among whom a pernicious inherited necessity for the
indulgence is one of its consequences; while another, and more
lamentable one, is the wide-spread immorality, to remedy (and if
possible prevent) which is the object of the institution of the
Girls' Friendly Society, and similar benevolent
associations--none of which I am persuaded will effectually
fulfill their object, until the vicious propensity to drink
ceases to be fostered in the kitchens and servants' halls of our
most respectable people.

To English people, the character and quality of my "mowers" would
seem astonishing enough; at the head of them was the son of a much
respected New England judge, himself the owner of a beautiful farm
adjoining my small estate, which he cultivated with his own hands--a
most amiable, intelligent, and refined man, a gentleman in the
deepest sense of the word, my very kind neighbor and friend, whose
handsome countenance certainly expressed unbounded astonishment at
my malt liquor theory applied to his labor and that of his
assistants.]

PHILADELPHIA, November 27th, 1837.
MY DEAR H----,

If in about a month's time you should grumble and fall out with me for
not writing, you will certainly be in some degree justified; for I think
it must be near upon three weeks since I wrote to you, which is a sin
and a shame. To say that I have not had time to write is nonsense, for
in three weeks there are too many days, hours, and minutes, for me to
fancy that I _really_ had not had sufficient leisure, yet it has almost
seemed as if I had not. I have been constantly driving out to the farm,
to watch the progress of the painting, whitewashing, etc., etc.: in town
I have been engaging servants, ordering china, glass, and furniture,
choosing carpets, curtains, and house linen, and devoutly studying all
the time Dr. Kitchener's "Housekeeper's Manual and Cook's Oracle." You
see, I have been careful and troubled about many things, and through
them all you have been several thorns in both my sides; for I thought of
you perpetually, and knew I ought to write to you, and wanted and wished
to do so--and didn't; for which pray forgive me.

I want to tell you two circumstances about servants, illustrative of the
mind and manners of that class of persons in this country. A young woman
engaged herself to me, as lady's