to
run the risk of shaking their faith in all religion by pointing out to
them the errors of that in which they have been educated. The general
purity of life and propriety of demeanor of so many thousands of
undefended young girls cast yearly upon our shores, with no home but
their church, and no shield but their religion, are a sufficient proof
that this religion exerts an influence over them not to be lightly
trifled with. But there is a real unity even in opposite Christian
forms; and the Roman Catholic servant and the Protestant mistress, if
alike possessed by the spirit of Christ, and striving to conform to
the Golden Rule, cannot help being one in heart, though one go to mass
and the other to meeting.

Finally, the bitter baptism through which we are passing, the life
blood dearer than our own which is drenching distant fields, should
remind us of the preciousness of distinctive American ideas. They who
would seek in their foolish pride to establish the pomp of liveried
servants in America are doing that which is simply absurd. A servant
can never in our country be the mere appendage to another man, to be
marked like a sheep with the color of his owner; he must be a
fellow-citizen, with an established position of his own, free to make
contracts, free to come and go, and having in his sphere titles to
consideration and respect just as definite as those of any trade or
profession whatever.

Moreover, we cannot in this country maintain to any great extent large
retinues of servants. Even with ample fortunes they are forbidden by
the general character of society here, which makes them cumbrous and
difficult to manage. Every mistress of a family knows that her cares
increase with every additional servant. Two keep the peace with each
other and their employer; three begin a possible discord, which
possibility increases with four, and becomes certain with five or six.
Trained housekeepers, such as regulate the complicated establishments
of the Old World, form a class that are not, and from the nature of
the case never will be, found in any great numbers in this country.
All such women, as a general thing, are keeping, and prefer to keep,
houses of their own.

A moderate style of housekeeping, small, compact, and simple domestic
establishments, must necessarily be the general order of life in
America. So many openings of profit are to be found in this country
that domestic service necessarily wants the permanence wh