American Adventures

American Adventures, by Julian
Street

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Title: American Adventures A Second Trip 'Abroad at home'
Author: Julian Street
Illustrator: Wallace Morgan
Release Date: May 3, 2006 [EBook #18304]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: Charleston is the last stronghold of a unified American
upper class; the last remaining American city in which Madeira and

Port and noblesse oblige are fully and widely understood, and are
employed according to the best traditions]

AMERICAN ADVENTURES
A SECOND TRIP "ABROAD AT HOME" BY
JULIAN STREET
WITH PICTORIAL SIDELIGHTS BY WALLACE MORGAN

NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1917

Copyright, 1917, by THE CENTURY CO.
Copyright, 1916, 1917, by P.F. COLLIER & SON, INC.
Published, November, 1917

TO MY AUNT AND SECOND MOTHER
JULIA ROSS LOW

FOREWORD
Though much has been written of the South, it seems to me that this
part of our country is less understood than any other part. Certainly the
South, itself, feels that this is true. Its relationship to the North makes
me think of nothing so much as that of a pretty, sensitive wife, to a big,
strong, amiable, if somewhat thick-skinned husband. These two had
one great quarrel which nearly resulted in divorce. He thought her
headstrong; she thought him overbearing. The quarrel made her ill; she

has been for some time recovering. But though they have settled their
difficulties and are living again in amity together, and though he,
man-like, has half forgotten that they ever quarreled at all, now that
peace reigns in the house again, she has not forgotten. There still
lingers in her mind the feeling that he never really understood her, that
he never understood her problems and her struggles, and that he never
will. And it seems to me further that, as is usually the case with wives
who consider themselves misunderstood, the fault is partly, but by no
means altogether, hers. He, upon one hand, is inclined to pass the
matter off with a: "There, there! It's all over now. Just be good and
forget it!" while she, in the depths of her heart, retains a little bit of
wistfulness, a little wounded feeling, which causes her to say to herself:
"Thank God our home was not broken up, but--I wish that he could be
a little more considerate, sometimes, in view of all that I have
suffered."
For my part, I am the humble but devoted friend of the family. Having
known him first, having been from boyhood his companion, I may
perhaps have sympathized with him in the beginning. But since I have
come to know her, too, that is no longer so. And I do think I know
her--proud, sensitive, high-strung, generous, captivating beauty that she
is! Moreover, after the fashion of many another "friend of the family," I
have fallen in love with her. Loving her from afar, I send her as a
nosegay these chapters gathered in her own gardens. If some of the
flowers are of a kind for which she does not care, if some have thorns,
even if some are only weeds, I pray her to remember that from what
was growing in her gardens I was forced to make my choice, and to
believe that, whatever the defects of my bouquet, it is meant to be a
bunch of roses.
J.S. October 1, 1917.
The Author makes his grateful acknowledgments to the old friends and
the new ones who assisted him upon this journey. And once more he
desires to express his gratitude to the friend and fellow-traveler whose
illustrations are far from being his only contribution to this volume.
--J.S. New York, October, 1917.

CONTENTS
THE BORDERLAND
CHAPTER PAGE
I ON JOURNEYS THROUGH THE STATES 3
II A BALTIMORE EVENING 13
III WHERE THE CLIMATES MEET 27
IV TRIUMPHANT DEFEAT 38
V TERRAPIN AND THINGS 44
VI DOUGHOREGAN MANOR AND THE CARROLLS 53
VII A RARE OLD TOWN 69
VIII WE MEET THE HAMPTON GHOST 80
IX ARE WE STANDARDIZED? 89
X HARPER'S FERRY AND JOHN BROWN 97
XI THE VIRGINIAS AND THE WASHINGTONS 105
XII I RIDE A HORSE 117
XIII INTO THE OLD DOMINION 136
XIV CHARLOTTESVILLE AND MONTICELLO 150
XV THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 159
XVI FOX-HUNTING IN VIRGINIA 169

XVII "A CERTAIN PARTY" 186
XVIII THE LEGACY OF HATE 193
XIX "YOU-ALL" AND OTHER SECTIONAL
MISUNDERSTANDINGS 203