For this purpose, God has given her qualities that
attract sympathy and engender love. She is so constituted as to impart
a charm to your lives, to share in your labors, to soothe you when you
are ruffled, to smooth your pillow when you are in pain, and to
cherish you in old age; bestowing upon you, to your last hour, cares
that no other love could yield. These, gentlemen, are the duties and
occupations of women; and you must admit, that if it is not our
province to command armies, or to add new planets to the galaxy of the
firmament; that if we have not produced an Iliad or an AEnead, a
Jerusalem Delivered, or a Paradise Lost, an Oratorio of the Creation,
a Transfiguration, or a Laocoon, we have not the less our modest
utility."
"I should think so, mother," replied Jack; "it would take no end of
philosophers to do the work of one of you."
"It surprises me," said Willis, "that not one of you has selected the
finest profession in the world--that of a sailor."
"The finest profession of the sea, you mean, Willis. There is no doubt
of its being the finest that can be exercised on the ocean, since it
is the only one. If it is the best, Willis, it is also the worst."
"It has also produced great men," continued Willis; "there are
Columbus, Vasco de Gama, and Captain Cook, to whom you are indebted
for a new world.
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