ENGLISH WAYS AND BY-WAYS BEING THE LETTERS OF JOHN AND RUTH DOBSON WRITTEN FROM ENGLAND TO THEIR FRIEND, LEIGHTON PARKS "For me, an aim I never fash-- I rhyme for fun." --BURNS. NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1920 COPYRIGHT, 1920, BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS -------- Published October, 1920 -------- Copyright, 1920, BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY CO. TO E. S. P. WHO KNOWS JOHN AND RUTH DOBSON AS WELL AS I DO AND CAN BEAR WITNESS TO THE TRUTH OF THIS NARRATIVE "ENGLISH WAYS AND BY-WAYS" IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED PREFACE What this little book contains the reader must discover for himself. I shall not save him trouble by telling in the Preface anything about it. Nor shall I tell more than the letters themselves show as to the identity of John and Ruth. It is a book with a Purpose. The purpose being to give the reader the same pleasure that I had in compiling it when debarred for a time from more serious work. I am, however, not without hope that this humorous record of the impressions of two young and unconventional Americans of the England before the dreadful war may do a little to lessen the tension which the nervous strain of the last few years has unhappily produced, and so help to that mutual understanding and sympathy upon which the welfare of the world depends. _The test of friendship is sympathetic banter_, and is, moreover, a firmer cement than solemn speech. My thanks are due to the _Atlantic Monthly_ for permitting the use in book form of some passages in this chronicle which appeared as articles in that magazine. L. P. Point-au-Pic, Quebec, August, 1920. CONTENTS I. The Legacy II. The School of Instruction III. "Fool Proof" IV. "Der Kaiser Wilhelm der Zweite" V. The Car Arrives VI. The Great North Road VII. The England of Fielding VIII. The End of the North Road IX. An English Interior X. Husband and Wife XI. The Fourth Speed XII. "Jael the Wife of Heber the Kenite" XIII. "As It Was in the Beginning" XIV. Rural England XV. Education XVI. A By-Election XVII. Sheep-Dogs XVIII. Brigands and Bootblacks XIX. The Piston-Rod XX. Falstaff XXI. The Black Country XXII. An "Average" Sunday XXIII. Dowager And Cowboy XXIV. "By Pureness, by Kindness, by Love Unfeigned" XXV. The County Families XXVI. The Boat-Race XXVII. The Custom-House XXVIII. The "Rob" Room XXIX. Vested Interests XXX. "The Auld Un'" XXXI. Church and State XXXII. The Chaplain to the Queen XXXIII. The Retired Colonel XXXIV. A Problem in Casuistry XXXV. A Day of Trouble and Distress XXXVI. "One Every Minute" XXXVII. Anglia or Frontenac? ENGLISH WAYS AND BY-WAYS I THE LEGACY