An American girl in London . n thatit had. To speak American, it struck me as being rather aone-horse town, though nothing could be nicer than I found itas a military centre. We drove straight out of town to the parade-ground, over aroad that wound through rugged-looking, broken fields, yellowwith your wonderful flaming gorse and furze, which struck meas contrasting oddly with the neatness of your landscapes gene-rally. When I remarked upon their uncultivated state, said, with some loftiness, that military operations werenot advantageously conducted in standing corn—meaning wheat 194
An American girl in London . n thatit had. To speak American, it struck me as being rather aone-horse town, though nothing could be nicer than I found itas a military centre. We drove straight out of town to the parade-ground, over aroad that wound through rugged-looking, broken fields, yellowwith your wonderful flaming gorse and furze, which struck meas contrasting oddly with the neatness of your landscapes gene-rally. When I remarked upon their uncultivated state, said, with some loftiness, that military operations werenot advantageously conducted in standing corn—meaning wheat 194 AN AMERICAN GIRL IN LONDON —and 1 decided for the rest of the day to absorb information,as far as possible, without inquiring for it. It was a lovely day—no clouds, no dust, nothing but blueskv. and sunshine on the gorse ; and plenty of people, all ofwhom seemed to have extreme views upon the extraordinaryfineness of the weather, were on their way to the parade-ground, chieiiy driving in dogcarts. Whenever we passed a. WE DROVE STRAIGHT OTT OF TOWN TO THE PARADE-GROUND ladv in anything more ambitious, Mr. Pratte invariably salutedvery nicely indeed, and told Lady Torquilin that she was thewife of Colonel So-and-so, commanding the somethingth some-thing. And I noticed all through the day what a great deal ofconsideration these ladies received from everybody, and whatextraordinary respect was accorded to their husbands. I haveno doubt it is a class distinction of yours, and very proper ; but AN AMERICAN GIRL IN LONDON 195 I could not help thinking of the number of colonels and theirfamilies we have at home, and how little more we think ofthem on that account. Poppas head man in the baking-pi iwder business for years was a colonel—Colonel Canister ; sois poppa himself—and I never knew either of them show thatthey thought anything of it. I suppose mommas greatest friendis Mrs. Colonel Pabbly, but that is because their tastes aresimilar and their families about the same a
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