1826.] Letters from the United States of North America. 7 



you major — give us another glass o' toddy ; I say, you caw'nel, that's 

 your sort, now ; you don't think I'm gw'-y-in to pay that ere bill, now, 

 do you ? — You'll find yourself mistaken, 1 guess, if you do, that's all." 

 From what I have said, you will perceive that such titles are neither 

 titles by right nor titles by courtesy ; and as for titles by law, they 

 are out of the question, of course, among such downright, straight- 

 forward, orthodox republicans ; who, after unhorsing their courtly 

 patrician riders, with at least a shadow of right, if nothing more, to 

 keep them in the saddle, have permitted a mob of plebeian rough- 

 riders, without so much as a shadow of right or a shadow of law,* to 

 ride them whithersoever they will, under the shaj)e of esquires and 

 excellencies, honours, and so forths. But if they- are neither titles 

 by courtesy, nor titles by right, nor titles by law — what kind of titles 

 are they ? Titles of whim, I should say ; titles of rough good- 

 fellowship. 



To go back — not only are the words master and servants avoided 

 with especial care by the very multitude of this country, but no other 

 words are adopted in their stead to express that relationship which is 

 understood by a contract between two parties, one of wliich -pays, 

 and the other works, or serves ; or between two parties, one of which 

 is wealthy, and the other destitute, or nearly so — nay, the relationship 

 itself, that which has generated the correlatives master and servant, 

 is literally unknown through a large part of these United States of 

 America ; and where the relationship itself exists, nobody ever thinks 

 of calling this parly a servant or the other party a master, except, 

 indeed, in a legal way, or where people are talking before third parties' 

 about the difficulty of getting good servants, or the cruelty of this 

 or that master to his apprentice or slave. In a word, no man here will 

 permit you to call him a servant, or the individual who keeps him or 

 employs him his master ; and the women are like the men ; they 

 acknowledge nobody for a master, nobody for a mistress. All their 

 contracts are made on a footing of perfect equality ; and, of course, 

 neither feels any sort of obligation towards the other, save such as might 

 be expected from any two people who have made a bargain together. 

 In a word, the United States of North America, all things considered, 

 are among the last places on earth for a man to go to, with a hope of 

 obtaining what you would call a good servant. Faithful enough they 

 are, and steady enough ; but there is no such thing as keeping a 

 native American, pay what you will, beyond a few weeks, or a few 

 months ; and I do not believe that, if j^ou were to traverse the whole 

 country, from north to south and from east to west, you would find 

 fifty native white Americans who have occupied the same place for 

 twenty years — I care not how that place may be called, if it appertain 

 to household affairs, or, I might say, to any- affairs approachmg the 

 duties of menial servitude. 



A servant, male or female, who has either grown old in service, or 

 lived under one roof a whole generation, is hardly ever to be met with 

 in this country. I speak not of the English, who are very good ser- 

 vants ; nor of the Germans, who are capital for drudgery ; nor of the 

 Irish, who are ready to work themselves to death for joy, if they once 

 get a footing here, and are seldom good for any thing else — but I speak 



* It were well to make the distinction. 



