The country must be
humbugged, in order to keep its courage up.
Sentiment seems to me more abundant in middle-aged ladies in England than
in the United States. I don't know how it may be with young ladies.
The shipmasters bear testimony to the singular delicacy of common sailors
in their behavior in the presence of women; and they say that this good
trait is still strongly observable even in the present race of seamen,
greatly deteriorated as it is. On shipboard, there is never an
indecorous word or unseemly act said or done by sailors when a woman can
be cognizant of it; and their deportment in this respect differs greatly
from that of landsmen of similar position in society. This is
remarkable, considering that a sailor's female acquaintances are usually
and exclusively of the worst kind, and that his intercourse with them has
no relation whatever to morality or decency. For this very reason, I
suppose, he regards a modest woman as a creature divine and to be
reverenced.
January 16th.---I have suffered wofully from low spirits for some time
past; and this has not often been the case since I grew to be a man, even
in the least auspicious periods of my life. My desolate bachelor
condition, I suppose, is the cause. Really, I have no pleasure in
anything, and I feel my tread to be heavier, and my physical movement
more sluggish, than in happier times. A weight is always upon me. My
appetite is not good. I sleep ill, lying awake till late at night, to
think sad thoughts and to imagine sombre things, and awaking before light
with the same thoughts and fancies still in my mind.
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