ss notes down the
gifts, that she may return the same on a similar occasion. The donations
consist of silver, of gowns, of handkerchiefs, and other useful articles
for a young woman. These tributes of friendship are placed beside a silver
basin, which contains the annual wages of the servant; her relatives from
the country come, accompanied by music, carrying baskets covered with
ribbons and loaded with fruits, and other rural delicacies. They are
received by the master himself, who invites them to the feast, where the
company assemble, and particularly the ladies. All the presents are
reviewed. The servant introduced kneels to receive the benediction of her
mistress, whose grateful task is then to deliver a solemn enumeration of
her good qualities, concluding by announcing to the maiden that, having
been brought up in the house, if it be her choice to remain, from
henceforward she shall be considered as one of the family. Tears of
affection often fall during this beautiful scene of true domesticity,
which terminates with a ball for the servants, and another for the
superiors. The relatives of the maiden return homewards with their joyous
musicians; and, if the maiden prefers her old domestic abode, she receives
an increase of wages, and at a succeeding period of six years another
jubilee provides her second good fortune. Let me tell one more story of
the influence of this passion of domesticity in the servant;--its merit
equals its novelty. In that inglorious attack on Buenos Ayres, where our
brave soldiers were disgraced by a recreant general, the negroes, slaves
as they were, joined the inhabitants to expel the invaders. On this signal
occasion the city decreed a public expression of their gratitude to the
negroes, in a sort of triumph, and at the same time awarded the freedom of
eighty of their leaders. One of them, having shown his claims to the boon,
declared, that to obtain his freedom had all his days formed the proud
object of his wishes: his claim was indisputable; yet now, however, to the
amazement of the judges, he refused his proffered freedom! The reason he
alleged was a singular refinement of heartfelt sensibility:--"My kind
mistress," said the negro, "once wealthy, has fallen into misfortunes in
her infirm old age. I work to maintain her, and at intervals of leisure
she leans on my arm to take the evening air. I will not be tempted to
abandon her, and I renounce the hope of freedom that she may know she
po