Page:The American Democrat, James Fenimore Cooper, 1838.djvu/96

90 It is a misfortune of America to admit so many of the dogmas of the country from which she is derived, while living in a state of society so very different. An attempt to treat and consider a domestic, as domestics are treated and considered in England, is unwise, and, in fact, impracticable. The English servant fares worse, in many particulars, than the servant of almost every other nation. France would be a better and a safer model, in this particular, the masters of France being usually much milder and more considerate than those of England, while the servants are altogether superior. The French servant is not as cleanly and thorough in his work, as the English servant, a difference in the habits of the country forbidding it; but he is generally more attached, better informed, more agreeable as a companion, quite as serviceable, the exception mentioned apart, and more faithful, honest and prudent. This is true of both sexes; the female domestics of France, while less tidy in household work than those of England or America, being altogether superior to both, in moral qualities, tastes, general usefulness and knowledge.

A beautiful instance of the effect of the duties of social station is before the eyes of the writer, even while he pens this paragraph; that of an aged woman, who passed her youth in the service of one family, ministering to the wants of three generations, and is now receiving the gratitude which long and patient toil has earned. On the one side is affection, delicacy, and attention to the wants of age; on the other a love little short of that of a mother's, softened by the respect that has always marked the life of one in whom a sense of the duties of social station has never been weakened. Nothing still makes this venerable servant more happy, than to be employed for those whom she has seen ushered into life, whom she first fondled on the knee,