In every part of the country, our Traveller was struck with this strong line of demarcation between the sexes, which he ascribes of course to the democratic institutions of the country. The people are, he thinks, too busy with politics, to devote much of their time to the domestic fire-side; and the women cannot be made sufficiently to understand what is going on out of doors, to take a continued interest in what en grosses their husbands. Add to which, they have but little time for recreation, owing to "the increased household duties inevitably imposed upon the mistress of a family by the total want of good servants in America; an evil which no fortune can remedy. Good nurses, men servants, cooks, or any description of female attendants are rarely to be found; and if found, no money will bribe them to stay long in a house, or to behave respectfully when there." All over America, this Traveller admits, "the women are treated with much kindness by the men." He "never saw or heard of any rudeness, or had any reason to suspect that incivility towards females was ever practised, or would be tolerated, even in those parts of the country which have enjoyed the least advantages in the way of civilization and refinement." But this kindness and attention, he considers as quite compatible with "the absence of an habitual and mutual understanding between the sexes," such as should enable the women in America to exert that social influence and control which they exercise in "more fortunately arranged communities."

It is unfortunate, that an attempt to describe the manners and customs of this country, should involve

society, will probably be deemed not a very legitimate inference from the fact, that it does not accord with their notions of delicacy to attend cattle shows.

the perplexing task of correcting, at every step, the false impressions, or reconciling the opposite representations of prejudiced observers. The general fact is unquestionable, that, in the United States, the women associate less promiscuously with the other sex, and live more secluded, than in this country; but there is reason to believe, that their actual condition and substantial influence are very inaccurately estimated by this Traveller. At all events, the opposite view of the subject presented by a native writer, merits attention, even if it may be suspected of a partial colouring.

In

"To me, 99 says the Author of "Notions of the Americans," 39 66 woman appears to fill, in America, the very station for which she is designed by nature. the lowest conditions of life, she is treated with the tenderness and respect that is due to the beings whom we believe to be the repositories of the better principles of our nature. Retired within the sacred precincts of her own abode, she is preserved from the destroying taint of excessive intercourse with the world. She makes no bargains beyond those which supply her own little personal wants, and her heart is not early cor. rupted by the baneful and unfeminine vice of selfishness. She is often the friend and adviser of her husband, but never his chapman. She must be sought in the haunts of her domestic privacy, and not amid the wranglings, deceptions, and heart-burnings of keen and sordid traffic. So general is this fact, that I have remarked a vast proportion of that class who frequent the markets or vend trifles in the streets of New York, (occupations that are not unsuited to the feebleness of the sex,) are either foreigners or females descended from certain insulated colonies of the Dutch, which still retain many of the habits of their ancestors amid

the improvements that are throwing them among the I saw every forgotten usages of another century.*. where the utmost possible care to preserve the females from undue or unwomanly employments. If there was a burthen, it was in the arms or on the shoulders of the man. Even labours that seem properly to belong to the household, were often performed by the latter; and I never heard the voice of the wife calling on the husband for assistance, that it was not answered by a ready, manly, and cheerful compliance. The neatness of the cottage, the farm-house, and the inn; the clean, tidy, healthful, and vigorous look of the children; What united to attest the usefulness of the system. renders all this more striking is the circumstance, that not only is labour in so great demand, but, contrary to the state of things in all the rest of Christendom, the women materially exceed the men in numbers. This seeming departure from what is almost an established law of nature, is owing to the emigration westward." †

As regards the social influence of women, there is no reason to believe that it is not as great in America as in England. But there exists, no doubt, a con

"The employments of the women of New England are wholly domestic. The business which is abroad, is all performed by men, even in the humblest spheres of life."-Dwight, vol. i. p. 460.

+ Cooper's Notions, vol. i. pp. 140-142.-From the census of 1820, there appears to have been at that time in New England, rather more than thirteen females to twelve males above the age of sixteen.

Captain B. Hall's authority as an observer in such a case, the Edinburgh Reviewers remark, "is considerably shaken by what seems to us an extravagant exaggeration of the kind of influence exercised by the sex in England; when he announces the existence there of a necessity that all Englishmen, especially the highly gifted and ambitious, should carry with them the sympathy of the female portion of the class to which they belong."" In fact, our Traveller's observations on this subject, partake more of the gal

siderable difference in their habits and in public manners. The American women are characterized generally by a greater degree of reserve and coldness of manner, than even is imputed by foreigners to the English.The language of gallantry, Mr. Cooper says, is never tolerated.. "A married woman would consider it as an insult, and a girl would be apt to laugh in her adorer's face." The married women are rarely seen foremost in the scenes of gayety; but, between young persons of both sexes, great frankness of intercourse is permitted, without the least danger of its running into impropriety. Describing the ladies of New York, a French writer says: "The women follow here in their dress the French fashions, but are entirely American in their manners; that is to say, they devote almost their whole existence to the management of their families and the education of their children. They live in general very retired; and although the greater number of them are able to furnish the resources of an agreeable and lively conversation, they nevertheless occupy but little room in assemblies, where the young girls alone seem to have the right to reign. The latter, it is true, derive from nature and education, all the means of pleasing. The unlimited liberty which they enjoy without ever abusing it, imparts to their manners a grace, a freedom, and a modest carelessness which are not always found in our saloons, where, under the name of reserve, we impose on our young girls so irksome a formality. If the American wives are remarkable for their strict fidelity to the conjugal ties, the young women are not less so for their constancy to their engagements."*

lantry of the sailor, than of the refinement of true breeding; and much that he predicates of England, is true only of certain parts of it and certain classes.

* La Fayette en Amérique, tom. 1. p. 259.

It is probable that the austere principles of the Puritan emigrants, may have left some traces of their influence in the graver manners of the New Englanders. In other parts of the United States, women attend races, balls, and "fourth of July celebrations," without any restriction. The sedentary habits of the women of New England, are adverted to by Dr. Dwight as unfavourable to their health and personal appearance. These are attributable, however, to neither puritanism nor democracy, but "seem to be considered as intimately connected with the gentility of the female character." Walking, he says, is very little practised, and riding on horseback is "almost out of the question." This neglect of sufficient exercise, is adduced as one cause why the American women lose their beauty and the brilliancy of youth at an earlier period than the English.* The climate has probably some share in producing this result. But above all, the early age at which marriages almost universally take place, must be considered as having a material influence, both physical and moral, on the health, habits, and manners of the women.

"The manners of the American women strike me," says a female Writer, "as peculiarly marked by sweetness, artlessness, and liveliness. There is about them, at least in my eyes, a certain untaught grace and gayety of the heart, equally removed from the studied English coldness and indifference, and the not less studied French vivacity and mannerism. They enter very early into society; far too early, indeed, to be consistent with a becoming attention to the cultivation of their minds. I am, however, acquainted with striking exceptions to this general practice. The society collected in large evening assemblies, is almost

* Dwight, vol. iv. p. 462.