"It is an omen," said I. "He has done all things in all seriousness, and
he may be purchased for half a guinea. Those who desire information of
the most undoubted, must refer to his pages. For me is the daily
round of vagabondage, the recording of the incidents of the hour and
intercourse with the travelling-companion of the day. I will not 'do'
this country at all."

And I forgot all about India for ten days while I went out to dinners
and watched the social customs of the people, which are entirely
different from our customs, and was introduced to men of many millions.
These persons are harmless in their earlier stages--that is to say, a
man worth three or four million dollars may be a good talker, clever,
amusing, and of the world; a man with twice that amount is to be
avoided, and a twenty million man is--just twenty millions. Take an
instance. I was speaking to a newspaper man about seeing the proprietor
of his journal, as in my innocence I supposed newspaper men occasionally
did. My friend snorted indignantly:--"See him! Great Scott! No. If he
happens to appear in the office, I have to associate with him; but,
thank Heaven! outside of that I move in circles where he cannot come."

And yet the first thing I have been taught to believe is that money was
everything in America!

II. AMERICAN POLITICS

I HAVE been watching machinery in repose after reading about machinery
in action.

An excellent gentleman, who bears a name honored in the magazine,
writes, much as Disraeli orated, of "the sublime instincts of an ancient
people," the certainty with which they can be trusted to manage their
own affairs in their own way, and the speed with which they are making
for all sorts of desirable goals. This he called a statement or purview
of American politics.

I went almost directly afterward to a saloon where gentlemen interested
in ward politics nightly congregate. They were not pretty persons. Some
of them were bloated, and they all swore cheerfully till the heavy gold
watch-chains on their fat stomachs rose and fell again; but they talked
over their liquor as men who had power and unquestioned access to places
of trust and profit.

The magazine writer discussed theories of government; these men the
practice. They had been there. They knew all about it. They banged their
fists on the table and spoke of political "pulls," the vending of votes,
and so forth. Theirs was not the talk of village babblers reconstruc