There is not SO m uch beauty to be found in American cities as in Oxford，Cambridge，Salisbury of Winchester，where are lovely relics of a beautiful age；but still there is a good deal of beauty to be seen in them now and then，but only where the American has not attempted to create it．Where the Americans have attempted to produce beauty they have signally failed．A remarkable characteristic of the Americans is the manner in which they have applied science to modem life． This is apparent in the most cursory stroll through New York．InEngland an inventor is regarded almost as a crazy man，and in too manyinstances invention ends in disappointment and poverty．In America aninventor is honoured，help is forthcoming，and the exercise of ingenuity，the application of science to the work of man，is there the shortest road towealth．There is no country in the world where machinery is SO lovely asin America． I have always wished to believe that the line of strength and the lineof beauty are one．That wish was realised when I contemplated Americanmachinery．It was not until I had seen the water—works at Chicago that Irealised the wonders of machinery；the rise and fall of the steel rods，thesymmetrical motion of the great wheels is the most beautifully rhythmicthin I have ever seen．One is impressed in America，but not favourablyimpressed，by the inordinate size of everything．The country seems to tryto bully one into a belief in its power by its impressive bigness． 1 was disappointed with Niagara--most people must be disappointedwith Niagara．Every American bride is taken be one of the earliest，ifnot the keenest．disappointments in American married life．One sees itunder bad conditions，very far away，the point of view not showing thesplendour of the water．To appreciate it really one has to see it fromunderneath the fall，and to do that it is necessary to be dressed in a yellowoil-skin，which is as ugly as a mackintosh--and I hope none of you everwears one．It is a consolation to know，however，that such an artist asMadame Bernhardt has not only won that yellow，ugly dress，but has beenphotographed in it．
Perhaps the most beautiful part of America iS the West．to reachwhich，however，involves a journey by rail of six days，racing along tiedto an ugly tin-kettle of a steam engine．I found but poor consolationfor this journey in the fact that the boys who infest the cars and sell everything that one can eat—一Or should not eat——were selling editions of my poems vilely printed on a kind of grey blotting paper，for the low price of ten cents．Calling these boys on one side told them that though poets like to be popular they desire to be paid，and selling editions of my poems without giving me a profit is dealing a blow at literature which must have a disastrous effect on poetical aspirants．The invariable reply that they made was that they themselves made a profit out of thetransaction and that was all they cared about．
It is a popular superstition that in America a visitor is invariably addressed as“Stranger”．When 1 went tO Texas 1 was called“Captain”；when I got to the centre of the country 1 was addressed as“Colonel”，and，on arriving at the borders of Mexico，as“General”．On the whole，however，“Sir”，the old English method of addressing people，is the most common．
It is，perhaps，worth while to note that what many People call Americanisms are really old English expressions which have lingered in our colonies while they have Been lost in our own country．Many people imagine that the term“I guess”，which is SO common in America，is purely an American expression，but it was used by John Locke in his work on“The Understanding”，just as we now use“I think”。
It is in the colonies，and not in the mother country，That the old life of the country really exists．If one wants tO realize what English Puritanism is not at its worst(when it is very bad)，but at its best，and then it is not very good I do not think one can find much of it in England，but much can be found about Boston and Massachusetts．We have got rid of it．America still preserves it，to be，I hope，a short-lived curiosity．
