Would you mind telling me what those buildings are ?" all would have gone well.

The Englishman would have recognized (not fifty years ago, but certainly to-day) that it wasn't a question of rules between them, and would have at once explained--either that he didn't know, or that the buildings were such and such.
Do not, I beg, suppose for a moment that I am holding up the English way as better than our own--or worse.

I am not making comparisons; I am trying to show differences.

Very likely there are many points wherein we think the English might do well to borrow from us; and it is quite as likely that the English think we might here and there take a leaf from their book to our advantage.

But I am not theorizing, I am not seeking to show that we manage life better or that they manage life better; the only moral that I seek to draw from these anecdotes is, that we should each understand and hence make allowance for the other fellow's way.