It requires much patience and no small degree of skill to take a girl from another country, whose whole life and associations have been entirely different from our own, and bring her into a new life by teaching her to forget all her early habits and modes of working. It is a great and uncommon gift to be able to do this with patient kindness, and yet with such authority as insures obedience. Success in such an undertaking is a blessing both to the teacher and the pupil. Now and then we find one who, under such teaching and benevolent guidance, has fully repaid all the thought and care which has been bestowed upon her, and who, by her fidelity and unwearied energy, has won the love and grateful appreciation of all, and is looked upon as the good angel of the family. But we regret to say such characters are rare; and though, in some instances, the impatience and irritability of the mistress may repress much of good which, under better auspices, might have been developed, yet we do not believe as a general rule that the chief blame should rest with the mistress. Not one in a hundred--and that we fear is a high proportion--of all the Irish that come to our country can, by any amount of care, patience, or indefatigable teaching, be transformed into a neat, energetic, faithful, truth-telling servant; and as for gratitude, once in a while you may find one who remembers your faithful teaching, your kindness and care in times of sickness or trouble, who cannot be turned from her fidelity and attachment to you; but for the most part all this vanishes like the morning dew, at the first chance for easier work or higher wages. The English and Scotch, as far as our observation goes, are more inclined to make their employers’ interest their own. They labor as faithfully, and watch with an eye to economy quite as earnestly, when left in charge alone, as when the master and mistress are near them. Of course there are exceptions to every rule; and we speak more from our own experience than from what others say. The Swiss and Swedes are usually smart and capable; but their inability to understand our language when they first come to us, makes their instruction difficult and tedious, unless the mistress is well versed in foreign languages. A good Welsh girl is one of the best,--usually neat, active, and quick to learn; and as the pastors of the Welsh churches hold it a part of their duty to exercise careful supervision over those under their charge, that acts as a great safeguard.