40 THE GARDEN OF A 



whose mother owns "rale" estate, feels above the 

 usual rank and file of " livin'-out girls." 



The caste spirit among the American working 

 classes ? Most assuredly, quite as absurd and 

 strictly drawn as among their employers. Neither 

 are we as a family quite what we should be in this 

 housemaid's eyes, I gathered from a conversation 

 that took place between her and Martha Corkle, as 

 we belong to the working class, for do not both father 

 and Evan work for a living ? 



One learns much in two years of absence from 

 home and country, much that is not realized until the 

 return. Theoretically we are free and equal. In 

 reality we are often bondsmen and not to our real 

 or fancied superiors, but to our servants. Perhaps, 

 however, when we are better educated to command, 

 the fetters will be broken. 



One thing we must always lack, now that slave 

 days are past, and that is one of the great benefits of 

 ancestry the hereditary servitor. In the old coun- 

 tries, especially England, that is the inspiration as 

 well as the despair of those who have lived in one of 

 its home gardens and hope ever to equal it here on a 

 similar financial basis hereditary outdoor labour is 

 as honourable as any profession that descends from 

 father to son. The gardener has probably pottered 



