about his domestic affairs naturally follow. All this is done with such naif simplicity and with such an unmistakeable good nature, that one perceives at a glance that the writer was not aware he was doing anything singular or unusual. The question is, do Americans, as a nation, see nothing odd in this curiosity 1 For myself, I must say that I have seen no trace of it whatsoever in the Americans whom I have met in England, whether as visitors or residents ; but that it exists in America in a very considerable degree is scarcely to be doubted. -/ William Black.