CONTENTS
Reading edition
PART I—OBSERVATIONS
LETTER I The Straits of New York—When is a Ship not a Ship?—Nationality of Passengers—A Dream Realized
LETTER II Fog in New York Harbor—The Customs—The Note-Taker's Hyperæsthesia—A Literary Car-Conductor—Mr. Kipling and the American Public—The City of Elevators
LETTER III New York a much-maligned City—Its Charm—Mr. Steevens' Antithesis—New York compared with Other Cities—Its Slums—Advertisements—Architecture in New York and Philadelphia
LETTER IV Absence of Red Tape—"Rapid Transit" in New York—The Problem and its Solution—The Whirl of Life—New York by Night—The "White Magic" of the Future
LETTER V Character and Culture—American Universities—Is the American "Electric" or Phlegmatic?—Alleged Laxity of the Family Tie—Postscript: The University System
LETTER VI Washington in April—A Metropolis in the Making—The White House, the Capitol, and the Library of Congress—The Symbolism of Washington
LETTER VII American Hospitality—Instances—Conversation and Story-Telling—Overprofusion In Hospitality—Expensiveness of Life in America—The American Barber—Postscript: An Anglo-American Club
LETTER VIII Boston—Its Resemblance to Edinburgh—Concord, Walden Pond, and Sleepy Hollow—Is the "Yankee" Dying Out?—America for the Americans—Detroit and Buffalo—The "Middle West"
LETTER IX Chicago—Its Splendour and Squalour—Mammoth Buildings—Wind, Dust, and Smoke—Culture—Chicago's Self-Criticism—Postscript: Social Service in America
LETTER X New York in Spring—Central Park—New York not an Ill-Governed City—The United States Post Office—The Express System—Valedictory
PART II—REFLECTIONS
NORTH AND SOUTH
I
II
III
IV
THE REPUBLIC AND THE EMPIRE
I
II
III
IV
AMERICAN LITERATURE
THE AMERICAN LANGUAGE
I
II
III
IV
The letters and essays which make up this volume appeared in the London Pall Mall Gazette and Pall Mall Magazine respectively, and are reprinted by kind permission of the editors of these periodicals. The ten letters which were sent to the Pall Mall Gazette appeared also in the New York Times.