The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1877-05-12
THE PACIFIC
Commercial obtrtiser
SATURDAY NJ 10

II a recent London publication entitled Lit
erary and Social Judgments" by w. r. Greg,
are some thoughts well worthy of reproduction.
We quote from a review of the book in the
Otago (N.Z.) Witness:
In HE article on British and Foreign Charac-
~teristics, Mr.. Greg has deals with the gods of the
mordern world -prOgress. advancement, luxury,
and in q word. civilization, with so unsparing
and severe a hand, that we are compelled at least
to wonder whether after all, a railway is the
sunnuzn bon1uH of national good, and the accu-
mutation of 50 many millions, tie one sure test
of individual greatness. I'VE connot," he
says, 1--WE cannot bring ourselves to regard the
gallant and persevering energy which is devoted
to getting on in life, as consecrated to a high
end. We cannot persuade ourselves at once,
and without enquiry, as many do, to pronounce
the life that enjoys as iPs0 JGcO and per Sc,
meaner than the life that tolls" This is the
key note, indeed, Of several of his papers. II
is, indeed, a rad spectacle, he says, In another
place, ''that Of SO vast a proportion of national
energy still devoted to mere material acquisition,
still labouriDg in q field in which such ample
harvests have been already gained; still pushing
on in a direction in which there is little 10 win,
while SO many social problems remain still IN
solved, so many %grieyous wounds still uuhealed,
so many noble paths still unfrequented and IN
explored, We still press madly forward IN the
race. Though the goal can present us with no
new attractions, we still struggle to get through.
We have got far enough to command all the sub
stantial acquisitions and enjoyments of a worthy
life; we still persist in striving and tolling for
added wealth, which can purchase for US no
added happiness, and in the hot competition we
push aside or trample down many who really
need what we only desire. New roads, faster
ships, more rapid and cheaper locomotion, speed
Ter transmission Of intelligence, greater physical
comforts-all these are valuable things, and OBJ
jects of legitimate ambition. But of these we
have now almost enough. We have pushed on
long enough and far enough in this exclusive line;
there are other fields to be titled, other harvests
to be reaped, other aims to be achieved. Thou
sands on thousands of course must, until some
blessed change comes over our social state, spend
in life striving for a living, and thousands more
must concentrate all their e~xertions on the &C
euirement of a competence; but why should this
competence be made by our increasing luxuri-
business an ever vanishing point; why should
not those who have a fortune sufficient to supply
all reasonable wants. and to guarantee them
against anxious cares, pause awhile on the dusty
and weary thoroughfare, and try to form a juster
estimate of the purpose of life and the relative
value of its aims and prizes. We would at least
have every man content with the full goblet, and
not seek to dissolve with it the needless and un-
tasted pearl. We wish to see the middle and
upper life of England less a scene of hustle, of
effort, and OF struggle, and more one of placid
content and intellectual serenity; less of q mad
gallop and more of a quiet progress-less of a
dusty racecourse and more OF a quiet garden
less of career that disgusts us in our hours of
WEAKNESS and sickens US in our moment of re-
aection-and more of one that we can enjoy
while we tread it, and look back without shame
and regret when it is closed"