Americans -- England -- Fiction; World War, 1914-1918 -- England -- Fiction
'Just one more Cambridge thought. (This letter has as many false
endings as one of your sermons.) There were quite a number of native
students from India in attendance, and I noticed that these men, many
of them striking-looking fellows, were left pretty much to themselves.
The English answer when spoken to, and offer that well-bred tolerance
exerted by them so easily, but the Indian student must feel that he is
not admitted on a footing of equality. I'm not certain that the dark
races can be admitted as equals; but what effect on India will it have
if these fellows are educated, then sent back with resentment
fermenting their knowledge into sedition? It may be another case where
the Englishman is instinctively right in his racial psychology; or,
again, it may be a further example of his dislike to look facts
squarely in the face.
'Of course, we have our own racial problem, and have hardly made such a
success of it that we can afford to offer advice.
'Well, Edge, this letter has run on to too great a length to permit of
any European treatment. That will have to wait. Of course, I have
paid several visits to Paris, and understand as never before the
saying: "Every man loves two countries--his own and France."
'Edge, why is it that people who travel always have the worst
characteristics of their nationality? On the Continent one sees
Englishmen wearing clothes that I swear are never to be seen in
England, and their women so often appear angular and semi-masculine,
whereas at home--but, then, you know what an admirer I am of English
women. And our own people are worse. Tell me: at home, when a
gentleman talks to you, does he keep his cigar in his mouth and merely
resonate through his nose? Or is that a mannerism acquired through
travelling?
'But enough, old boy. This has covered too vast an acreage of thought
already. Oh yes--about my writing. I have been doing very little
recently, but can feel the tide rising to that point where it will of
necessity overflow the confines of my lethargy. I have had the honour
of meeting several of the foremost writers here, and there is no
question about it, they are doing excellent work. But I wish that I
could feel a little more idealism in their work. The whole country
here is parched for the lack of Heaven's moisture of idealism. People
must have an objective in their lives, and the Arts should combine with
the Church in creating it.
'Of course, there is an amazing amount of drivel written over here,
most of which, I think, would never get past the office-boy of an
American publication. The English short story and the English
music-hall are things to be avoided.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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