Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/368

 be put upon your plate, so that in the end you find yourself quite overcome by the pickle persecution.

Thus goes on the meal; one incessant bustle of serving, which takes from you all enjoyment of the food. I have at last a regular palpitation of the heart from disquiet and impatience; but that is in great measure my own fault—the fault of my weakness, though something must be allowed to the fault of the custom here, which is not quite in harmony with the higher pleasures of social intercourse. This custom however did not originate in this country. It belongs to England, and must be put down to the account of England. Our mode of taking our meals and our customs at table are more like those of France; and for this I commend us. In one particular, however, it seems to me that the homes of the new world excel those of all other countries, excepting of England, with which they have a close connection, and that is in cleanliness. Our very best homes in Sweden are in this respect seldom so admirable as is usually the case here. For all here is kept neat and clean, from the bed-rooms to the kitchen, and the servants have the same smartness and neatness of attire, the same suavity of manner as the lady and daughters of the house. An American house and home is in many respects the ideal of a home, if I except the apparatus for warming their houses in the Northern States. Everything is to be found there which can make existence fresh, and comfortable, and agreeable, from the bath-room to the little garden, in the town as well as in the country, with its trees, even if they be but few, its beautiful grass-plot and plants, which are frequently trained on trellises on the walls, whence their flowers, wafted by the wind, diffuse their fragrance through the windows. And if here the mistress of the house, especially in the south, has lighter domestic cares than our ladies, as regards housekeeping (for fresh meat and vegetables may be had every day at all seasons in