Show English Ignorance Americans My first experience in England says Colonel T W Higginson in the December Decem-ber Atlantic was of course to ascertain ascer-tain my proper position as an American Ameri-can and to know what was thought of us This was easier 25 years ago than now since the English ignorance of Americans was then even greater thcji today and perhaps even more frankly expressed One of the first houses where I spent en evening was the very I hospitable home of a distinguished scholar then the president of the Philological Philo-logical societY and the highest authority I author-ity on the various dialects of the English Eng-lish language but I was led to think that his sweet and kindly wife had not fully profited by his learning She said to me Is it not rather strange that you Americans who seem such a friendly and cordial race should invariably in-variably address a newcomer as stranger while we English who are I thought to be cold and distant are I more likely to say my friend She would scarcely credit it when I told her I that I had hardly ever in my life been greeted bv the word she thought so I universal and then she added I was told that Americans began every sentence sen-tence with Well stranger I guess I was compelled to plead guilty to the national use of the first and last of these two words but still demurred thesE stl dEmurrd as to the stranger Then she sought for more general information and I asked if it was really true a she had been told that railway trains in America were oftan stopped for the purpose of driving cattle off the track I I explained to her that in some regions of the far west where cattle abounded i and fencing material was scarce this I might still be done and I did rot 1 think it necessary to say that I had seen it done in my youth within 20 I miles of Boston But I explained to her that we Americans being a very inventive race had devised a little apparatus ap-paratus to be placed in front of the locomptlve in order to turn aside all obstructions and I told her that this excellent invention was called a cowcatcher cow-catcher She heard with interest and then her kindly face grew uruious and she said hesitatingly But isnt it rather dangerous for the boy I said wonderingly What boy and she reiterated For the boy dont you know the cowcatcher Her motherly mother-ly fancy had depicted an unfortunate youth balanced on the new contrivance contriv-ance probably holding on with one hand and dispersing dangerous herds by the gesture from the other |