Page:Scenes in my Native Land.pdf/136

132 tion from the versatile pen of Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe, in one of our Annuals, and advise every traveller for pleasure, to decline a more experimental knowledge.

After all, is there so much travelling for pleasure, or more correctly speaking, so much pleasure in travelling, as might at first appear? Of the pursuit of health, the claims of business, or the acquisition of knowledge, as motives for either domestic or foreign excursion, I do not of course speak, but of that restless desire of change of place, sometimes common to the young, which leads to an aimless love of wandering, or a dissatisfaction with quiet, circumscribed duties, which is in our sex peculiarly unfortunate. To visit fine scenery, and points of high interest, is indeed a privilege, yet one not wholly free from drawback and disappointment. For myself, I am free to confess at my matronly years, when fatigue and disturbed rest are no longer trifles, the ruling idea in every lucubration, however pleasant, is that of getting home. And as the moralist Addison considered it the principal advantage of a female's learning to dance, that she might "sit still gracefully," so it would be well if one chief end of her excursions abroad, might be to enjoy home better, and to bring back an additional sunbeam or song of praise to its sanctuary.