the beginning of Western civilization.

A Chinese proverb compares a pupil who excels his teacher to the color
green, which originates with blue but is superior to it. This may
aptly be applied to Westerners, for they originally learned literature,
science, and other arts from the East; but they have proven apt pupils
and have excelled their old masters. I wish I could find an apothegm
concerning a former master who went back to school and surpassed his
clever pupil. The non-existence of such a maxim probably indicates
that no such case has as yet occurred, but that by no means proves that
it never will.

Coming now to particulars I would say that one of the distinguishing
features in the American people which I much admire is their
earnestness and perseverance. When they decide to take up anything,
whether it be an invention or the investigation of a difficult problem,
they display indomitable perseverance and patience. Mr. Edison, for
example, sleeps, it is said, in his factory and is inaccessible for
days when he has a problem to solve, frequently even forgetting food
and sleep. I can only compare him to our sage Confucius, who, hearing
a charming piece of music which he wanted to study, became so engrossed
in it that for many days he forgot to eat, while for three months he
did not know the taste of meat.

The dauntless courage of the aviators, not only in America, but in
Europe also, is a wonderful thing. "The toll of the air", in the shape
of fatal accidents from aviation, mounts into the hundreds, and yet men
are undeterred in the pursuit of their investigations. With such
intrepidity, perseverance, and genius, it is merely a question of time,
and I hope it will not be long, when the art of flying, either by
aeroplanes or airships, will be perfectly safe. When that time arrives
I mean to make an air trip to America, and I anticipate pleasures from
the novel experience such as I do not get from travelling by land or
sea.

The remarkable genius for organization observable anywhere in America
arouses the visitor's enthusiastic admiration. One visits a mercantile
office where a number of men are working at different desks in a large
room, and marvels at the quiet and systematic manner in which they
perform their tasks; or one goes to a big bank and is amazed at the
large number of customers ever going in and coming out. It is
difficult to calculate the enormous amount of business transacted every
hou