The fewness and dearness of servants made it necessary to call
in temporary assistance for extraordinary occasions, and hence arose the
common use of the word _help_. As the great majority kept no servants at
all, and yet were liable to need them for work to which the family did
not suffice, as, for instance, in harvest, the use of the word was
naturally extended to all kinds of service. That it did not have its
origin in any false shame at the condition itself, induced by democratic
habits, is plain from the fact that it came into use while the word
_servant_ had a much wider application than now, and certainly implied no
social stigma. Downing and Hooke, each at different times, one of them so
late as 1667, wished to place a son as "servant" with one of the
Winthrops. Roger Williams writes of his daughter, that "she desires to
spend some time in service & liked much Mrs Brenton, who wanted." This
was, no doubt, in order to be well drilled in housekeeping, an example
which might be followed still to advantage. John Tinker, himself the
"servant" or steward of the second Winthrop, makes use of _help_ in both
the senses we have mentioned, and shows the transition of the word from
its restricted to its more general application.
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