They no sooner set foot upon the Canadian shores then they become possessed with this ultra-republican spirit.  All respect for their employers, all subordination, is at an end; the very air of Canada severs the tie of mutual obligation which bound you together.  They fancy themselves not only equal to you in rank, but that ignorance and vulgarity give them superior claims to notice.  They demand in terms the highest wages, and grumble at doing half the work, in return, which they cheerfully performed at home.  They demand to eat at your table, and to sit in your company; and if you refuse to listen to their dishonest and extravagant claims, they tell you that “they are free; that no contract signed in the old country is binding in ‘Meriky’; that you may look out for another person to fill their place as soon as you like; and that you may get the money expended in their passage and outfit in the best manner you can.”

I was unfortunately persuaded to take out a woman with me as a nurse for my child during the voyage, as I was in very poor health; and her conduct, and the trouble and expense she occasioned, were a perfect illustration of what I have described.

When we consider the different position in which servants are placed in the old and new world, this conduct, ungrateful as it then appeared to me, ought not to create the least surprise.  In Britain, for instance, they are too often dependent upon the caprice of their employers for bread.  Their wages are low; their moral condition still lower.  They are brought up in the most servile fear of the higher classes, and they feel most keenly their hopeless degradation, for no effort on their part can better their condition.  They know that if once they get a bad character, they must starve or steal; and to this conviction we are indebted for a great deal of their seeming fidelity and long and laborious service in our families, which we owe less to any moral perception on their part of the superior kindness or excellence of their employers, than to the mere feeling of assurance, that as long as they do their work well, and are cheerful and obedient, they will be punctually paid their wages, and well housed and fed.

Happy is it for them and their masters when even this selfish bond of union exists between them!

But in Canada the state of things in this respect is wholly reversed.  The serving class, comparatively speaking, is small, and admits of little competition.  Servants that understand the work of the country are not easily procured, and such always can command the highest wages.  The possession of a good servant is such an addition to comfort, that they are persons of no small consequence, for the dread of starving no longer frightens them into servile obedience.  They can live without you, and they well know that you cannot do without them.  If you attempt to practise upon them that common vice of English mistresses, to scold them for any slight omission or offence,