ENGLISH CHARACTERISTICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 64, 10 April 1909, Page 5

ENGLISH CHARACTERISTICS.

Mr. George Ade, tile American humorist and playwright, whose "Fables in Slang," as he 'would put it, "kept English readers guessing," has left Berlin for Italy and Egyipt. He is on hit second trip around the world, and before coming to Germany "did London and Paris." In the oourse of an interview (says the London Daily Mail) Mr. Ade stated that "next ito being an Englishman, lis would rather be a German ollieer than anything in the world." I asked 'him to amplify that apparent compliment to Britain in liin own Indiana slang vernacular. This is how lie replied:— ' Will you p-ardo;! me if I beg off from saying anything in slang regarding our British cousins. A serious subject i should not be treated llippantly or with ; a cheap and hybrid vocabulary, and the | Englishman is a- serious proposition. "When I said that next to being an Englfstaam I would rather be a German officer than anything in the world, 1 merely meant to ex-press by implication a firm belief that the Englishman is the most fortunate being in the universe, because lie never has even a glimmering doubt as to the superiority of himself or his English environment. "Some people travel to learn comparative values. The Englishman itrave's iu order to corroborate his ingrown belief that anything uu-British is necessarily incorrect, had form, and declasse. He never rails to find corroborative evidence. "That is why I envy him. I should like to wear a "tweed suit that bunched in the neck and fagged at the knees and still feel confident that I was well dressed. I should like to feel assure;! that the best seat next to the window and all of the luggage-racks were mine by divine iriglit. \Vhen defeated at any game 1 should like to soothe my pride by the refiection that the -victory of the opposition must have bee.ii the result of appalling aecident or due to some heiv-fangled trickery too complicated 'to be understood bv thorough sportsmen. "I envy ithc Englishman because even in his most cordial moments he patronises all other human beings and carries ft banner advertising the fact, "The German officer hasn't much to learn in the art of self-appreciation. 1 And it ought to be n line thing to be one. It must be comforting to get up ' every morning and know that for an--1 other twenty-four hours the astra ■ bodies will continue to revolve wound .the same old fi'Mt person singubu. I "The German officer regards every civilian as an insect. The foreign civilian is looked upon as a baciWuH. Tlic American civilian is too atomic 10 Consideration. • Over here everyone pokes fun at the still-necked martinets o! the sunny. 1/ut when doing so the.s usually go up #in alley and talk in whispers."