The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1877-10-31
Beware of the Dog.

miserable, worthless, NANCY ours which IN
fest our streets by dAy and by nighs, to the
annoyance and disgust of all decent and sensi-
bic people. To stranger arriving here, the
innumerable multitude of our dogs and their
general worthlessness are subjects for equal
establishment We do not believe that an
equal number of utterly good>for-nothiug
canine beasts can be found in any town of the
same size in either America or Europe. 1t
must have been Honolulu which Goldsmith
saw with prophetic eye, when he wrote his
well known lines:
''Now in this town dog was found
As many 6ogs there be,
Both nongrel, puppy, wbelp and hound,
Aud ours of low degree."
And il is scarcely necessary to say-the ours
Of low degree decidedly predominate Let
any one have occasion, as we frequently have,
TO traverse our streets by night, and We viii
guarantee that he will speedily come to con
sider 3 good stout cudgel in his hand, or a
liberal supply of rocks in his pocket, as
necessary and essea.ial part Of his outit. And
then the unesrthly racket they kick up. As
the benighted way-farer whom business or
pleasure has called forth into the pitehy dark
ness Of our unlighted streets, pursues his
dubious way; suddenly he strmbles over one
Of these four footed aristocrats-ous Of these
representatives Of the privileged classes
who nightly biyouac on our payeut Hts-uo,
We beg pardon, we have no pavements-and
thea the music begins. Disturbed IL his vir-
tC9uS SlUInbers, his peaceful dreams Of Juicy
rump steaks and succulent marrow bones,
radely broken in upon, his dogship sets up =
yelping and bowling which is taken up and
repeated from mouth TO mouth, up and down
each street and alley until It's echoes are lest
in the depths of space. Dogs big. little and
ziiddle sized, bass dogs, tenor dogs, soprano,
contraltO, and falsetto dogs, every conceivable
kind Of dogs in fact, except dumb dogs, all
unite IN the execution Of grand tayus move
ment, which, if not for beauty, certainly for
rGzisty aud p0rer leaves nothing to be de-
sired. Meanwhile the unfortunate and iuao-
cent cause Of all this disturbance stands with
his fingers in his ears, waiting the time, des-
cribed by the poet. when
Silence like a poultice comes
To heal the blows Of sound"
Speaking seriously, the dogs in this country
are pest and nuisance, and like any other
nuisance, ought 10 be abated. 4 large pro
portion Of them are diseased, and their dis
eases are Of nature known to be communal
cable, not ouiy to other dogs but in some
frr-ra-l,a. y, T,--,., ., -. = III or -.
this latter consideration is, in the opinion Of
many Of our people, matter Of quite second
ary Importance, but we believe that even hu-
nan beings hare s011s rights which dogs-and
their owners-are bound 10 respect. We see
no good reason, why the free and independent
Hawaiian who chooses to lie down with dogs
and get up with feas, should be allowed to
make nuisance Of himself to his neighbors.
IN the interests then, not only Of men. women
snd children. but also Of the decent and re-
speetable dogs among Us, we call upon the
proper authorities to nd US of these miserable,
worthless, diseased brutes, who are not only
an ofense to the eye by day and to the ear BY
night, but whose only discoverable function
places for veruin- We have said, we call
upon the proper authorities but Just here
arises somewhat troublesome question ::
wkc are the prUper authorities - Ah,
there's the rub" Has any branch of this
government power to rid U Of the peruicious
presence Of this perapatitic pest?- This, It
appears, l. question very easy to ask, but
extremely difficult to answer The Board Of
Health has discussed the matter at great
length, and doubtless with great learning but
have been unable to arrive at any solution Of
the difficulty. The Marshal of the Kingdom
Is Powerless IN the presence Of these four-lez-
ged nuisances and the police, as is usual with
such officials, can't see IT, To whom, then.
shall We look for relief? Alas We know
not. 1t Is conundrum, and we fear we shall
have to give It up f appears to be, as Lord
DundreAry would say, "oue Of the things
{ which no fellow can find OUT Are the accu-
INFLATED wisdom and experience Of our poll
ticians and statesmen unequal to the emer-
gency7 Is the whole power Of this Kingdom
unable TO cope successfully with the Hawaiian
dog7 Must the whole vast and complicated
machinery Of government stand par2lyzed IN
the presence Of lot Of dirty, diseased, disre-
7 putable ours, whom It Is simply cruelty to an
inals 70 allow TO drag cut their miserable
existence IN o1r midst7 We pause for reply.