The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-01-16
NOTES OF NANTUCKET.
The Lazy Life of the People of That
Island.
Primitive HOuesty-The Decay of the
whaling BusiueSs-The XnevItas
able Fate OF Nantucket Relics.
Historic Family Names,

& Sn3 SSt1DcB EnaLl02 business Ss1D AlngeFs
abone xhe town. Whale ships icng aga
gcna Store houses, cooper shops and other
edtfcas connsce5d with that Sccupasion still
visible nezr the waters edge Generally
Imprinted. Some aharres rotted away.
Smell Of ancient fish near the water side.
Has one hank and one lawyer. Bank closes
at o'clsck 2. n. Store generally closes al
12 moon, ami reopens at P. n. Reason,
dinner. Church bells ring at noon. Signal
TO Close. Dinner Co Manchester more Inn.
rOrtant than business. Some shopkeepers
omit Formally of locking their doors. Gen.
eral reliance on universal honesty. Besides,
the percentage isagainst a thief on an island
like this, which may only be left at stated
times and SEASONS. Nantucket allopathic
AMI homeopathic doctor have Joined forces
and run drug store.
Saw on the street, certain relics of the old
Nantucket whaling merchants. Or possibly
the sons Of the pillars OF business forty years
ago. r. r. N, First Families Of Nantucket.
4ttired in black broadcloth. Middle-agsd,
grey whiskered, specialized. prim, dignifed,
and sober. Long past the freshness Of youth
Pace slow and measured. Principal events
Of their daily lives--breakfast, dinner. sup
per, the daily paper and the arrival Of the
steamboat from New Bedford. Topics Of
conversation, the weather, politics and old
times le S
Saw these specimens on tho street corner.
They looked ss II they had met on that iden.
tical cofnsS at che same hour for the last
twenty-five years, making the same remarks
q each other, compared their ideas of self.
Importance, found them still at par, and
moved away satisfied.
President Of the bank pointed out TO me.
Large man. Imposing. Supports well the
dignity OF the bank Bank seemed TO ooze
from every pore. Did not see his pores.
Covered with official broadcioth. The old.
time commercial pillars OF Nantucket never
during the hottest summers relieve them
selves OF the dignity of black broadcloth-
Historic family names of Nantucket, FoIger,
Macy, Coffin. Starbuck, Swain, Pitnan,
Hussey. Barnard. Coleman, very numerous.
Blood relationship universal. All to some
Sxtent cousins.
Neat markets sell their surplus stock at
auction on certain days Previous an
nouncement by town crier throughout the
town, thus: '"rher III be a meat OK at half
a-past ten o'clock In front OF BurgssseS
market. Corn bsefi snuttonI Iami haIf-a-
past ten o'clock, meat oxI'' Meat placed I'm
lots on tables, each lot pierced by skewer
and sold to highest bidder.
Selling OF old furniture to strangers is an.
0eher important present industry of Nan.
tacics& Visited one store filed with tables,
bureaus, tea-trays, tea.kettles, sk..leCs, pew.
Ger plates and platters, tongs, shOveIs, and.
isons, clocks, mirrors. and thousand Their
articles Of domestic use, and in domestic use
from one hundred Co two hundred years ago,
sold on commission Dealer inform d mo
that this was the inevitable fate and drift
Of many Of the Nantucket relics. AS the
older members die the younger cease 20
prize their antiques Or IL priced for q
time. cash in hand furnishes the stronger in
ducemen6. So at last the ancient family
clock, cksst and chairs go to the commission
store. The stranger buys the relic, carts it
Ell and carries il TO the mainland. les fam
lily history Is lost It commences a new
career simply as an antique. Possibly in
thirty years more, it may drift into another
commission store and for time amuse some
ether antiquarian purchaser.
Town 5ailer gets fifty dollars year salary
and house rent Has little to do jail nota
popular place OF resort Ben Franklin's
mother born here, ditto Lucretia Mott and
Tom and Maria Mitchell, astronomers ditto
Secretary Folger. Nantucket cart peculiary
has no springs; one horse; tilts slightly back
ward; open boz Tor the top; you sit in BE-
Aind; horses generally thin; by some attri.
bpted TO fish and sea- weed diet; presumably
O Islander. -
Nantur iseters have had habit Of being
bern at various distant points Oh the globe
Cause. father and mother on whale ships.
D. OF pafo
Honolulu, Rio JaneFiO or on mid ocean.
Birth entry OF some Nantucket children
Feads, 'sBogn in latitude so, north II, west
from meridian OF Green wich, son." etc.
The longevity OF the male Nantucketers II
remarkable. Octogenarians are compare
eively common. Some live too long. They
DO not know what to do with themselves,
and may keep expectant relatives too long
waiting Cor their demise and their property.
A man at eighty-four ought to have some
consideration for his possible heirs, but the
pure salt air here has remarkable preserva.
tive properties. It will so harden mans
body that It viii 70 Fuse TO crack and let out
his soul, though that soul be ever so willing
70 go.
The elder Nantucketers lament the decay
Of the whaling business. Financially it was
WEOkkLdDLS 70 . A0WS W Sno many ~ < we u
subsistence. II involved a hard, coarse life
for those engaged in 1t. sad one for those
left behind and an unnatural one for all.
The men were packed IL those small ships
for tive, three sometimes four years They
tcnched at certain ports once in Eve or six
months for provisions and water. Their
only change and recreation at sea lay in
asing and numbering whales Their
OF joy was when the lanes pierced
animals vitals and it spouted thick
- Their chief bope lay in the few hum
sd dollsEs possibly to b. paid EEsrfat the
Of the voyage, and that not to come for
Their glimpse Of shore life was
spree. If the ~naleman mar.
che bride Of month for three
returned and shipped again,
weeks stay 'on shore, for
OF similar duration. He
home. There was no
Ha kuaxv mt what Tn do