“H’m—pretty well, I think.”
We did not go any further on the subject that time. Probably the good mother thought of the time when the Californian gold-fields attracted all the scum of Europe, and, no doubt, she thought that it was strange for a man who had a decent position in Europe, to go and “seek fortune” in America.
Later on, however, after returning to England, I wrote to her that I had made up my mind to go.
Her answer was full of gentle reproaches, and of sorrow at seeing that she had lost all her influence over her son. She signed herself “always your loving mother,” and indulged in a postscript. Madame de Sévigné said that the gist of a woman’s letter was to be found in the postscript.
My mother’s was this:
“P.S.—I shall not tell any one in the town that you have gone to America.”
This explains why I still dare show my face in my little native town.
.......
The typical American!
First of all, does he exist? I do not think so. As I have said elsewhere, there are Americans in plenty, but the American has not made his appearance yet. The type existed a hundred years ago in New England. He is there still; but he is not now a national type, he is only a local one.