It
is singular that the _House-cricket_ should by some persons be considered
an unlucky, by others a lucky, inmate of the mansion: those who hold the
latter opinion consider its destruction the means of bringing misfortune
on their habitations. "In Dumfries-shire," says Sir William Jardine, "it
is a common superstition that if crickets forsake a house which they have
long inhabited, some evil will befal the family; generally the death of
some member is portended. In like manner the presence or return of this
cheerful little insect is lucky, and portends some good to the family."
(_To be continued_.)
* * * * *
NOTES OF A READER.
DOMESTIC LIFE IN AMERICA.
_Servants_.
The following sketch of what the Americans feel on this point, from Mrs.
Trollope's _Domestic Manners of the Americans_, is clever and amusing:--
"The greatest difficulty in organizing a family establishment in Ohio is
getting servants, or, as it is there called, 'getting help,' for it is
more than petty treason to the republic to call a free citizen a _servant_.
The whole class of young women, whose bread depends upon their labour, are
taught to believe that the most abject poverty is preferable to domestic
service.
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