LUNCHING with a talented English comedian and his wife the other day, the conversation turned on Bohemia, the evasive no-man's-land that Thackeray referred to, in so many of his books, and to which he looked back lovingly in his later years, when, as he said, he had forgotten the road to Prague.
The lady remarked: "People have been more than kind to us here in New York.We have dined and supped out constantly, and have met with gracious kindness, such as we can never forget.But so far we have not met a single painter, or author, or sculptor, or a man who has explored a corner of the earth.Neither have we had the good luck to find ourselves in the same room with Tesla or Rehan, Edison or Drew.We shall regret so much when back in England and are asked about your people of talent, being obliged to say, 'We never met any of them.' Why is it? We have not been in any one circle, and have pitched our tents in many cities, during our tours over here, but always with the same result.We read your American authors as much as, if not more than, our own.The names of dozens of your discoverers and painters are household words in England.
When my husband planned his first tour over here my one idea was, 'How nice it will be! Now I shall meet those delightful people of whom I have heard so much.' The disappointment has been complete.
Never one have I seen."
I could not but feel how all too true were the remarks of this intelligent visitor, remembering how quick the society of London is to welcome a new celebrity or original character, how a place is at once made for him at every hospitable board, a permanent one to which he is expected to return; and how no Continental entertainment is considered complete without some bright particular star to shine in the firmament.
"Lion-hunting," I hear my reader say with a sneer.That may be, but it makes society worth the candle, which it rarely is over here.I realized what I had often vaguely felt before, that the Bohemia the English lady was looking for was not to be found in this country, more's the pity.Not that the elements are lacking.