294 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



my house, as you mean to place it at the disposition of your corres- 

 pondent." 



But these modes of addressing a real or fictitious superior, indirectly 

 asserting subjection to him in body and effects, are secondary in impor- 

 tance to the direct assertions of slavery and servitude ; which, begin- 

 ning in barbarous days, have persisted during civilization down to the 

 present time. 



Biblical narratives have familiarized us with the word " servant," as 

 habitually applied to himself by a subject or inferior, when speaking 

 to a ruler or superior. In our days of freedom, the associations estab- 

 lished by daily habit have obscured the fact that " servant," as used in 

 translations of old records, means " slave " implies the condition fallen 

 into by a captive taken in war. Consequently, when, as frequently in 

 the Bible, the phrases " thy servant " or " thy servants " are uttered 

 before a king, they must be taken to signify that same state of subju- 

 gation which is more circuitously signified by the phrases quoted in the 

 last section. Clearly this self-abasing word was employed, not by at- 

 tendants only, but by conquered peoples, and by subjects at large ; as 

 we see when the unknown David, addressing Saul, describes both him- 

 self and his father as Saul's servants. And kindred uses of the word to 

 rulers have continued down to modern times. 



Very early, however, professions of servitude, originally made only 

 to one of supreme authority, came to be made to those of subordinate 

 authority. Brought before Joseph in Egypt, and fearing him, his 

 brethren call themselves his servants or slaves ; and not only so, but 

 speak of their father as standing in a like relation to him. Moreover, 

 there is evidence that this form of address extended to the intercourse 

 between equals, where a favor was to be gained ; as witness Judges 

 xix. 19. How among European peoples a like diffusion has taken place, 

 need not be shown further than by exemplifying some of the stages. 

 Among French courtiers in the sixteenth century it was common to 

 say, " I am your servant and the perpetual slave of your house ; " and 

 among ourselves in past times there were used such indirect expressions 

 of servitude as " Yours to command," " Ever at your worship's dis- 

 posing," " In all serviceable humbleness," etc. While in our days, 

 rarely made orally save in irony, such forms have left only their written 

 representatives " Your obedient servant," " Your humble servant : " 

 mostly reserved for occasions when distance is to be maintained, and 

 for this reason often having inverted meanings. 



That for religious purposes the same propitiatory words are used, is 

 a familiar truth. In Hebrew history men are described as servants of 

 God, just as they are described as servants of the king. Neighboring 

 peoples are said to serve their respective deities just as slaves are said 

 to serve their masters. And there are sundry cases in which these rela- 

 tions to the visible ruler and to the invisible ruler are expressed in par- 



