PLEASE DO NOT SHOOT THE
PIANIST．
HE IS DOING HIS BEST．
The mortality among pianists in that place is marvellous．Then they asked me to supper，and having accepted，I had to descend a mine in a rickety bucket in which it was impossible to be graceful．Having got into the heart of the mountain I had supper，the first course being whisky，the second whisky and the third whisky．
1 went to the Theatre to lecture and 1 was informed thatjust before 1 went there two men had been seized for committing a murder，and in that theatre they had been brought on to the stage at eight O’clock in the evening，and then and there tried and executed before a crowded audience．But I found these miners very charming and not at all rough．
Among the more elderly inhabitants of the South I found a melancholy tendency date every event of importance by the late war． “How beautiful the moon is tonight，’’I once remarked to a gentleman who was standing next to me．“Yes，”was his reply，“but you should have seen it before the War．’’
So infinitesimal did I find the knowledge of Art，west of the Rocky Mountains，that an art patron--one who in his day had been a miner— actually sued the railroad company for damages because the plaster cast of Venus of Milo，which he had imported from Pads，had been delivered minus the arms．And，what is more surprising still，he gained his case and the damages．
Pennsylvania，with its rocky gorges and woodland scenery，reminded me of Switzerland．The prairie reminded me of a piece of blotting-paper． The Spanish and French have left behind them memorials in thebeauty of their names．All the cities that have beautiful names derivethem from the Spanish or the French．The English people give intenselyugly names to places．One place had such an ugly name that I refusedto lecture there．It was called Grigsville．Supposing I had founded aschool of Art there--fancy“Early Grigsville”．Imagine a School of Artteaching“Grigsville Renaissance”． As for slang I did not hear much ofit，though a young lady who hadchanged her clothes after an afternoon dance did say that“after the heelbck she shifted her day goods”． American youths are pale and precocious，or sallow and supercilious，but American girls are pretty and charming little oases of pretty unreasonableness in a vast desert of practical common sense． Every American girl is entitled to have twelve young men devotedto her．They remain her slaves and she rules them with charming nonchalance． The men are entirely given to business；they have，as they say，their brains in front of their heads．They are also exceedingly acceptive of newideas．Their education iS practical．We base the education of children entirely on books，but we must give a child a mind before we can instructthe mind．Children have a natural；antipathy to books—handicraft should be the basis of education．Boys and girls should be taught to use their hands to make something，and they would be less apt tO destroy and be mischievOus．