I recall with shame a spring afternoon when I drove
out with an American friend and a visiting Englishman to George Washington's home above the Potomac. The whole of Washing- ton was a riot of Japanese cherry-trees, but the orchards around Mount Vernon were gay with sturdier and more productive blossom. I always enjoy a visit to Mount Vernon, which is in truth one of the most lovely and dignified of country-seats. My pleasure on this occasion was diminished by the ill- concealed astonishment of my fellow-countryman. "Well, I'm blowed! "he exclaimed as he gazed at the lovely portico and scanned the long range of outhouses and stables. "Well, I'm blowed! "he repeated when we entered the house and he saw the furniture, the silver and the pictures. He had no wish to be offensive, yet it was evident that he had never imagined that George Washington was a man of wealth and culture or that the American aristocracy before the Revolution had attained to so high a level of eighteenth-century elegance. He could not have been more surprised if he had come upon an onyx bathroom in a Basuto hut. *My embarrassed eyes met ii of my American friend who smiled across at me. It was forgiving smile, but it taught me why even our praise sometimes wound. If the Board of Education scheme reac the dimensions which Mr. Butler contemplates then the s of American history, thought and culture will become part parcel of our school and university curriculum. The yo Englishman of the future will visit Mount Vernon with dd ence and not with surprise.
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