The Gradations I Observed Here, Are
Founded On Nothing More Than The Good Or Ill Success Of Their
Maritime Enterprises, And Do Not Proceed From Education; That Is The
Same Throughout Every Class, Simple, Useful, And Unadorned Like
Their Dress And Their Houses.
This necessary difference in their
fortunes does not however cause those heart burnings, which in other
societies generate crimes.
The sea which surrounds them is equally
open to all, and presents to all an equal title to the chance of
good fortune. A collector from Boston is the only king's officer who
appears on these shores to receive the trifling duties which this
community owe to those who protect them, and under the shadow of
whose wings they navigate to all parts of the world.
LETTER V
CUSTOMARY EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE INHABITANTS OF NANTUCKET
The easiest way of becoming acquainted with the modes of thinking,
the rules of conduct, and the prevailing manners of any people, is
to examine what sort of education they give their children; how they
treat them at home, and what they are taught in their places of
public worship. At home their tender minds must be early struck with
the gravity, the serious though cheerful deportment of their
parents; they are inured to a principle of subordination, arising
neither from sudden passions nor inconsiderate pleasure; they are
gently held by an uniform silk cord, which unites softness and
strength. A perfect equanimity prevails in most of their families,
and bad example hardly ever sows in their hearts the seeds of future
and similar faults.
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