Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/299

289 a record of it, to which recourſe may be had, in caſe of failure by the matter in any point of performance. This deſire among the matters to have more hands employed in working for them, induces them to pay the paſſages of young perſons, of both ſexes, who, on their arrival, agree to ſerve them one, two, three, or four years; thoſe who have already learned a trade, agreeing for a ſhorter term, in proportion to their ſkill, and the conſequent immediate value of their ſervice; and thoſe who have none, agreeing for a longer term, in conſideration of being taught an art their poverty would not permit them to acquire in their own country.

The almoſt general mediocrity of fortune that prevails in America, obliging its people to follow ſome buſineſs for ſubſiſtence, thoſe vices that ariſe uſually from idleneſs, are in a great meaſure prevented. Induſtry and conſtant employment are great preſervatives of the morals and virtue of a nation. Hence bad examples to youth are more rare in America, which muſt be a comfortable conſideration to parents. To this may be truly added, that ſerious religion, under its various denominations, is not only tolerated, but reſpected and practiſed. Atheiſm is unknown there; infidelity rare and ſecret; ſo that perſons may live to a great age in that country without having their piety ſhocked by meeting with either an atheiſt or an infidel. And the Divine Being ſeems to have manifeſted his approbation of the mutual forbearance and kindneſs with which the different feels treat each other, by the remarkable proſperity with which he has been pleaſed to favour the whole country.