The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-04-26
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AObertisrr,
SATURDAY. APRIL pc.
From Fraser's Magzznel
Concerning the Disadvantages Of Living In
a Small Community.

climbed the winding turret-stalr WHICH Ie1uS Z
the TOD Of a certain tower The tower, wnich
c,rric. low spire. Is that Of the parish church Of
. certain little city. That church was punt,
centuries ago. a. an ancient document bears, an
media orifaie. and from It's tower you may see
the whole city very distinctly. Very picturesque
j. the view. You look down on red roofs, and
+ iyicd ruins; green gardens are interspersed; aud
on two sides the buildings cat against the tlue
sea. 4 stranger, looking at the prospect Tor the
first time, exclaimed, = How charming - And no
one can feel the special charm of 1t more than the
writer does. But l thought, looking round, that
| knew better than the stranger; at least, l knew
more. For 1 know every house on which you look
down; every household; and the curious relations
between many Of them, friendly and other. |
know the poverty and privatlon; the anxiety ana
care; which abide under many Of those roofs. lt
Is not all Improvement, to know any place so
we'll. which is inhabited by human beings. Few
human beings look the better, for being looked
into too constantly and too long. And coming
down the cork-screw stair, whose steps are worn
by some centuries of inlrequent use, | thought OF
certain disadvantages which come OF living IN a
small community.
Let it be explained what mean by a small
community. | mean II little place with a consid-
cradle number of families of nearly equal social
position. \ country parish Is not, IN the sense
intended, a small community. But a Cathedral
Close il, or q little town.
And let it be understood that l admit the adj
yantages of a small community. There is some
thing homely and kindly IN living where you
know everybody and everybody knows you. There
is q desolation in the heart of the denizcn of such
n society, when he walks the London streets, and
gazes into the shop windows. :" No one knows
me here he thinks, with q certain icy SILVER. L
do not now see how any one can feel at home IN
that awful place, though | once lived there tor
years. / cannot now understand how L did 1t. In
the little town, when you 90 into a shop, no one
watches to see if you intend TO steal something.
No policeman has an eye of suspicion on you, as
you leisurely pass along the street. Your Yoca-
tiOn and place are known accurately; ana your
income with sufficient approximation. You are
not tempted to incur expense you cannot afford.
You know that the only reflection which Will
follow your doing so will be that of the Roman
citizen returning home after seeing CuTtius jump
into the gulf in the Forum, 10 wit I" W hat a
fool -
But there are things on the other side of the
balance. Let us try to state them, look at them,
weigh them.
one is sometimes strongly felt, though it may
seem %fanciful. 1t is the general vague sense that
you have not room to stretch yourself. /" The bed
is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on
it; and the covering narrower than that he can
wrap himself in it." | do not mean to say that
this feeling is constant. But again, the wish
arises for space in which to expand and expatiate.
There comes a WEAKNESS OF always seeing the
same faces, and going the same round. | fancy
that a mill-hOrse, ever turning round in the same
narrow track, would sometimes wish for anything
for n change. l do not, however, say more on
this point; because | know various eminently
sensible persons, who have in my hearing stated
that Goethe was n fool, and who would declare
that what has already been said is fanciful, and
even morbid. So let us advance to what is beyond
all question real.
Living in a small community, you come to
discern peoples faults with painful clearness.
When you see your friends every day, you see
through them. No human character can bear
being looked at so constantly and so closely.
Under the microscope we all look rough, and dis
cOlored, and warped. And with those one is
always seeing, one does not take the pains to con-
ceal weaknesses which one does with a stranger.
Unless a man is q very great fool, he knows quite
we'll when he is saying or doing something foolish;
and he keeps it back when with those with whom
he stands on ceremony. But it all comes out in
the familiarity of constant intercourse. Our own
family, and our near KIN, are part of ourselves;
and we excuse their errors and follies as we do
our own; even when we see their faults plainly.
we like them hardly the less. But beyond that
intimate circle, there arises the peculiar feeling
which Scotch folks call Il sc1naner towards a friend
who frequently annoys us by outbursts of vanity,
or wrong-headedness, or spitefulness, or littleness,
or envy. Familiarity, as the proverbial saying has
it, breeds contempt. And unless very rare speci-
mems of humanity, there is very much that is
little and contemplate in human nature. The
greatest fool every man has known, is himself;
and this because I'm spite of the old Greek coun-
scl) he knows himself better than he knows any
other. Now in a large place, when you feel that
some little frailty of a really worthy man is OBJ
truding itself on you SO painfully as to make you
~forgetful OF his real worth, you can see less of him
for a few weeks till you get over the painful im-
preston. But there are places so small, that you
must see your friend every day; even when it
would be far better for both Of you that you did
not see much Of one another for a time.
Then, in a small community, people come to
stand in such relations to one another that they
may be said to be real enemies; in so far as that
can be in the decorons restraint of word and deed
which goes with our civilization. l used once to
think that decent folks would have no enemies.
When l was a little fellow, | used continually to
hear public worship conducted by one of the best
men, and that in a country where there is no lit
urgy. An ever-recurring petition was, 80 If we
have enemies forgive them" 1t seemed to me,
as a boy, that the petition was needless. Who
could be his enemy? But, growing up, one
thought differently. There are actual cases in
which a person has only to know that you wish
for such a thing to be done, to resolve to oppose
that thing. Because A. would fain have things 90
one way. b. will push for the opposite way. Now,
that is being an enemy, as permitted in this age.
And much more in a little place than in n big
one will such enemies be found. The scope is
too large, the people are too many in the big
place for the peculiar feeling which creates them.
l could give curious examples; but that is exactly
what / am not going to do. And the further eb-
ullition of enmity which makes one man exult in
the little anuoyances which befall another, will
hardly be found in its full maturity amid a large
population and q wide acquaintance.
And, though you do not like a man, and find
that in him which rubs you the wrong way, you
cannot draw wholly off from him. as you would in
Il large city. In the little town you must be con-
stantly meeting; you cannot choose your own
circle of associates. You are of necessity thrown
into frequent contact with persons whom you
would not select for your friends. In a large
place, If you discover in any man indications of n
] character which makes If lmnOSSible that Won
should respect or trust him, you can, without
awkwnrdDess, drop his acquaintance wholly. But
it is awkward and inconvenient not to be at least
ON terms of civility with a human being whom
you must frequently pass in the street, and with
whom you must sometimes transact business. You
| cannot indulge in the luxury of cutting dead even