And I suppose you know verie well how wee shall maynteyne 20 Moores
cheaper than one Englishe servant." The doubt whether it be not sin in us
longer to tolerate their devil-worship, considering how much need we have
of them as merchandise, is delicious. The way in which Hugh Peter grades
the sharp descent from the apostolic to the practical with an _et
cetera_, in the following extract, has the same charm: "Sir, Mr Endecot &
myself salute you in the Lord Jesus &c. Wee have heard of a dividence of
women & children in the bay & would bee glad of a share viz: a young
woman or girle & a boy if you thinke good." Peter seems to have got what
he asked for, and to have been worse off than before; for we find him
writing two years later: "My wife desires my daughter to send to Hanna
that was her mayd, now at Charltowne, to know if shee would dwell with
us, for truly wee are so destitute (having now but an Indian) that wee
know not what to doe." Let any housewife of our day, who does not find
the Keltic element in domestic life so refreshing as to Mr. Arnold in
literature, imagine a household with one wild Pequot woman, communicated
with by signs, for its maid of all work, and take courage. Those were
serious times indeed, when your cook might give warning by taking your
scalp, or _chignon_, as the case might be, and making off with it into
the woods.
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