The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1883-06-09
A Father to His Daughter.

'Tis a long time since 1 have seen thy face my
child. When last we were beneath one roof thou
vast . helpless infant, and when last We parted
and 1 held thee Ia my arms and kissed thy
cherub lips you smiled in sweet Inconsistencies
of all the agony which then did reud thy fathers
breast. Fifteen years that have elapsed since then
have only deepened the grief OF that parting
hour; and now that they teH me that thou hast
grown a gentle lovely child, l long once more TO
press thy lips TO mine and clasp thee to my
heart. In thy pictured lineaments, which they
have sent me from time TO time, ! see the pride
and beauty of thy mothers face and ieel that
she who gave my daughter TO my arms and died,
now lives again in thee. Aud have they told
thee of thy father?-how he wanders far away
from home and friends seeking to regain that
which he took away from thee and thine? No., /
believe they have told thee nought, for thus
have 1 commanded. And ere unfriendlv lips
may taunt thee with a misfortune which l have
brought upon thy innocence 1t is fitting that thy
father, who loves thee more than his own life,
should tell 1t all, and thus prepare thee for the
trials that are to come. Thy mother was of
noble blood, the heiress of imperial wealth, born
to the privilege of rank, endowed with an angelic
soul, gracefully bodied forth in transcendent
beauty. 1 came from the rude, bnt enterprising
West, the inheriter of nought, but a plebian
sire's ungodly thirst for gain, and yet l had n
heart as tender and emotional as any child's.
To the eastern land where your mothers father
lived, III an ancient mansion situated amid pict-
uresque mountains, L came as a traveller and
WIS WIN hOoBlidAltN. 4Out
mother then was scarcely seventeen when we
first met. 1t is strange how two Young souls will
sometimes seem to mate, as if nature had de-
signed them for consummate union from the
first. Across the chasm of II brief but event
full years / can still look back to the very time
when our eyes first met, and as / do so the old
impulse comes over me and the love that was so
true and yet so fatal glows once again; and
fancy once more brings before me Il faithful
picture of the heavenly maid as she appeared
when 1 accidentally net her in the stately
p~aternal hall half reclining upon an old-fashioned
sofa reading aloud the first verses of SCOTS
Lady of the Lake. The soft deep tones of her
voice penetrated my heart and 1 paused in
voluntarily to listen. She thought that no one
was near, and / almost felt that it was wrong to
look or listen, yet her voice and especially her
face enchanted me, ard l could not resist. I'm
consciously I drew nearer step by step, and sud-
denly she arose with 4 start like one aroused
from \ dream. Her dark eyes glistening with
the beauty of gentle fear and surprise met mine,
and then l tried to speak, but my tongue refused
to syllable a single word, and 1 stood for Il mo-
ment in awkward silence. Then she moved
slowly backward as if to flee, and instantly
expression came back to me. 1 fastened
to solicit pardon. She did not deign to
reply, but seemed to look ccldly upon me.
This stung my veiy soul into fire and zeal.
l was determined from that instant that she
should love me. With an ardor of eloquence
which only affection in despair could command,
/ begged her not TO fly but to listen if only for
one minute. Soon she assumed a geneler aspect
and by and by began to speak in milder terms
and ere we parteI / led her before her father
and asked her hand in marriage. Was it in
fatuation ? Perhaps it was.
II.
/ was denied the right henceforth of meeting
her whom I loved so much but youthful affec-
ton. when it is true and reciprocal, cannot be
thwarted by men. We met secretly u few times
and in the impetuosity of youthful devotion she
consented 10 ignore her fathers iujUnctions and
left her home, and joined her destiny with NINE.
Her father in his anger disowned his disobedient
daughter, and, before time had recouciled him
to the inevitable, death snatched him prema-
turely away. His luuded estates and personal
property all passed into the hands of distant
relatives. You, my daughter, were born, and
when your disownsd mother soon after died /
was accused Of bringing ruin upon her innocent
and promising yOunS life. When you grow
older you will be received by no society which
you are entitled TO more among, until your
father forces down tho conventional barriers,
which are even now around you. This is q
strange world prepare for u life OF struggle, toll
and disappointment If you expect to rise by the
force of your character above the mass Of your
fellow beings. Now, you cannot understand
my words, perhaps, but when you grow older let
them be your guide for I have thy greatest vel
) fare ut heart. I love thee Us I loved thy mother
for in thee 1 see she lives again. Fortune I VIII
thee and none shall thwart my efforts, because
there is that within me which can withstand
time and torture something unearthly which
assures me of ultimate success. Aud now I
bless heo child in this far distant land I bless
thee : Thou art a portion of my life-l link con-
Meeting the present with the fatality OF tia -.
- and 1 can never forget thee, farewell