CHAP. XXXVII.] SCARCITY OF SERVANTS. 227 



both in mineral appearance, and in most of the species of imbed 

 ded fossil plants. 



About fifteen miles before we reached Greensburg, we saw, in 

 the extreme distance, the blue, faint, long, and unbroken line of 

 the most western ridge of the Alleghanies. 



Greensburg is a neat, compact town of about 1000 inhabit 

 ants. The houses are all of brick ; there is a court-house and five 

 churches, some Lutheran, others Calvinistic, the German language 

 being used in some, and the English in others. They publish 

 three newspapers. We took up our quarters at a comfortable old- 

 fashioned inn, where we were waited upon by the members of 

 the family, for the difficulty of hiring or retaining servants here, 

 seems to be extreme. One girl had left a lady, whose acquaint 

 ance we made, because, being a farmer s daughter, she was not 

 allowed to sit down at table with her mistress. The lady s sis 

 ter, who was accomplished, and conversed with us on many lit 

 erary subjects, was obliged to milk the cow for the whole sum 

 mer, though they were in easy circumstances, such was the 

 scarcity of &quot; help/ Fortunately for us, my wife and I had, by 

 this time, acquired the habit of waiting on ourselves in the inns, 

 going occasionally down to the kitchen to ask for things, in a way 

 which in England would be thought quite derogatory to one s 

 dignity, especially in the eyes of the servants, whose trouble would 

 thereby be lessened. Here, on the contrary, we found that it 

 made us popular. The general system in America that servants 

 at inns receive no gratuities, but are paid ample wages instead, 

 is one cause of this difference. Yet much may be said in its 

 favor, as it raises the independence of the servants, and relieves 

 strangers from the perplexity of determining what fees are suit 

 able. 



There was a crowded public meeting the day of our arrival, 

 at which several orators were haranguing an audience of the 

 lowest class, in favor of war with England about Oregon. The 

 walls were placarded with bills, on which were printed, in large 

 letters, these words, &quot; Forty-Five, or Fight,&quot; which meant that 

 the Oregon Territory must extend as far north as the 45th degree 

 of latitude. 



