The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-16

50 the married whale hunter passed nis life
until ne arrived az middle age.
I asked Capt. John Morris IL this was not
the correct picture OF the whalena s life.
'''No," said he, 1--WE enjoyed our lives at SEA.
There was nothing TO trouble man. He
didn't need money afoat He was sure Of
breakfast, dinner and supper. His appetite
was good. What vas there to grumble
aboutF'
Is to life. views Of life and life enjoyment,
tt is unsafe to generalizs. What, as to exist
ence, is zone nlan's meat is another mans
poison
One OF EantucketFs curiosittss q Mrs.
WClsaxe ana her private museum, Of which
Mrs. MClCave il herself the greatest cdditY.
The museum Is e this 1adys private gssi.
dence. Admirtancs Is cents. Hours from 9
to 2. T. Mrs. Nc1eavs Is q short, stout.
thick and fat lady. She gives q verbal de-
ecription Of each curiosity. She seats as
many of her patrons ss can gath@ about
table, and bids them admire collection OF
ivory napkin rings, paper knives, ETC.,
carved, according to her account, by a
"wonderful youth Of eighteen" who sailed
in her husbands ship and was somewhat
addicted to whisky. If you do not so In
spect and admire you are called to account
by Mrs. MCleave. You must carefully re-
gard whatever this show woman bids you.
She Is mandatory in her manner, and does
not hesitate to reprove visitors II, In her
estimation, their behavior or manner does
not suit her.
"Lizzief tends the door and takes the
money. You ring at the outer door. gong
sounds and a voice, apparently from the
clouds, bids you enter and walk up stairs.
This is ''Lizzie's" voice from an upper win
dow. You enter, catch a glance of the
parlors, furnished and arranged after the
precise formal, dead, cold and ifeless style,
where certain fearful family portraits gaZs
steadily at certain chairs never removed
from their places for decades, while these
chairs return the gaze of the portraits and
this entire staring and glazing Is reflected
in a ghostly mirror. tksttt
The museum is hodge-podge. Stuffed
wild cats, squirrels, tarantulas in alcohol,
shells, family portraits. anything. every
thing that this modern Mrs. farley can
gather in and cackIe over. Cackle she does
for three long hours. IF a visitor ventures
TO leave It incurs her outspoken dis.
pleasure. If yon laugh in the wrong place
Mrs. MCleave does not hesitate to ad.
minister reprOof. If she sees an Unfor.
tunate not paying due attention to the
cackle she makes him target for the at"
tention OF the audience.
Mrs McCleave's English, as Co grammar
and pronunciation, ranks among the most
interesting oe her numerous curiosities. As
TO construction. It seems to pivot mostly on
the proposition "of," which she brings In at
FREQUENT rncallei for occasions '"This
cup" she remarks. ''of which my great.
grandmother drank" or, ''this tortoise
shell comb, OF which my sister had made
in Boston. She worked many months to
earn the money TO buy IT, Of which Ii
cost seven dollars. OF which when she had
at last bought 1t, it had gone out OF
fashion,
Mrs M'Cleave has a happy faculty Of
turning anything into a curiosity. She
points out klng-crabs and sea-weed t.. n
from the Nantucket shores, frying-pans
which have no other merit than that Of be.
ing frying.pans not over forty years old,
and walnuts grown on Nantucket trees as
articles entitled TO as much interest and an
tiqusrian reverence as household furniture
dug from bun d Pompeii.
Much of Nantucket island Is held as
commons" There are ''sheep commons
and ''cows' commons" A ''sheep COM
mons" means as much land as will feed
single sheep. A "cows commons implies as
much land as win raise grass to feed one
COW. One hundred and Afty years ago
twsnty.seven people owned all the Nam
tuckeE commons" Each one OF these orig
= til.
made total of Ie. 40 ''sheep commons" It
was all plain sailing automatically as to the
division of these commons" until certain
portion of these lands wasset aside for other
purposes.
These divisions were called ''Squam,n
ssSmooth Hummocks'' and. Southeast Quar-.
ter" These became no longer ''sheep's COM
mons" But whoever had owned q Rrac-
tional part of the "commons" owned like.
wise another fractional part of the "divis-
ionsn How much land in each he might
own he didn't know g His share" says
one of the Nantucket histories, Knight con-
tain one acre or fifty acres, according 10 the
extent of the division laid out;' but 20 was
the constant denomination, and a man who
owned, say forty-five ''sheep commons" Of
the original land, or, more correctly, S.
10, 440ths OF the common land, would also DO
the owner of 45-72Oths undivided OF g GER
tain share in Southeast Quarter" OF Ger.
tain other share in ''Squam," and so on in
the several divisions"
This is not so very clear. But it is q sum
in simple addition compared to what is to
come.
Obed Mitchell. In 1921, wasn't satisfied
with the simplicity Of the matchmaking OF
the Nantucket commons He wanted a new
division and a new denominatOr. He also
wanted more land. he had good deal Of
trouble. but beng aided by Law, jaw and
the Massachusetts, State legislature. he had
made new set-oR to these commons By
this the nominator OF the fraction was
changed from TO to $50. so that if one of the
original proprietors hal been alive he would
have owned thirty-six sheep commons in the
undivided lands. and thirty-six more sheep
commons in the divided lands.
quote again from one of the many histo-
ries of Nantucket as to the amount really
owned at present by the so-called prop. ietorS
of these Nantucket Commons. This (Macy's
History says, as to the amount owned by
each proprietor: 1.-THE original idea was an
acre and a half of land but as the term in