new wife follows in the trammels of Custom, which are as powerful as
the tyranny of fashion; she gradually advises and directs; the new
husband soon goes to sea, he leaves her to learn and exercise the
new government, in which she is entered. Those who stay at home are
full as passive in general, at least with regard to the inferior
departments of the family. But you must not imagine from this
account that the Nantucket wives are turbulent, of high temper, and
difficult to be ruled; on the contrary, the wives of Sherburn in so
doing, comply only with the prevailing custom of the island: the
husbands, equally submissive to the ancient and respectable manners
of their country, submit, without ever suspecting that there can be
any impropriety. Were they to behave otherwise, they would be afraid
of subverting the principles of their society by altering its
ancient rules; thus both parties are perfectly satisfied, and all is
peace and concord. The richest person now in the island owes all his
present prosperity and success to the ingenuity of his wife: this is
a known fact which is well recorded; for while he was performing his
first cruises, she traded with pins and needles, and kept a school.
Afterward she purchased more considerable articles, which she sold
with so much judgment, that she laid the foundation of a system of
business, that she has ever since prosecuted with equal dexterity
and success. She wrote to London, formed connections, and, in short,
became the only ostensible instrument of that house, both at home
and abroad. Who is he in this country, and who is a citizen of
Nantucket or Boston, who does not know Aunt Kesiah? I must tell you
that she is the wife of Mr. C----n, a very respectable man, who,
well pleased with all her schemes, trusts to her judgment, and
relies on her sagacity, with so entire a confidence, as to be
altogether passive to the concerns of his family. They have the best
country seat on the island, at Quayes, where they live with