ry, collaborated or otherwise, which
the Americans are now producing, which journals published in England are
responsible for American newspapers, what English magazine is so happy
as to be the father of the _Century_, _Harper's_, or _Scribner's_. The
truth is that the writer in the Academy, like most Englishmen, knows
nothing of American literature as a whole, or he would know that,
whether good or bad, the one quality which it surely possesses is that
it is individual and peculiar to the people. The _Academy_, it is only
fair to say, has recently changed hands and I am not sure that under its
present direction it would make the same mistake.

CHAPTER VII

ENGLISH AND AMERICAN EDUCATION

The Rhodes Scholarships--"Pullulating Colleges"--Are American
Universities Superior to Oxford or Cambridge?--Other Educational
Forces--The Postal Laws--Ten-cent Magazines and Cheap Books--
Pigs in Chicago--The Press of England and America Compared--
Mixed Society--Educated Women--Generals as Booksellers--And as
Farmhands--The Value of War to a People.

It may be presumed that when Cecil Rhodes conceived the idea of
establishing the Rhodes scholarships at Oxford, it did not occur to him
that Americans might not care to come to Oxford--might think their own
universities superior to the English. Nor is it likely that there will
in the immediate future be any dearth of students anxious to take those
scholarships, for the mere selection has a certain amount of _kudos_
attaching to it and, at worst, the residence abroad should be of
advantage to any young American not destined to plunge at once into a
business life. If it were a mere question of the education to be
received, it is much to be feared that the great majority of Americans,
unless quite unable to attend one of their own universities, would
politely decline to come to England. At the time when the terms of the
will were made public, a good many unpleasant things were said in the
American press; and it was only the admiration of Americans for Mr.
Rhodes (who appealed to their imagination as no other Englishman,
except perhaps Mr. Gladstone, has appealed in the last fifty years),
coupled with the fact that he was dead, that prevented the foundation of
the scholarships from being greeted with resentment rather than
gratitude.

There was a time, of course, when the name of Oxford sounded very large
in American ears; and it will probably be a