"
Esther looked abashed, and did not attempt to say anything farther.
"Now, look here, Ellen," said Mr. Walters. (He called her Ellen, for he had
been long intimate with the family.) "If you can't get on without the boy's
earning something, why don't you do as white women and men do? Do you ever
find them sending their boys out as servants? No; they rather give them a
stock of matches, blacking, newspapers, or apples, and start them out to
sell them. What is the result? The boy that learns to sell matches soon
learns to sell other things; he learns to make bargains; he becomes a small
trader, then a merchant, then a millionaire. Did you ever hear of any one
who had made a fortune at service? Where would I or Ellis have been had we
been hired out all our lives at so much a month? It begets a feeling of
dependence to place a boy in such a situation; and, rely upon it, if he
stays there long, it will spoil him for anything better all his days."
Mrs. Ellis was here compelled to add, by way of justifying herself, that it
was not their intention to let him remain there permanently; his father
only having given his consent for him to serve during the vacation.
"Well, don't let him stay there longer, I pray you," continued Walters. "A
great many white people think that we are only fit for servants, and I must
confess we do much to strengthen the opinion by permitting our children to
occupy such situations when we are not in circumstances to compel us to do
so.
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