The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1869-01-02
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY. January =.
Travellers and their Pens

NaANA4a N|"AHL g. 49,
never will he Perfect. IL will, however, advance
toward perfection. One mean or that advance
meut Is oftcntimes very unpleasant, but j. none
tie I.=s %saluiary. Il l. criticism from - out
-idcr-.- ~. W. yulglrly call them.-in truer hn-
guaSc. tie expression and deiineitiJn VI the man.
ner in which things hcre-our habits, ways. and
ustJn-apIea 10 one who has tire advantage
Of that fresh susceptibility Of vision which l. de-
rived from having only recently e'rne among us-
The impressions Of such are often One-sIdcd, and
their iicas ineorrcct, -csIecially from their not
knowing the causes Of many social phenomena
ncycrtLcless thee ideas are not to be desIisei nor
disrcgarleI. particularly NJ those moments Of
Differentiation which are essential To real i'm
proyement. Moreover, real worth, true culture,
genuine noblencss Of character, are, or will be
some time, noticed and appreciated, and if, under
the Disadvantages that bcsct ~, we preserve these
characteristics, sooner or later some will find It
out and give due credit where it belongs.
II Is however a fact that those who are real and
competent judges,-men with education, broad
culture, and genial appreciation Of all phases Of
bumanity,-eyen when they visit the Islands,
seldom trouble Themselves TO write about what is
here. y irst-class writer never yet produced 4
magazine article about Honolulu Or Hawaii.
There Is certainly - room in the upper story ~
for anything in that branch of literature, a.
there Is yet opportunity for genuine artists to in
terprct Island scenery with a truly master hand.
In common with the American nation, we, a. Il
community, are drcadfully thin-skinned. We
hereby confess it. America and Charles Dickens,
in their mutual relations and experiences, present
a typical case. Microscopic repctitions thereof
are Ierpctually recurring, and will recur till we
and the Americans get more mature and more
sercnely independent. We propose therefore to
tougher our hide. Let us not ask I%ettishly,
- who wrote Hawaiian Civilization - or even
- who wrote Social Life in the Tropics?'' and
look more suspiciously than ever upon strangers
who disembark from the next steamer. Nor edi-
tOrially and officially whine, as does the Gazette
Of this week. After our first burst of honest and
patriotic Indignation, let us rather cOOlly reflect
whether indeed, because some smart or even
stupid persons happen to receive our hospitality,
which by the way may be more our fault than
thcirs,-whether they are thereby compelled or
required ever after to hold their peace. Beyond
certain demands for courtesy toward individual
families, and for refraining in most instances from
direct personal descriptions, We do not see why
our community should not be described and, IL
need be, eaTieltuTed. The wart will be there
whether You break the lO~Oking-glass OF not. AZ
to public characters, they are 50 far public proJ-\
crty, and nced expect no more immunity in
Honolulu than in New York or London, especially
If they have the same high titles to carry here n
there.
80, NJ We said, after the first outburst Of indig-
nation which expressed itself in our hurried no
tIce 81 last week, we propose tO treat one Of the
aforementioned articles-rc-printed on our fourth
pagc-On Il matteT-Ol-fact basis; not attributing
itentirely to spite, nor 10 dollars, . five or twenty
as the ease may BE- " but correcting it, m;ssiatc-
ments ~ such, and doing this n a tribute 10 the
cause Of truth and correct information.
With respect 10 the literary character Of the
article, it is strikingly alike. in its marked con-
%trasts, to the country it attempts to describe.
We find ON these Islands, here choice and beau
tiful hooks, and there dreary wastes here rain,
there dryness garden, desert, civilization, bar
barism, mixed most unaccountably and perplcx-
ingly to n stranger. SO in this production. n
good deal Of which would appropriately be found
IN the eOlumnsa accorded to newspaper correspond
ents rather than on the pages of Il good magazine.
There are sIasns of good writing in it; delicious
zephyrs Of expression and description, coming be-
tween, however, long blasts Orwell, travellers
gas. We now believe the writer mus; have lived
here sOme little time in order to acquire this very
characteristic feature of style.
The sketch does not rise to the full glory of
caricaturc, else we should enjoy it ~highly-did we
not delight in Mark Twain from his very absurd
ity ?-and 1t Is also out of the sphere of faithful
delineation,-it is not prc-Raphaelite it is
- mixed, 8" it Is mongrel, and if the worthy editor
OF the /. Overland Monthly" deprecatcs its adj
mission ON that ground, then we shall keep up
our present opinion of his good taste, if not Of his
watchiul care of his own pages.
The most unfeeling SANDER in the piece is per-
haIs the literary estimate put upon the commu-
nifty. We suspect the writer never saw much of
Fifth Avenue Society. or he would have found as
much of a dcarth there as here, both Of book
and book talking. And ms To bOOk-buy-
ing, we are somewhat familiar with New York
auction prices "a well n Honolulu ditto and be-
Iievc they are about ON an even scale. That
famous yiaLboagLf Encyclopedia Britaunica-thc
writer docs not shy a volume Of it ne only prizcs
the trhOLe troyk at five dollars was an odd vol
which nobody cared to have by itself, while
,ur ncishbor the Ga.cHe gives the actual figures
II n sale Of tine whole set Of that work, viz, SlI3,
n 81 80 Der volume high price IL it was the
Id edition. Most of our most priced books come
INTO the country through private orders, and -Iip
way 20 quiet hooks AMI concrs where all tray-
.lcrs do not scc them. The Publisher Of the Mag
'sinc himself knows better than any one else what
literature j. forwarded 10 this market, AMI If il j. F.;
rot Of the latest, will perhaps have TO share the
We might improve, we grant, in liter I
ry culture, but We ID have the latest and bort 1
magazines and papers, and in cousidemblcebund-
nee.
PIrtics.-socll, lunch, dancing. musical. &c..- !
rc free and lawful game for -cribbIcrs AMI cynics q
.vcryvhcrc- We will not therefore trouble our {
elves with the animaiycr-iOn- thcrcuppn. They I
sill not hurt either our reputation or wcll-bcing. q