"BEES" 211 



of need enmity is forgotten; and no man's crops or 

 cattle are left to be lost because his neighbours are not 

 on good terms with him. 



These offers of services are sometimes rather embar- 

 rassing to an Englishman. For instance, I rented a 

 small house for a few months in Ohio State, and pro- 

 ceeded to "do for" myself in true bachelor fashion. 

 One night, some hours after darkness had set in, there 

 came a gentle knock at the door. I should mention 

 that, quite contrary to the custom of the land, I had 

 put a lock on my door, and kept it fastened, as I did 

 not approve of the continual intrusion of my neighbours. 

 This subjected me to a great deal of chaff and some 

 sarcasm. 



Well, I opened the door, and there stood a bevy 

 of five buxom lasses, the daughters of my neighbours. 

 Without ceremony they entered, mentioned that they 

 had come to set me straight, did my household work, 

 took charge of my linen to wash — and in a word, did 

 all that a troop of sisters might, or could, have done. 

 The kindness of this will be better understood when it is 

 considered that these girls had already done a long day's 

 work on their own homesteads, and had come to help me 

 at a time when they must have been tired and needed 

 rest ; for women on American farms do work to which 

 they ought not to be subjected, and which, though often 

 performed by countrywomen in my native land, is gene- 

 rally considered, and rightly, to be man's work. 



The lock very soon came off my door that these 

 dear creatures might come in and out at their pleasure, 

 and do the work at their convenience. No American 

 girl hesitates to enter the house of a bachelor; even 

 women of a superior station will call alone on a 

 gentleman at his hotel or house. No American man 

 would misunderstand a custom so at variance with our 

 ideas of propriety, and no American would dream of 

 attempting to take an advantage of it. In the whole of 



