Question

By G. E. Eckersley One often hears of the Englishman's "reserve" and on a long railway journey, with four I Englishmen in the carriage, nobody will speak a word during the whole journey. I am sure it is not in America. In the short ride to the hotel the taxi driver will tell you all about himself, his wife and family. He will ask where you have come from, what your job is, how you like America and how long you are staying in New York. This feeling shows itself in the houses of the two countries. The Englishmen's suburban house has its little garden with a hedge all round it to shut him off from his neighbours. “The Englishman's home is his castle". The American houses have no hedges separating them from each other. There are no little gardens, usually some grass with trees in it. Inside the house, instead of the separate hall , living room, dining room so typical of the English house, the American has just one large room where all the family activities go on. Americans are very hospitable. If you are a guest they will take you to parties at the houses of their friends, you are invited to theatres, dinners, sports meetings, motor trips. People you meet show the great interest in your affairs and ask you if they can help you. Americans are fond of new things, a new car every year. In England I knew people who had lived in the same house and been in the same job for twenty, thirty, forty years. That's not the American way of life. They love change; they call it the spirit of adven- ture". They have none of the Englishman's sentimental love for things because they are old, Americans throw away things only because they are old.