The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-01-28
A Family Picture.

There is as much philosophy as good humor in
the following sketch, from the Manchester On.
H.) Mirror. 1t is worth a dozen of the SO Doe
stick papers, and deserves an extensive notoriety.
1t is from the pen of G. Q. Cotton:
Mr.. EDITOR II propose to draw a picture of
8" our family for your readers, and l promise i.
shall be as truthful as the majority of biograph-
ical portraitures, drawn by interested parties.
Our family is only remarkable for numbers,
there being ten sons and two daughters. We We're
raised among the green hills of Vermont. Blythe
aid of coarse fare and the absence of doctors, all
the children, with the exception of one infant,
lived till the youngest had reached the age of
thirty-six years. Only two have since died, as
also our sainted mother. The limited means of
our father only enabled him to furnish us a COM
mon school education but We were trained to
habits of industry and most rigid integrity. With
these endowments-the best that could be given
we were thrown upon our own resources for
success in life. After the age of fifteen or sixteen,
each was consulted as to the choice of business or
profession he desired to adopt. With a fathers
blessing and n mothers prayers. we went forth to
seek our fortune. Let us see the result.
have one brother, a Justice of the Peace, .'with
fair round belly and good capon lined" though
he never read Blackstone. Ihave another brother,
a clergyman and chaplain in the United States
Navy, who, having travelled through all parts of
the world, his lost his sectlrianism, and because
he has transferred his religion from his head Tor
flce) to his heart, is thought by some to have lost
it. He has been a Governor of California, was
appointed a Historiographer of the South Sea Ex-
ploring Expedition, and filled several other inn
portant offices under Government. He had the
honor of instituting the first trial by jury in Cali
fornia, building the first school house. publishing
the first newspaper, and making the first public
announcement Of the discovery of gold. His poems
and literary productions are his best memorials.
He died four years since.
T 1oro a-At1or br1%Ia~ n $4,000 .rI1 e.
theological book-worm. and points out to Others
the way to Heaven with mathematical accuracy,
but STAYS behind himself to pick up the stragglers.
l have another brother, a cloth-dresser, who, if
not a gentleman himself, has been mainly instru-
mental in making gentlemen of others.
| ave another brother, a book-binder. whose
has been consulted in the selection of many a
library.
1 have another brother, n STAKEHOLDER, who re-
CARDS slavery as an evil and liberty a blessing, but
holds his slaves for their good.
l have another brother, a farmer, who thinks
his duties performed when he reads the Tribune,
and votes for liberty and the Maine law.
L have another brother, a tanner, currier and
;hoemaker. who has been so long tinkering the
of other people that he has be-
, )rne quite a philosopher himself. Is this the rea- |
son why all shoemakers are proverbially philoso-
piers?
1 have Il sister who has around her nine repre-
of her obedience to one of the Divine
commands; and another sister, who. not having
children of her own to provide for, has as
the care of a whole brood ready provided.
And then there is your humble correspondent
the titman, as he was for a time. called-who
vas once a doctor Tin ~embryo). but having thrown
8 physic to the dogs" is now living by his wits.
IN a throw of the dice (of fortune) he once came
Town a Judge in California, and after dispensing
or having dispensed witty Justice for a time,
anne home with his rockets filled with the
6 A,o< 81 o-1 n aa1<ols = q 49, - C--oo,,o L.
ieving that salt would save him from poverty.
lie is now managing, by hook and by crook, and
n an honorable way, to add to his pile.
We have over us all our venerable father, now
q the ninety-second year of his age, to whom We
III look with the highest reverence and flial af-
He can walk six miles a day with great
and his memory is SO strong that he can re-
,eat a large portion Of the Bible; also whole SER
mons, and more than seven hundred stanzas of
Watts psalms and hymns. We believe that to the
arly religious training we received from him,
ided by the strong common sense of our mother.
United to habits of economy and industry which
ie inculcated. we owe whatever success we have
rttained in life. We are all So well to do in the
world, and some have become wealthy. We are
II temperance men if not teetotallers. We are
IL professors of religion ifnot Christians-though
We take widely different roads on the heavenly
Eay. lam reminded of a good Methodist preacher,
Then addressing a congregation Of different de-
-" Brethren, it is true we don't
itch horses very well here, but we are comforted
nth the reflection that we shall be able TO do so
Fhen we arrive in the stables Of eternal saliva
There is one reflection to be drawn from the
bove picture. Wealth acquired by gift is no
lessing. hut often a curse. IF our father had
wealthy and had given each of us ten thou
and dollars, some of MS would have grown up in
iieness and dissipation, and ended in poverty
nd crime.
"Honor anil shame from nFc9niition rise.
Act vel your part-therr az The honor lies"