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The sailor, indeed, over and above his pay, is supplied with

provisions. Their value, however, may not perhaps always exceed

the difference between his pay and that of the common labourer;

and though it sometimes should, the excess will not be clear gain

to the sailor, because he cannot share it with his wife and

family, whom he must maintain out of his wages at home.

The dangers and hair-breadth escapes of a life of adventures,

instead of disheartening young people, seem frequently to

recommend a trade to them. A tender mother, among the inferior

ranks of people, is often afraid to send her son to school at a

sea-port town, lest the sight of the ships, and the conversation

and adventures of the sailors, should entice him to go to sea.

The distant prospect of hazards, from which we can hope to

extricate ourselves by courage and address, is not disagreeable

to us, and does not raise the wages of labour in any employment.

It is otherwise with those in which courage and address can be of

no avail. In trades which are known to be very unwholesome, the

wages of labour are always remarkably high. Unwholesomeness is a

species of disagreeableness, and its effects upon the wages of

labour are to be ranked under that general head.