CHAP. IX.] STYLE OF LIVING. SERVANTS. 125 



persons of corresponding income, and the want of an equipage, 

 impart to their mode of life an appearance of simplicity which 

 is perhaps more the result of necessity than of deference to a 

 republican theory of equalitjjj For to keep servants here for 

 mere show, would not only be thought absurd, but would be a 

 great sacrifice of comfort. To obtain a few efficient ones at any 

 price, and to put up with many inconveniences rather than part 

 with them allowing them to continue in service after marriage, 

 is the practice of not a few of the richest people, who often keep 

 no more than four domestics where there would be at least nine 

 in London.^ In consequence of this state of things, the ladies are 

 more independent of being waited on than those of similar fortune 

 in England ; but we are sometimes amused when we hear them 

 express envy of the superior advantages enjoyed in Europe, for 

 they are under the delusion of supposing that large establish 

 ments give no trouble in &quot; the old country.&quot; There are, indeed, 

 crowds of poor emigrants here, especially from Ireland, eager for 

 employment ; but for the most part so coarse, ignorant, and dirty 

 in their habits, that they can not gain admittance into genteel 

 houses. No mistress here ventures to interfere with the dress of 

 a servant maid, and girls wait at table with braided hair, which 

 is certainly more becoming to them when young, and are never 

 required to conceal with a cap their neatly arranged locks, 

 according to the costume approved of by English disciplinarians. 

 When raising the dust at their work, in sweeping the floors, 

 they cover the head with a handkerchief. The New England 

 servants are generally provident, for, besides the intelligence they 

 derive from their early school education, they have a reasonable 

 hope of bettering their condition, are well paid, and not kept &amp;gt;,,- 

 down in the world by a number of poor relations. 



(Many of the wealthiest families keep no carriage, for, as I 

 before said, no one affects to live in style, and the trouble of 

 engaging a good coachman and groom would be considerable, 

 and also because the distances in Boston are small, and the 

 facilities of traveling by railway into the country in all directions 

 very great. But there are many livery stables, where excellent 

 carriages and horses are to be hired with well-dressed drivers. 



