"If it's such a good thing for a ship to carry women, why is it that shipowners are so down on it, and they so seldom allow captains to carry their wives?" asked the mate of the bark "Vulture." "One reason," said Mr. Morrison, "is the extra expense; it costs something to feed them on a long voyage, and they must have more dainties. Another is that they sometimes cause detention to the ship or occasion a deviation from the voyage. There was a ship belonging to a Boston firm that I used to sail for, that was kept waiting in Calcutta for a week after she was loaded, on account of the captain becoming a happy father. When the news came home, one of the partners handed the letter over to the other, and said, 'What do you think of that?' 'Think,' said he; 'I think we won't make baby-houses of our ships any more.' They made the rule, and after that captains had the choice to leave their wives at home, or leave the employ." "It's a hard place for a woman on board of a ship any way," croaked the "owl" again. "It isn't natural for them to be shut up for months with a crowd of rough 'barnacle backs,' without any of their sex to gossip with, and no chance to go a-shopping, except two or three times a year." "A ship is a hard place for anyone," said I. "Going to sea is an unnatural life and a hardship to everybody. It's pretty clear from the Bible how its Maker regards it, for there it is frequently used as a symbol of evil. 'The wicked are like the troubled sea,' and 'raging waves of the sea;' 'he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea;' the beast of Revelation is represented as rising out of the sea, and we read in the description of the perfect state 'there was no more sea.' It is not good enough to be allowed in heaven. But in spite of all its trials and unpleasant features we all like to go to sea." "Vast heaving there, my friend," said the mate of the "Example." "I don't like to go to sea, and I never saw a man yet that would own up to liking it."