The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1862-01-02

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Yet tire 5 more soft than Ger did ,nidn' hit tbief,
That slides his hand under the m ers p Ow,
And carries of ; pre-"
Another year has dawneG, and the date Of the
old gives place to its succe sor, 1862. Time
flies no faster here than in other places, and yet
it seems scarcely twelve weeks, instead of twelve
months, since the last New Years day. With
the changes of the years, we notice other changes
around us. Many who were with us on the last
anniversary have left US for re idence in other
countri and their plac are filled by strangers.
When they left, many said that it was a sign
of gloomy times, and that their places would
long remain vacant. Others, however, have
come among us, and we question whether the
population of Honolulu is any les to-day than
it was this day a year ago. The world is a r--t-
lc 5 caravan, always moving to and fro, tome
coming, others going, the aggregate remain
ing about the same.
But what causc; the4e constant GIBBS and flows
in the tide of human life? If we look a little
into the subject, We find that one principal cause
is the expensive habits and customs of society,
which create fictitious wants. Every one says
that the expenseI of living in Honolulu are high;
and 20 they are every where, if people choose to
make them }. The coct Of living depends on
ones notions of what constitut : the niece aries
and comforts of life. A kanaka can live on $50
a year or less, sub isting comfortably, and
well clothed. A foreigner, who eats l. &, and
wears but little more, demands rom ten to
twenty times as much to sustain his body and
soul. The difference is caused by the habits of
i~)ciety. Every one cri out against it, and not
without reason. With the foreigner, the fcti-
tious demands of fashion are as absolute as tho e
of nature, which call only for meat, drink and
clothing. Did people pay le- regard to fashion,
we should hear l. of hard times and of the i'm
possibility of living within their means.
A few evenings since we found the following
piece in an old exchange-none the lie true
for being Old-so appropriate for the opening
of the year, that we transfer it to our columns,
in the hope that the thoughts suggested by it,
may be of benefit to our readers:
Beginning to Live.
AL the world may be divided into three or four
classes of this nature, l.. e. those who never begin to
live at all those who be in to live wrongly those
the fewest Of all, who really have begun to live and
are living right. There are many persons now grow
ing old that have not yet begun to live at all. nor
ever will. Of Americans this is especially true
They 60 into every part OF the world, and get along
extemporaneously. There is the old bachelor, who
WIS bent on making q fortune to enable him to bear
the expenses Of getting married. He has learned to
exist in a garnet, with a crust Of bread, in order to
save, has made q fortune, aud perhaps knows not
what he IS worth, but that it is some huge pile of
gold, daily augmented by heavy shaving. He sits in
q mean office and shuns company, and lives without
friends, until now gold is his idol and friends his alb
horrence, life q misery, for he himself is a DiSer.
Yet he purposes to launch out tome day, when he
has made his pile. He he's not yet, as he will tell
you, begun TO live.
There is another man, who was married at t vcnty,
and whose children have grown up boorish and
stupid, while he and his wife have been living upon
make shifts, because living wholly for the future.
Should he die, he would be found worth S100, 900 {;
but as long as he lives, neither he nor his family will
ever enjoy a dollar, and scarcely have one on hand.
He buys town lots on credit and has to wait for the
town to be settled before he can realize. He, there
fore, has no ready money, but is always deep in dis
count at the bank, and therefore ca,not afford to
live yet awhile
Mr.. C. buys and set les a farm out West, builds n
kitchen, and, all upholstered, moves his family into
it, intending, as soon as things are fixed, to build a
house in front His barn is the envy Of the neigh
borhood. but his house-why, he will tell you that
he has not yet begun to live.
Mr.. D., on the contrary, inhabits q splendid brown
stone mansion, but lives for the present in two or
three back rooms, the rest Of the house not being
yet furnished He has not begun to live
His ~neighbor, Mr.. E, has furnished his house mag
ni6cently. On reception L:ght-, when the drawing
rooms are thrown open. and you behold platc-glass
mirrors from ceiling to floor, you think you have at
last found the man who has begun to live really. But
his children are in private ill fed aud i'll clothed. his
servants unpaid, his wife worn down by labor. 1t is
his principle never to pay a debt as long as he can
ltlO IT,, OF 10 lL ~ uOiltI VI cttluR JUS
equivalent with his own eyes. lie has not yet began
to live.
His partner in business has begun to live. but at
the wrong end. He has made n dash in all things,
drives fast horses. marries the most fashionable belle
at Newport, bOugh. n mansion in the Fifth avenue,
covered his floor with velyets, lavished luxuries on
his wife, and 10 in three months he is sold out rs q
deaulter.
His creditors find themselves 80 sold' too. He emf
CRATES to the far West. and turns up again in n log
cabin. with his wife's fifteen hundred dollar piano
set on end for a cupboard Lord Byron spent about
So 5000 the year after he was married, he'd the
baiifs in his house when his first child was born,
and he himself paced his room with loaded pistols,
half insane through debt, duns and dissipation.
There are many others who resolve to be lin life
anew, but who merely live to renew their resolutions.
IL Is not amongst any special sect alone these resolu-
tons are made and alas broken. There are plenty
in every profession and no profession, who do the
same thing. The young Sophomore, Tilted one week,
and vowing eternal ~celibacy, devoting himself with
incredible energy to his studies, and resolving to win
the first honors, and then prepare for the ministry,
he becomes as blindly infatuated. His cla.smate
writes penitent letters TO his father, confessing his
sins while eutreating for money to be spent, alas, in
similar ways
An older hand eschews liquor. He has been drink
ing for a fortnight steadily, or rather unsteadily, and
finds il will not answer. He joins the Temperance
Society. He may vow and vow, but that will not set
him free. He is bound by the cords OF his own sins
and cannot escape. He hutters like n moth around
the candle, soon to be allured and hopee,sly entan-
gled, unless o power stronger than his own resolu-
ton strengthen him.
Who then has begun to live, in the true meaning OF
the phrase. Il is the man whose heart lies in the
correct performance Of daily duty, be that duty small
or great who, having his own desires and passions
under control, and directed into the right channels,
is consistently carrying out q well matured plan Of
life by which his own happiness, and that of those
nearest to him Is constantly being secured. We shall