The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-01-20

days is learning new Methods x
The gospel will not cover q naked
back, nor fill an empty stomach. u
p. G.. ADVERTISER, Jan. 8, 1892.
Mr.. EDITOR: Your editorial in
last Saturdays issue on Help for
the sailors" from which the above
is only too abbreviated an extract
has pleased one at least of your
subscribers more than anything
else that he has seen in your col
umns for some time; and as there
is consensus of opinion abroad
that the ADVERTISER has of late be-
come vastly more newsy and
readable journal than ever before,
this is saying not a little.
The editorial has pleased me, I
reiterate, because of the liberal
spirit in which the subject is dis
cussed. "They do not want reli-
gion thrust down their throats."
No, there's the rub; and submit
that one should not be too hard on
poor Jack on account of this per-
verseness on his part, seeing that
he shares it with good many
other persons, who having had
educational advantages superior to
his consequently ought to know
better.
If home such as this, estab-
lished on the lines here laid down
by the ADVERTISER, should ever be-
come ''fait accompli" in Homo
lulu and one that l shall live to
witness, it shall be my earnest en-
deavor, Mr.. Editor, to seize every
available opportunity of exercising
such persuasive powers as [ may
be possessed of to induce the Off
GERS and sailors of foreign ships in
port to pay frequent visits to so
useful and beneficial an insti-
tuition. The crews of these
vessels are composed, not
exclusively of Americans and
Englishmen, but largely of Ger
mans and Scandlnavians, the latter
forming probably the predominant
ing element. AS 1 am familiar
with the languages of all of these
nationalities, possibly my linguistic
accomplishments may prove, for
once, of some practical use to me.
And if there be anyone who should
at all care to know the reason why
l take thus much interest in the
seafaring class, to which [ do not
belong, here is my answer.
To-day it is exactly two years
since I first landed on these shores.
Yet l am at this hour almost as
much of stranger in Honolulu as
1 was then. l pray to tho AL
mighty that there may not within
the confines of this fair city be one
other, who has felt the absence so
keenly, aye, and suffered-men-
tally and physically-so much, for
the want of just some such asylum
as that which is now being recon-
mended for the benefit of the sail
ors! And that is why [ can feel for
Jack.
To make my feeling more fully
understood, and to come at once to
the real purport of my letter, how is
it, Mr.. Editor, that so many young
men in Honolulu, of respectable
parentage, we'll brought up and
fairly educated, should be denied
so much that makes this transitory
life sweet and endurable elsewhere,
to be allowed to drift into Obscur-
ity and loneliness, q drop in the
ocean and yet not of it, God help
them, and in some cases to acquire
habits detrimental to their pros
poets and material welfare, with
no one taking any thought of them
or stretching forth the hand of
welcome, because, forsooth, they
do not happen to belong to the con-
gregation of this or that church,
or have not been admitted within
the magic circle of any given clique
of society? That there should be no
single place where the young
stranger, with o slender purse and
limited income, DESTROYS of pre-.
serving some remnant of self
esteem and decency of living, may
seek congenial companions, limo
cent recreation and a little of the
refining influence of home life and