Page:The Female Advocate.djvu/109

 not alone supply the necessity of extreme want; they are mortal, and consequently both nature and duty press hard upon the unhappy mother, to look into the world for a means of support; for now every prospect of happiness to her future days is blackened by anxious care, and, perhaps, at a period which might have been expected the happiest of her life: but since adversity has taught her submission, and she finds she has to climb up the sleep of difficulty, with her children dragging after her like so many clogs at her feet, to retard her progress, her first step is to look out for situations for her sons, to whom Providence having denied an education, so as to command such situations in life as the generality of men are enabled to look up to, and without the aid of connections, or friends, to lead them out into the world; if the poor mother can obtain for them a situation at the back of a counter, it is the highest step in life which she can sue for, or expect; and such as these, indeed, are an exception as to filling women's occupations; for, if nothing else presents, what are they to do? But for the poor