habit, as they do in Spain, of maintaining a pack of idlers in the quality of servants.

This bears a very close relation to general and most important facts and truths. In a country where wages are high, land cheap, and taxes low, and where there is no burdensome subjection to military service, the mass of the people must be well off. This prosperity produces contentment, which is of more value than the disposition to criticise and find fault. To this widely diffused prosperity the principles of an equal distribution of all heritable property essentially contribute. If they had retained or introduced unequal rights of inheritance, privileges of primogeniture, Fideicommissa, and the like, wealth would soon have been accumulated in the hands of a few, and a class of luxurious idlers established.

In America every one is made to know, that it is labor in some specific pursuit that alone gives life its value and importance. A Neapolitan admirer of the sweets of indolence may regard this sentiment as absurd; and another may express his fear that the mental powers will be stifled by a restless passion for gain. But the activity of the hands and the complete accomplishment of the head stand in close connection; and the American constitution carries education beyond school-days, and makes higher claims on every individual than are made elsewhere. But, it has been a thousand times repeated, in this manner the Americans fall into downright selfishness; the acquisition of money is the sum and substance of their existence, and is esteemed beyond every thing else. One would imagine these fault-finders had a mortal antipathy to gold and silver!* The American looks on money essentially as the means of further activity; he does not lock it up in coffers, or accumulate for the mere purpose of leaving it to a few lazy heirs; he is no miser that never makes use of his wealth, nor is he a spendthrift that squanders it away; but his endeavor is, to employ it in the truest advantage. Mistakes in this respect are only the exceptions, and do not form the rule, as with prodigals and misers. The Americans are reasonably disinclined to all useless expenses, which in Europe so often impoverish both individuals and states; yet on behalf of all great and peaceful enterprises, they show themselves rather too ven turesome than too niggardly and circumspect.

Putting out of consideration those persons who do nothing at all, the American does not labor more than the European; in fact, the latter must undergo severer exertion, without attaining such satisfactory results. On this account labor and business are more attractive in America than in Europe: in the latter And yet they themselves often speculate in railroad stocks, Spanish paper, &c., and would fain become rich without labor.

country, in spite of all the desire that is felt and all the exertions that are used to become wealthy, the end is very seldom attained; while in the former, success is so much easier, that it naturally encourages to redoubled zeal in the pursuit.

There was no greater obstacle in the United States to physical and mental well-being, than the prevalent vice of drunkenness. In opposing this, the temperance societies have had an exceedingly beneficial effect; although the temperance of voluntary resolution is worth more than that secured by a kind of vow, which prohibits even what is innocent for fear of excess, and thus leads but too often to a reaction and relapse into old habits. In all countries of the world this enterprise would find warmer and more lasting support, if the prohibition were restricted to the more pernicious spirituous liquors, and not extended to beer and wine.*

After the drinking, I may as well mention the eating and cooking; because this is a subject of importance, not merely for pleasure, but still more for health. In the richer families, Jefferson's principles in regard to eating have been adopted along with his principles in politics. His biographer, Tucker, says: "Jefferson's discriminating taste soon taught him to appreciate the merits of French cookery." But in general, with the exception of a few families who show good taste also in this respect, the art is still in a very low condition in the United States. In proportion to the excellence of the materials (fish, flesh, vegetables, fruit, &c.) is the ignorance shown in the art of preparing and improving them. Give the most exquisite block of marble to a common stone-cutter, and he will not produce a statue; so let the finest ox be taken into the kitchen, and a bungler of a cook will fail to give you from him a good roast joint. The excessive quantity of seasoning, particularly pepper and salt, destroys all the original flavor, creates an unnatural thirst, and heats the blood. The roast meats are for the most part dry and hard; the sauces without variety; many vegetables, such as. peas, too old; the bread often doughy and smoking hot, &c. A good cook knows how to alter and improve the poorest material; the presumptuous, self-complacent beginner destroys the best food, and the eaters into the bargain. On this subject an American connoisseur‡ observes: "When we think of the quantities of half-masticated meat, the pounds of seasoning to make it palatable, and the raw and indigestible substances which we

*In Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Mississippi, there are laws against the sale of spirits in small quantities, and against the liquor shops. I have seen no one completely drunk in the United States, but many who drank a great deal of spirits.

t Life of Jefferson, ii. 505.

Mr. Sanderson of Philadelphia.

force into our innocent stomachs,—we acknowledge our sins with the deepest humility and repentance!"

I will here venture to express myself against the English and American custom, in compliance with which the host and hostess, during the whole time of dinner, can scarcely do any thing else but rival each other in offering their provisions all about the table. -Will you take roast beef, or mutton? The wing, the leg, or the breast? Potatoes, peas, or cabbage?-This questioning and replying is an interruption to all conversation; whereas our method, of having things carried round by servants, provides much better for the helping of the guests, and leaves the entertainers at liberty to contribute in an intellectual manner to the animation and pleasure of the company.

The prevalent habit of eating rapidly, and swallowing the food half chewed, has awakened the attention of those who have the jurisdiction of schools. They say to the children and to their parents: "The food should be taken slowly and in company, and amidst agreeable conversation."* In no country in the world do so many persons suffer from indigestion as in America; and a thorough reform of the system of cooking and eating would be productive of the most salutary effects. It would be attended with the happiest consequences, with respect to health, contentment, and the pleasures of domestic life, if, as is often the case in Europe, the art of cooking were included in the list of female. accomplishments taught at school, or if theoretical and practical lectures were given on the subject.

