CHAPTER V

AMERICA, THE SELF-CRITICAL

Richmond, Virginia.

I HAVE been here two days and am already con-
scious of the difference I expected between the
north and the south. To begin with, it is hot
enough (December 20) for an English summer,
whereas in Baltimore, a few days ago, the cold
pierced one to the bones* Paradoxically I caught
cold as soon as I entered the warmer climate; a
phenomenon which may be left to the consideration!
of the medical profession, in the hope that it may
hasten their long delayed discovery of a cure for
the malady in question. I am also conscious of a
distinct, but not parallel, change in the human
climate. The crowds in the street are less
animated and seem not so uniformly well fed;
the noises are less overwhelming; voices softer;
manners less positive; even the cars scream and
yell at each other less fiercely, though this may
be a fancy and due rather to their being fewer in
number than better mannered,

I have spent a day sightseeing, mostly of scenes
and things connected with the Civil War, the
battlefields of the neighbourhood, the Confederate

4*