From: joe_f@verizon.net   
      
   "BAYHAM BADGER"  writes:   
      
   > Yet Orwell's photograph is still recognisable as England. And the   
   > immigrants whom, with an exaggerated but not wholly misplaced   
   > justice, we fear, are themselves attracted to the qualities that   
   > bind us together: "privateness", respect for the law, and that   
   > relaxed blend of old and new which made Orwell write "biking" not   
   > "cycling".   
      
   Reminiscences of Maurice Samuel, who moved from a village in Rumania   
   to Manchester at the age of 6, in 1900:   
      
       Among us Jews, as I remember vividly, the attitude toward   
     England was one of intense admiration, respect, gratitude, and   
     affection, troubled, however, by certain perplexities....   
      
     ...More remarkable than the tramcar was the spirit of the man who   
     drove it.  I remember how my parents would describe it all to new   
     arrivals.   
      
       "And who do you think drives that tramcar?  Some self-important,   
     puffed-up official, like the captain of the ferry-boat between   
     Macin and Braila, before who you have to bow and take off you hat?   
     Nothing of the sort!  A simple, friendly _goy_, who takes your   
     penny or your ha'penny and says `Kew!' and gives you a ticket.   
     Unbelievable!"   
      
       And from this subject the discourse would widen out:   
      
       "`Kew!' and `Next!'  Those are the first things you must learn   
     here in England.  Politeness -- and order.  When you go into the   
     pharmacist's here, you don't have to stand hat in hand for half an   
     hour until the young snot behind the counter says:  `What do you   
     want, Jew?'  The pharmacist here may very well be a Jew himself.   
     And even if he isn't, he's polite.  You keep your hat on your   
     head, the pharmacist says `Next!' you buy your bottle of iodine,   
     he says `Kew!' and it's finished.  Always `Next!'  No pushing, no   
     shouting, no bootlicking, no favoritism.  Everything with a   
     system.  Quiet.  Polite.  That's freedom.   
      
       "It's so in the schools here.  Jew or _goy_, if you're bright   
     you get the prize.  You're next, no matter who your father is.   
      
       "And if you happen to get into a quarrel with someone, don't   
     hit.  The first man to hit is in the wrong, no matter what words   
     passed between you.  And don't be afraid to call a policeman.  And   
     never try to slip something into a policeman's hand; woe to you if   
     you do.  It's not that kind of country.  It's not _Valach_   
     (Rumania).  It's England!"   
      
   --   
   ---  Joe Fineman    joe_f@verizon.net   
      
   ||:  Feeling better?  Watch out!  :||   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)