It might be thought unbecoming to pass here into a few general remarks upon the women, were it not that the transition very naturally presents itself.

Every traveller, indeed every man forms a judgment respecting the women, though the majority are not capable of appreciating even their external beauty. To speak correctly on this subject, there are needed the right disposition, practice, and talent, in which even many artists are wanting; otherwise they would not give out so many wretched faces for beauties to be admired. It is oftener a misfortune than a blessing to be beautiful; whereas a taste for beauty and art is attended with no danger, and belongs to the higher grade of mental cultivation. Learned connoisseurs, however, are often accustomed to praise and admire the singular, the artificial,―nay, in their perversity, the disagreeable and repulsive; and the chorus of refined amateurs repeat, parrot-like, the dicta of their abounding wisdom.-But I meant not to talk of these generalities, or to repeat what other travellers have said of American women. I will recall to mind the fact, how

* H. Mann's Sixth Report on Schools, p. 113.

ever, that they admire the beauty of the female sex in the United States, and at the same time assert that they soon grow old and lose their teeth. And certainly, for my own part, I have seen in no country in the world, among handsome women, so many pale, sickly faces. Whether this is the effect of the climate, the food, the manner of life, the tight lacing, the drinking of vinegar, or all these causes combined, the fact itself cannot be disputed. I should not mention vinegar drinking, if men, women, and physicians had not unanimously assured me this means is frequently resorted to in order to remove what is considered the vulgar red from the cheeks. In comparison with this perversity, the practice of rouging to relieve paleness is a more natural, and certainly a less deleterious custom. The mere pleasure of the eye, the feeling for beauty, is here not alone concerned, but the existence and welfare of future generations. Many professional men complain of the great number of stillborn children and premature births. None but a person incapable of judgment could confound the paleness of embodied spirituality, which gives us glimpses of a higher existence, and confers angelic beauty, with the ghastly hue produced by a disordered stomach. When God (it might be said, slightly altering a Shakspearian saying) has created a fair being, let her not fall upon the vinegar-cruet and the calomel-box!

That women in America are every where honored and respected, that they can travel alone without the slightest apprehension through the whole country, and that even he who is rough or discourteous in his intercourse with men is modest and civil towards the gentler sex,-is perfectly certain, and is a proof of good morals and praiseworthy self-control. But it also cannot be denied, that certain forms and customs designed to prove this respect, have something in them stiff and unsocial, or even seem to be regarded as a still necessary means of defence. The invariable, externally prescribed, dry distinction always made of the ladies, is quite a different thing from a chivalric, poetical, and varied homage. And even this habit is not consistent: for example, it would be deemed offensive on board a steamboat to sit among the ladies, but not to spit about the path where they have to walk with their long dresses. The smallest girls claim these distinctions as a matter of right; while another duty, which is praised and practised in all other republics, to wit, respect for age, nowhere makes its appearance.

The seclusion of the ladies in parlors by themselves is a custom very inconvenient for travellers. One may live for weeks in

I frequently saw young girls eat in the morning not only over-cooked meat, but also (what was if possible still more unwholesome) the smoking hot corn-bread covered with melted butter.

the same hotel with twenty or thirty, and never become acquainted with one of them. They eat, drink, read, or play alone; and only their husbands, parents, or children are allowed to penetrate into this seraglio. To seek an acquaintance, or begin a conversation of one's own accord, would at least excite surprise. In a single hour in France, the most motley company will become better acquainted and more intimately associated with each other than in America in many months.

There is no ground for this complaint in company properly so called, where the women exhibit much cordiality, and in their cheerful and intelligent conversation show a cultivation quite equal to that of Europeans. It is true that in the new, as in the old world, time is often wasted and the taste corrupted by the reading of wretched novels; and the mental powers are sometimes so much blunted and enfeebled, that serious works are neither relished nor understood. Otherwise one might suppose that the education of women in America was too masculine and abstruse, when informed that they receive instruction in algebra and politics, technology and logic,&c. These however are only the exceptions; or else the academies are designed for the formation of future teachers. For my own part, I have by no means found that the American ladies made a display of learning: even popular authoresses never paraded their accomplishments; and the only woman, or the only girl with whom I conversed accidentally about philosophy, combined with knowledge and true love of science the most winning feminine grace.

As every where else, so in America, home and family form the central point around which the affections and activity of woman revolve. It is talking absurdly and at random, to assert that the women here are all idle and careless, neglect their household affairs and the education of their children, or trifle away all their time at the toilet. This may be true, as in all countries, in individual cases of negligent and spoiled persons; the climate and manner of life may be unfavorable to exertion, and the novel-reading already condemned may be regarded as no better than idleness;-still the mental activity and cultivation often undeniably found, are to be more highly esteemed than mere manual labor. How any one can imagine, or induce others to believe, that in America women in good circumstances thoughtlessly and unfeelingly desert their natural, favorite, and delightful sphere of action as wives and mothers; and that the wives of mechanics, farmers, and laborers sit lazily the whole day long in their rocking-chairs,-is altogether incomprehensible. Equally strange and unjust is the assertion, that in the life of the American man, all is material; while in that of the woman, all is moral: