MANNERS. 79 



softened — and the links which connect the chain 

 of Imman society are strengthened and brightened 



Much of the happy state of this great communi- 

 ty may be justly imputed to the influence of the 

 female character. A late traveller says that the 

 United States are governed by an oligarchy of 

 Gazette editors. In no country are the former 

 held in higher respect, and I intend no ofience 

 when I contradict this assertion and say that a 

 gynecocracy prevails : Go into the most common 

 farm house, and converse with the sons and daugh- 

 ters of the family, and you will find something 

 that pleases in the manner of the latter, while the 

 former frequently require the ascendancy of an 

 Iphigenia to polish the bluntness of their de- 

 meanor. 



I frequently spend whole days in traversing on 

 foot this beautiful country, chequered with enclo- 

 sures — crowned with trees — filled with houses — - 

 teeming with vegetation, and smiling with plenty ? 

 and when I reach the hi^h hills of Bloomfield, I 

 appear to breathe a balirtier air, to behold a sere- 

 ner sky, and enjoy a brighter sun. But in my 

 peregrinations I never lose sight of man — I look 

 at him in all his varieties and aspects — in his insu- 

 lations and in his associations. The women of 

 this country, after performing the labors of the 

 day. amuse themselves in the afternoon by giving 



