CLAY-KNEADING FEMALE HELPS. 121 



a poor sandy soil, of which the township of Darlington seems 

 to consist. 



On our journey we saw two oxen employed in walking- 

 round a pit, kneading clay for brick-making, which appeared 

 cruelty, and wasteful of animal labour, the poor animals walk 

 ing up to the bellies in mud, with erect tails and extended 

 tongues. The common mode of preparing clay being with a 

 tree drawn by a horse or ox round a pivot, the lopped branches 

 kneading the clay. An elm-tree, twenty feet in height, was 

 growing from the heart of one of rotten button-wood, ten feet 

 from the ground. A plantation of hops, in Whitby, was 

 luxuriant and healthy. 



On stepping out of the waggon at Bowmanville, we walked 

 over a farm which I had been requested to value for a friend, 

 and we sprung a woodcock in a W 7 heat-field, a bird that is 

 said to breed regularly in the district. Woodpeckers, robins, 

 and blackbirds, of the country, were devouring cherries so 

 greedily, that a gun was fired at them to little purpose every 

 five minutes. Two wrens were seen in Whitby * similar to 

 those of Britain. 



In the United States and Canada tea and coffee are not 

 prepared or poured out by travellers, but by the landlady or 

 a female help. In no part of the United States did a female 

 help, at a hotel, seat herself during meals ; and I observed the 

 practice only upon one occasion in a private house. The 

 maid-servant at Bowmanville seated herself during tea in a 

 corner of the room, and the like occurrence took place at 

 Newmarket during supper. In Britain servants stand while 

 assisting at table, and they also do so in Canada ; the differ 

 ence of attitude taking place when their services are not 

 required. For my own part, I would much rather see a young 

 waiting-maid seated, when not required, than standing per 

 haps painfully erect ; and, immany instances, when taking tea 

 or coffee, during my tour, I put it in the option of the helps to 

 leave the room, which they generally did. There seems no 

 general rule for attitude, as inferring respect. In some coun 

 tries attendants almost humble themselves in the dust in pre 

 sence of employers, and in others they are required to carry 

 themselves erect. 



