White servants, whom very few people had, were very expensive here; but there was a mode of meliorating things. Poor people, who came adventurers from other countries, and found a settlement a slower process than they were aware of, had got into a mode of apprenticing their children. No risk attended this in Albany; custom is all-powerful; and lenity to servants was so much the custom, that to ill-use a defenceless creature in your power was reckoned infamous, and was, indeed, unheard of. Aunt recommended the young Coonies, who were fine, well looking children, for apprentices to some of the best families in town, where they were well bred and well treated, and we all contributed decent clothing for them to go home in. I deeply felt this obligation, and little thought how soon I was to be deprived of all the happiness I owed to the friendship of my dear benefactress. This accession occupied and pleased me exceedingly; my attachment to the little boy grew hourly, and I indulged it to a degree I certainly would not have done, if I had not set him down for one of the future inhabitants of Clarendon; that region of fancied felicity, where I was building log-houses in the air perpetually, and filling them with an imaginary population, innocent and intelligent beyond all comparison. These visions, however, were soon destined to give way to sad realities. The greatest immediate tribulation I was liable to, was Patrick’s coming home, now and then, gay beyond his wonted gaiety; which grieved me both on Kate’s account and that of little Paddy. But in the fertile plains of Clarendon, remedies were to be found for every passing evil; and I had not the least doubt of having influence enough to prevent the admission of spirituous liquors into that “region of calm delights.” Such were the dreams from which I was awakened, (on returning from a long visit to aunt,) by my father’s avowing his fixed intention to return home. A very worthy Argyleshire friend of his, in the mean time, came and paid him a visit of a month, which month was occupied in the most endearing recollections of Lochawside, and the hills of Morven. When I returned, I heard of nothing but the alpine scenes of Scotland, of which I had not the smallest recollection, but which I loved with borrowed enthusiasm; so well, that they at times balanced with Clarendon. My next source of comfort was, that I was to return to the land of light and freedom, and mingle, as I flattered myself I should, with such as those whom I had admired in their immortal works. Determined to be happy, with the sanguine eagerness of youth, the very opposite materials served for constructing another ideal fabric. ------- CHAP. LX. Mrs. Schuyler’s View of Continental Politics.