In our party was Miss Susan B. Anthony,
and I was deeply impressed with the fact that one did not often get an
opportunity to see, during the same hour, two women so remarkable in
different ways as Susan B. Anthony and Queen Victoria.
In the House of Commons, which we visited several times, we met
Sir Henry M. Stanley. I talked with him about Africa and its relation
to the American Negro, and after my interview with him I became more
convinced than ever that there was no hope of the American Negro's
improving his condition by emigrating to Africa.
On various occasions Mrs. Washington and I were the guests of
Englishmen in their country homes, where, I think, one sees the
Englishman at his best. In one thing, at least, I feel sure that the
English are ahead of Americans, and that is, that they have learned
how to get more out of life. The home life of the English seems to me
to be about as perfect as anything can be. Everything moves like
clockwork. I was impressed, too, with the deference that the servants
show to their "masters" and "mistresses," -- terms which I suppose
would not be tolerated in America. The English servant expects, as a
rule, to be nothing but a servant, and so he perfects himself in the
art to a degree that no class of servants in America has yet reached.
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