Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1879 — Avariciousness of the English. [ARTICLE]

Avariciousness of the English.

Nothing is more novel and stunning in its effect upon travelers from this country in England then the constant obtrusion of the everlasting sixpence in places where we should consider it an insult to all proper or sacred feeling. An Englishman in almost any rank will accept pay or money for kindly -services, which here the poorest would offer gratuitously. If he tells you the way on the street or gives you the time of day, or a light for a cigar, no matter how good his coat, the chances are that you will not offend him by a tip. If a lady calls at a friend’s house, she is expected to tip the servant who shows her to the drawing-room; if you stay by invitation at a private house over night, you will find the whole corps of servants drawn irp waiting for their money in the hall in the morning; their master saves himself so much of wages by your gifts, and counts on saving it. Very few Americans would be willing to throw open the privacy of their homes to the public to increase their income; but if an Englishman’s house is his castle, or can by any means be made a show place, he turns an honest penny by exhibiting it. The shilling, or crown, or sovereign paid by visitors to the servants who escort them through the great houses goes, not to the servant as is often supposed, but directly into the pocket of the master. In the cases of Chatsworth, Blenheim, and places of that grade, the revenues of the ducal owners are increased thousands of pounds by this means. The American is just as fond, probably, of the almighty dollar as his British cousin, but he manages to get it in a different way. —New York Tribune.