Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/369

 this country, where the year may be reckoned by summers, not by winters, as with us, and which compels us to dry and salt and lay in stores during the living portion of the year, in preparation for the dead), yet has she much to look after and to provide for, so that house and home may be supplied with, not merely the material things, but with those that shall beautify it, and this more especially in the Southern States where all the domestics are of the negro race, which is by nature careless and deficient in neatness. I admire what I saw of the southern ladies and mistresses of families. The young girls, on the contrary, I should like to see a little more active in the house, and more helpful to their mothers in various ways. But it is not the custom; and the parents, from mistaken kindness, seem not to wish their daughters to do anything except amuse themselves, and enjoy liberty and life as much as possible. I believe that they would be happier if they made themselves more useful. The family relationship between parents and children seems to me particularly beautiful, especially as regards the parents towards the children. The beautiful, maternal instinct is inborn in the American women, at least in all its fervent, heart-felt sentiment; and better, more affectionate, family-fathers than the men of America I have seen nowhere in the world. They have in particular a charming weakness for—daughters. And God bless them for it! I hope the daughters may know how to return it with interest.

Now must I bid mamma adieu, as I am going out with the family here to visit some ancient Indian graves; Indian mounds as they are called. They are a sort of barrows, now overgrown with trees, and are the sole memorials which remain here of the original inhabitants of the country, with the exception of the names which they gave to rivers and mountains, and which, for the most part, are still retained. These names are symbolic,