The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1880-10-16
(" The Californian"
II WHALLEY NICHOLSON.
W. FORSYTH GRANT.
CHAs. ID. MILLER.
Honolulu, Oct. IA, 1880.

The Californian for the current month maintains
the standard of former numbers. To say this is to
praise it highly, for the quality of the Magazine has
always been good. This is the tenth number, and
We should have been glad to learn that the success
of the publication. from a pecuniary point of view
had been as great as its literary merits deserve.
That result would have been new in the annals of
such enterprises US this. and we gather from an an
nouncement, which appeared last month and is re-
peated in thu number before US. that, up to the
present time, the Californian has not succeeded
in getting out of that beaten track in which periodic
deficits end by wholly discouraging the most enthu-
siastic of promoters. If any word we can say will
incre ,se the income of so valuable an outcome OF the
culture of The Pacific States we are ready to say it,
for outside the list of the great Magazines of New
York and London there is none published in the
English language higher in tone. more cleverly
written or more judiciOusly edited than the Catyor-
nian. If any one doubts this we suggest that he
should at once purchase the back numbers and read
them. If after that he remains a sceptic we do not
wish to have him installed anywhere as q literary
critic.
We should be glad to notice in detail each of the
more important articles in this number of the Cali
forniqn. but as newspaper space is limited We must
con6ne ourselves to some account Of the con tents of
the Magazine, and u lew remarks on certain points
that seem to call Tor comment. One Of the strong
points of the Californian is its fiction. II has not
yet aspired to initiate its most eminent contem-
poraries and publish by instalmeuts q full grown
novel. When we remember that the whole stah OF
contributors are working con GmOre. without pay or
the hope of it, we need not wonder at this, but
rather that we find 20 many ready to write good
stories for the sake of establishing the fame of their
local magazine. Que thing is notable in these
stories, With scant exception their characters and
scenery are local. "a prophet is without honor in
his own country" may be true, but the same can
hardly be said of story tellers. The local coloring
adds an interest peculiarly its own. By whom if not
by Californians, can the life of that great region Of
which San Francisco is thu capital ever be truly
portrayed. Visitors, or those who study lands and
peoples they have not visited by The aid of books.
give US, however Internationally, bat distorted and
incomplete pictures of their life and scenery. But
the stories in the Collaboration have in these respects
a ring about them of truth to nature. and this is
their especial value. For this We can forgive the
evidence of Il lack of wider experience OF
the world. and the phrases, names and illusions
which are only quite Ineligible to those who nave
the same local knowledge as the writer, ln the
number before US there are two short stories, " Pene-
lope's Web - aud Liz both by ladies' ana ooth
we need not hardly add, romantic love tales. each
with a small spice of the improbable. Besides these
there is The continuation of 8 A Strange Confession"
q longer tale by MI. W. C, Morrow which promises
tc be an exciting story.
Tn "a private letter. Professor Sill endeavours
10 instruct some of his young contemporaries in the
proper use of the anxiliaries "shall > and will ="
He begins well and contrises to make : 'iresome
subject Interesting, but gradually appears TO ger into
fog himself. leaving the student rather perplexed
han helped. He might as well try to theorize on
he vagaries of our irregular verbs. As with these
10 with the use Of shall aud will. the only road to
.xact knowledge is to learn by heart their variations
n standard speech. An article on " Education in
Tapan . gives an account of the extraordinary effort,
in 1871, which the government is
making to adopt to. that country modern Western
ichool methods. The scheme on hand as promui-
ated in 1872 involves the establishment, 10 course of