The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-09

COMMERCIAL ADVERTISER.
TIE VICTIM OF TATTOO.
His Mature suferings for His
Early offense Against Taste.
RecoIIecffons OF the Tattoo Fever.
The Difference OF standpoimE Bes
tween Fourteen and Forty.
TndeltbIe Affections.

1nera IS one 1dIocT peculiar TO e1brsIns
youth thar the mature man Of the world re-
grets with greater bitterness than any Of bis
sins, however scarlet and that is his mania for
having himself tattooed. 1t came upon him
before he was sophisticated, when his mind
was uniformed and totally unable to compre-
bend the sin egainst taste he was about to
commit
He wonders as he thinks it over from the
settled standpoint of forty years, how he
could ever have been such fool. Why he
should have planned and conspired and SUI
fered in order to have his person disfgured,
under the helIucination that it was being
beautifed he cannot now understand. He
simply realizes that the mind at ?orty looks
at thiD"s very differently from What 1t did
et fourteen.
: There Is something sad as well Gs ludicreus
in his recollectiens Of the days when he had
his epidermis indelibly illustrated. He re-
calls the anxious thought he gave to the
subject, the days when he talked it over
with admired chums Who were far In adj
vance of him in exterior decoration, and
whose legs and arms, and hands and feet,
were covered with every device known to
tattoo artists And the fear Of parental
disapproval he remembers very distinctlyG
but 1t did not save him future humiliation
He wonders why he was possessed of SO
much tenn a1ity and so little sense. How
anx lous he was to have it done, let the lash
of parental wrath fall heavily as 1t might
What thought he gave TO It; how inhamed
his mind became as he lay wakeful night
after night thinking Of this momentous
event
And after he had decided to take all risks
and have it done, what severe thought he
gave to the style of picture and the notices
which were to be put upon him. Tattooing
being perpstuated by seafaring men, most
Of its designs are Of a maritime character
Ships, anchors, flags, stars, crosses and
inhabitants Of ths deep figure extensively.
The mature victim of tattooing gives
smile Of pity to his early self as he remem.
bers that one of the arguments which lured
him on in tattooing depravity was thatonce
on the design could never be taken off. This
peculiarly which then seemed so admirable
has been the grief Of his manhood. He was
not content to have his arms and legs illus
trated, he let the tattooer's fancy have full
swing on the back OF one of his banda
There it is, in full sight, shaming him with
the vulgar tastes of his boyheod through a
long and esthetic life.
He resorts to gloves whenever it is possible
to do so; but when he dimes among fair
women and brave men the anchor on his
hand chains him TO earth as nothing else
could How can he soar with that indelibie
proof of early vulgarity before all mems
eyesa BE magniles this modest picture int
q panorama Of hideous scenes. He hates 1t
worse than he hates all his vices. open and
concealed. In the midst of his success it re-
Dukes him; hen his pride is most exalted 1t
hunbles him. If his conscience were half So
capable of calling him to order his life would
be srear from mistakes
His horror of the embellishments on bis
hand is largely enhanced by the knowledge
that his arm Is covered with notices and
the Tags Of all nations. In his green and
salad days he took great fancy to the
motto Of Chevalier Bayard, without fear
and without reproach," and he'd it put on
his arm indelibly. When he Is cringing
with shame over his dishgured hand he
thinks Of this and bushes redder than ever.
In bis days Of leve-making he tells his
sweetheart how much ashamed of his India
ink decorat rs he is; grows confidential and
be1noans bis boyish folly, then tries to laugh
about il in mirthless way.
When he sees another man all scraw1ed
over with maritime emblems, be is made as
diabelically happy az tame parrot when
he sees one Of bis own kind, native to the
forest, ensnarsd. For the time it seems to
relieve him of his own misery.
He doesn't mind what Other men think or
say about his Disbursements. Eut he is mis-
cradle when he remembers how women hate
II fa ha7 az him
his sins, his weaknesses, his follies he can
conceal. but this hornely stamp OF boyisn
idiocy goads him worse than any other LASH
It cuts into his vanity, not his conscience,
and any wound in that tender locality IS
very painful and slow to heal.
He exaggerates the hidecusness of the
decorations on his epidermis Really othere
scarcely give them thought, but he can't
realize that. He is the great figure in the
universe in his own opinion, and anything
like blot upon his fair exterior is a con-
tinual menace to his peace OF mind
Perhaps it is heart with dagger
through it which ornaments the beck of his
hand This being che case, he Is compelled
TO hear a thousand witless witticisms abeut
wearing his heart even more cOnspicuously
than upon his sleeve.
He would be willing to go back and live
his life all over again If he could. just for
the sake OF going through it without those
hateful marks upon hiru. he signs as no
Remembers that they will go with him to
his grave.
The man who dyes his hair goes smiling
through life unconscious of the figure he
cuts, and never losing wink Of sleep on
account OF wounded vanity. Even the man
who wears wig, the corpulent man and
the man with queer eyes are cheerful and
apparently without a fragment of worri-
nent on their minds. while the man with a
few foolish dabs OF pigment on his hand or
wrist spends hours in self-torture over what
Is simply looked upon as the record of a
childish fancy.
There are. in all probability, very much
moro Objectionable pictures on his soul, but
ne gives them no particular attention. They
neither disturb his sleep nor distress him
when he is awake He would gladly ex.
change the tattooed heart on his hand for
eight or ten OF them and think it a great
bargain. Curious, isn't it, that a blemisI
on his body should seem so deplorable to g
human being, while the frescoing on his soul
IL Of no moment to him. but OF just such
contemplate stuff are we men made.
n