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The Old World and the New , 601
Untitled Article
reformers ; " but the " unco guid" have different ways in different countries- Grace before hot brandy and water , seemed as strange to the traveller as would grace before a play ; but his host would probably perceive a wonderful difference . For the astonishment expressed in the following passages we were not altogether prepared . We have heard of women being employed as compositors in printing-offices in some of the States . " Have I spoken of women , working in the fields ? Not in Ireland , nor in Wales only , but in Scotland and in England , this is constantly seen : not in harvest only—but they hoe , and dig , and delve , in all fields
and at all seasons—sometimes four , five , ten—nay , twenty I have seen in a field . It must tend to give them , a rough and coarse character ; to their persons it certainly does /'—Vol . i . p . 119 . " By-the-by , one of the peculiarities here is , that women do > a thousand
things that men do with us . They not only tend shop , but butchers ' - stalls , bar-rooms , and offices of the stage-coach in the capacity of agents ; they are often guides to waterfalls and other spots which are visited : and nearly half of the people that I see in the streets of the villages and towns , are women /'—Vol . i . p . 129 , 130 .
" On the road to Oxford I saw for the first time , in travelling more than a thousand miles , wooden fences ; in this country they are always stone , or turf , or hedges . Neither have I seen a shingle in the kingdom ; but always slate , tiles , stone , or thatch . Multitudes of women are to be seen every where , gleaning the harvest fields—sometimes fifty , seventy , in a field . They pick up what remains after the reaper , straw by straw , till they get a large bundle , and then carry it home on their heads . The harvests consist of wheat , barley , and oats . No Indian corn is grown here /'—p . 145 , 146 .
There is something rather startling' in the notion of American sickliness of appearance which is indicated in the author ' s astonishment at English robustness . The subject leads him to speculate on causes and influences through several pages . " This subject drew my attention on landing in England , and has impressed me at every step . We have nothing among us like the aspect of health that prevails here— -the solid , substantial , rotund , rubicund appearance of all classes . We arc , in comparison , a thin , delicate , pale-faced people . We are , I am sometimes tempted to say , a nation of invalids in the comparison . The contrast is great and striking between the labouring classes of the two countries ; but it is yet greater and more remarkable between the women , merchants , and men of study . 1 could scarcely have believed in the difference if 1 had not seen it . "—Vol . i . p . 148 .
Climate , the mental excitement of politics and controversy , the anxiety of immense competition , rapid dining , modes of dress and absence of exercise amongst the women , are the principal causes assigned by the writer , and probably , in different degrees , the true ones . In a few , and but a very few instances , the author has been misled , as the most intelligent are liable to be , during a temporary sojourn
