The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-12-06
Somewhat Mixed.

Can a man, = inquiries the Jersey City Stand
ard, . be his sisters father and, if so, can the
woman be her own uncle?'; We can never con-
template this sort OF question without an over
whclming sense of our own unworthiness and of
the circumscribed limits Of the human mind.
The eye can look afar off without the slightest
difficulty, provided the view is unobscured but
it never could and never can throw itself around
4 corner some distance off, or make the slightest
approach to a view through the least complicated
milestone. And so, encountering these astonish-
inc little questions, the mind, though capable of
great things, enters a labyrinth of confusion and
in a very brief spell, before getting through with
even the first family involved, retIres from the
contest hopelessly demoralized. At all events,
the mind not thus unfortunate is no great mind
to speak of. 1t was created with a view to the
settlement of little matters, and may only be
mentioned as the vulgar fraction of a mind.
There is some hope for the boy who cannot read
ily answer the question, 80 Who was the father of
Zebedee's Children and We desire to state for
his encouragement that Horace Greeley wandered
patiently through many pages of the Bible before
he learned the answer, and that when he did
learn it he looked up with a countenance divided
about equally between helplessness. establishment
and anger, and excitedly remarked, bringing his
elenehed hand down upon the table, The man
who put that question was a ID fool -
However. as TO the Jersey City case. To begin
with. one Jenkinson. who had a mother of the
same name, married a Miss Smith, who had a
brother of the same name; and then the brother
married the mother, and there the story begins.
The Standard works it's way into the relationship
of the parties, and hopelessly loses itself, as
follows
As we see 1t, it is something like this: Mr..
Smith becomes his brOther-in-law's father. and
Mrs. Smith becomes her daughter-in-law's sister,
and also her sons sister-in-law. Mr.. Jenkinson
j ster-son TO his brother-in-law, and therefore
- - - he nu-u yviFa rrIn in fu-n hos
become the daughter Of her brother. We may
be- getting this a little mixed, but we trust the
reader will bear with Us 4 while, for we are tell
inc the truth, and all this isn't a patch TO what
NAV be. Suppose each of these women should
have = son? We should shuddeT TO think Of it.
but it may happen. for all that, for women do
have children after they are m~arried-sOme be-
fore. we blush for the weakness Of human nature
u saw it-and If Mr.. Jenkiuson and Mrs. Smith
should each have a son. what relation will they
be 20 each other and to their uncles and aunts
and fathers and mothers? It's a perfect laby-
rinth. Mrs. Smiths child will first engage our
attention. He will. Of course, be Mr.. Jenkin-
sons balEbrother 70 start with. and Mrs. Jenkin-
son will be his halE-sister. while they will also
sustain the relation of uncle and niece. and at
the same time she will be his aunt and he her
nephew-we came near saying she would be his
nephew. but it's bad enough, even If you tell the
truth. Then JenkinsOn's baby will be Mrs.
Smiths grandson, and Smith who is its uncle,
also becomes It's grandmother, and the poor child
by reason of the relationship of Its father and its
fathers sister. becomes Its own cousin. If IL
wasn't for the bother Of mixing the sexes il
might almost becomes It's OWE brother and sister.
Then that miserable child which calls Smith
father must call Mrs. JenkinsOn aunt, and his
aunt being his fathers sister, he may also call
his father uncle. How much farther these rela-
tionships may be mixed we have neither time nor
patience 10 persue, and the best advice We can
give the parties IS never to have any children
We are assured bY the Standard that the
marriages took place strictly as stated, though, of
course, the names of the parties have been
wrongly given in the account.