The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-11-17
SUNDAY IN HONOLULU.
Ii Puritan Sabbath with All Its Horrors
Transferred to the South Seas.

W b4O 1ONN 0O0
Letter in San Francisco Chronicle.
When our ship is drawn alongside its Hon
olulu wharf we find a few people, such as
might have come to meet their friends at
Liverpool-a few silent Chinese; and when
these have disappeared there remain only a
few men removing the Hawaiian cargo from
our ship. Leaving the wharf | walked
through the town. Are its inhabitants dead?
Has the cholera arrived? The blinds Of the
houses are closed. 1t is about breakfast time,
but no smoke issues from any chimney;
there is hardly a human figure to be seen on
the street by which ] pass out to observe
two palatial edifices. Blu alb, how blithe
and beautiful are these gardens-the waving
palm and cocoa tree, the banana, with its
hugh clusters, the superb cactus and
the ponciana, laden with the richest red
flowers, the bowers ~untenanted, the foun-
tains that play in solitude, 1t is very hot,
the thermometer far above a hundred, and
when | return from my solitary walk 1T is
with much delight that l observe one door
open; 1t is a chemists shop, and in its depths
is discernible a marble soda-fount, with bright
array of sirups and glasses. Soon | am be-
side it, wiping the persDiration from my
brow and murmuring through a parched
throat, "a glass of soda, please" A young
American raised his languid head, stared at
me listlessly and said. 1--WE do not sell soda
to-day" I looked deeper into the eye of that
youth, and a slight sign of shame came into
his face as he said, 1--WE can't buy ice on
Sunday"
1 have known what it is TO pass a sabbath"
in a small Scotch town where I had no ac-
quaintance; l have known what it is to be
waylaid by a Connecticut sabbath far away
from friends and books, and had long ago
vowed never again to incur such peril of
breaking into blasphemy; but neither in
Scotland nor in Connecticut have l ever seen
such a paralysis as fell upon Honolulu on
A. - H. &c tl4 -yoo1r ~14,
who had travelled with us had proposed to
show a few of his new acquaintance some
pictures of the island in his studio, but now
he expressed his regret that it could not be
done. But why not?" 'Oh, o could not
see them without light" But there is
Honolulu" said the photographer.
"If a window OF my place were to
be seen open on Sunday We should all get
into trouble and mine wouldn't end soon."
But where the sabbath" goes so far as to
waylay a steamships company and rob them
of their only opportunity of observing the
daily life and manners of a foreign people,
its pious accomplices ought to have the com
mon sense to know that their Sabbath" is
sure to be cheated also. Several OF our COM
pany amused the smokins-room with spicy
stories of 20 they outdid the Honolulu
Sabbath" (the phrase is proverbial), of how
buving and selling went on with closed doors
anu QllClOoCd CyFo WotSlth6 LII ItlO POllCt-
man. Some of the %shopmen said that the
policemen are bribed to detect violations of
these 'blue laws sent by New England to
his Botany bay of banished dogmas.
1t is about the only work they have
to do in the little town-to bind
this CALLING Sabbatarian yoke upon it one
day in the week. Meanwhile Boston enjoys
picture galleries all day Sunday and concerts
in the evening, and buys and sells whatever
it wants. Let not my readers suppose that
these poor Hawaiians were undergoing an
ordinary Sabbath. I feel sure that a men,
Der of our London Lords Day Association
would soon find himself regarded here as
sadly lax in his Sabbatarianism. Never was
a company more cruelty disappointed than
that of the Australia. We had some of us
come 10000 miles, hoping to see the variety
and freedom of the planet we live on, and
when we arrive at one of the fairest of
tropical islands, 10, all that is visible from
morning 10 evening is a town transformed
into the image and likeness of what Sabbath
~dismalness we left at home.