The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-09-12


after: This reminds me Of little dam
sci 1 know who Is always making de-
Iightful breaks, . and who once inquir-
ed, Mother, what part OF heaven 90
people 90 TO who are good, but not agree
abls:''
Keeping up appearances Is surely al
excusabie affectation- It is on the side
Of setting a good example. What good
men conceal is not their virtues, while
bad men pay virtue the compliment ar
least Of Disgusting themselves in her
outward seTnblance. Assume virtue if
you have it not. Doubtless it Is best, on
the whole, that public career should so
frequently show Of the person who has
lived it, like his epitaph, after death,
Not what he was, but what he should have
been.
The gulf between the apparent and
the actual is not so impossibly wide.
To be something and TO appear IL are
indeed two quite different matters, yet
in our time the latter is often the step
ping stone to the former.
Love itself Is gorgeous fabric Of ar
tifcialities. Some philosophers have
undertaken 70 prove 70 Us that modern
romantic love IS entirely q product Of
latter day aesthetics, developed from the
fantastic chivalry Of the middle ages.
Certainly the passion portrayed in tn
epics and odes of antiquity, though he
roic enough, is far grosser, more SIMS
ter and more material than the exqui
site sentiment, the Glove that is passion
essence, " in Rousseau, for example, or
the fine, fervid exaltation of Tennyson.
No; love in our era Is, as compared
with the classic days of old, far more
delicate, far more spiritual and far more
artificial Today the adorer beholds the
adored one encircled with such MIN
bus Of ideality as can only be approach
ed by a somewhat kindred perfection;
hence a studious cOncealment Of de-
fects, q sudden bourgeoning out Of quail
tiles, general putting on Of grace
And, on the other side, the adored one
is probably making equally strenuous
efforts to appear in a favorable, even
though artificial, light Thus we see
artifciality in its nOblest aspect-that
of a striving after the ideal.
But are not such ideals predestined
to disillusion and disappointment? Dis
illusion, no doubt. But why be migrate
full? Why expect too much? The denoue-
ment of happy dream is necessarily the
awakening, yet I fancy all will admit
that in such case it's better to have so
dreamed and weakened than never TO
have dreamed at all or than to have
had bad dreams Love is the dream,
marriage the waking. Quite pertinently
does Byron ask:
Think you if Laura had been Petrarch s wife
He hR 4
OF course not There was something
palpably artificial about Petrarch' 8 well
sung devotion 20 the lovely Provencal.
But the world is agreed that this i'm
mortal fantasy was worth quite as much
as the solid reality possessed by Laura
husband, NJ. de SADIE, who was COM
monplace and rather morOse bourgeois
of Avignon.
What is duty? That which we exact
Of others, wittily answers Dumas fils-
Well, ore of the things we are most
certain to exact of others is good man
ners. Good manners, like charity, should
begin ~ home. We must set a good ex-
ample IL this respect, especially we WO-
men, whose prerOgatiye Of adminisre--
ing the unwritten laws in polite society
and in matters OF taste [ believe even
our most churlish critics have not q
vet challenged. The FIVE talents Of VIC
man, according to Ruskin, are those
which enable her, first, 10 please people;
second 10 feed them in dainty ways:
third. TO clothe them; fourth, TO keep
them orderly, and, fifth, to teach them
Pray, how i she to fulfill all or any Of
these duties il you deny her the rightCo
I, roll
which inspires all the rest, her talent
for artiiciality, for the arts of afectation
&no Discrimination: Virtue itself fails
10 please unless II be clothed IN gentle
ness and grace, and, as Miss Edgewor1E
has told Us, even vice loses half its evil
by losing all It's Erossness.
: On the masculine side take the Due
d. 1-ornE's succinct illustration Of po-
likeness. a polite person, he declar-
ed. is one who listens with interest To
things ne knows all about when the
are discussed by a person who knows
nothing about them. Then the polite
ness Of the man OF the world. which L.
truth stands for our modern ChiyaLrys
IS obviously Incompatible with ONT
spoken UIartifCiality.
In the matter OF hospitality this Ques-
zion touches Us very nearly. Did you
ever feel your heart warm to the win
ming etfusi0n Of q southern welcome
and half unconsciously contrast II with
the glacial sincerity of the reception
Won got when you first presented your
self Is stranger somewhere in Eng
land. for instance? Not but that the
English hospitality was true hearted
and genuine, but, alas! 1t was masked
in that stony British formaliry which
as q matter of fact Is quite Is prepOster-
Gus an afFectation rs the superficial ez-
travagaDce with which all Anglo Sax
ons reproaoh all Latins. If YOU desire
really to appreciate them both, 10 enjoy
your visit for all 1t Is worth, You must
never dream Of taking either one or the
other OF them literally At his word.
Let rs deprecate 50 far IS we can the
| conventional TRADES against convention
ality, against artiiciaiJy. II by force
of repetition they end bv almost per