318 



RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. 



of substantial food with a plentiful allowance of 

 the delicacies of the season. During dinner, 

 brandy, or rum and water is the usual beverage, 

 few take wine unless they are entertaining a 

 friend. After dinner two or three may linger 

 in the room smoking a segar, but it is by no 

 means customary. The Americans spend 

 little time at table, seldom much more than a 

 quarter of an hour, retiring to their commer- 

 cial engagements, or reading the newspapers. 

 There are frequently many permanent boarders 

 at these houses, who generally take their seat 

 at the table before travellers : and it is a com- 

 mon custom, when young married people do 

 not live in the family of the bride's father, for 

 them to live in a boarding house, and not to 

 think of any other residence till their increasing 

 family makes a private establishment more 

 desirable. 



In the religious freedom of America, Jews 

 have all the privileges of Christians. The 

 Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and the Indepen- 

 dent meet on common ground. No religious 

 test is required to qualify for public office, as 

 a mere verbal assent to the truth of the Chris- 

 tian religion is in all cases satisfactory. As to 

 the probable continuance of the present system 

 in regard to the various civil and religious pri- 



