e different interests; one of which was
that indispensable body, the hotel-waiters. The negroes even joined with
the whites, and they gained their point; they knew the true theory of
strikes, and made their move "when the market was rising." The hotels
were increasing their charges, and they merely wanted their share of the
prosperity.

I now propose to consider one of the brightest features in the national
character--Intelligence. Irresistible testimony is borne to their
appreciation of the value of education, not merely by the multitudes of
schools of all kinds, and by the numbers that attend them, but also by
that arrangement of which they may be so justly proud, and which opens
the door to every branch of study to their poorest citizens free of
expense. No praise is too high for such a noble national institution as
the school system of the Republic. How far it may be advisable to bring
all the various classes of the community together at that early age when
habits which affect after-life are so readily acquired, is another
question. Though the roughness of the many may derive advantage from
contact with the polish of the few, it appears to me more than probable
that the polish of the few will be influenced far more considerably by
the roughness of the many. I cannot, therefore, but imagine that the
universal admixture of all classes of society in early infancy must
operate prejudicially to that advancement in the refinements of
civilization which tends to give a superior tone to the society of every
country. It must not, however, be imagined that the intelligence
obtained at these schools is confined to those subjects which are
requisite for making dollars and cents. People of this country, judging
of the Republicans by the general accounts given of them through the
Press, can have little idea of the extent to which the old standard
works of the mother-country are read; but there is an intelligent
portion of our own nation to be found among the booksellers, who can
enlighten them on this point. I have been told by several of them, not
only that old editions of our best authors are rapidly being bought up
by citizens of the United States, but that in making their purchases
they exhibit an intimate acquaintance with them far greater than they
find generally among Englishmen, and which proves how thoroughly they
are appreciated by them.

Then again, with reference to their own country; it is impossible for
any one to