THE CALIFORNIANS 95

content at the sight of them to say, " Oh/* and
apt to resent the chatter of anyone who tries to
say more. All this in closed and well-windowed
automobiles (with generous pauses at chosen
spots), a confinement afflicting to one like me,
pricked as I am by a perpetual longing to get out
and walk, and not wanting at all to get there, but
rather to linger here. Which absurd anachronism
my American friends, with their up-to-date stan-
dards of locomotion, do not understand and will
only allow me to indulge on earnest entreaty and
promise given that I will come back soon to the
waiting car.

This leads me to remark that the American's
mentality, revealed in his praise of " forward-
looking men," is one of there as distinct from here.
I mean that the American's interests lie some
distance ahead of where he actually is at the
moment. This, it may be said, is a common
human characteristic. I agree; "man never is
but always to be blessed." But the difference is
that the American does not believe this time-
honoured saying. That, he will declare, is " all
bunk." According to his philosophy the reason
we are always chasing our blessings and failing to
capture them is that we don't chase them fast
enough. He believes that, by putting a strong
foot on the gas and getting up speed, Achilles will
soon overtake the tortoise: our blessings will then
give in and own themselves captured, just as the
natives gave in and owned themselves "discovered"