|OSCAR WILDE closes his remarks about
America thus: "But it is in the decay of manners that the thoughtful and
well-bred American has cause for regret. I have repeatedly said this,
but I am told in reply: 'We are still a young country, and you must
not be too severe upon us.' 'Yes,' I answer, 'but when your country
was still younger, it's manners were better. They have never been equal
since to what they were in Washington's time, a man whose manners were
irreproachable. I believe a most serious problem for the American people
to consider, is the cultivation of better manners among its people.
It is the most noticeable, the most painful defect in American
civilization." Yes, Oscar, you are, in a measure, correct. Our manners
are a little decayed. So also were the eggs with which you were greeted
in some of our cities. That may have given you a wrong impression as to
our manners and their state of health. We just want to straighten out
any little error of judgment on your part as to American customs, and to
impress upon your mind the fact that the decayed article which, in most
cases you considered our miasma-impregnated etiquette, was what is known
among savants as decayed cabbage.