The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-05-04
THE PROF.. breaches.
HE DISCUSSES GRACEFULLY on A
VERY POPULAR FAULT.
The Transgressions of "Mahope"-
Reaches Its Highest Development
In Happy Hawaii.

l was leisurely arranging my
toilet, after the invigorating pep
perings of an early morning shower
bath, when the captain and the
professor lounged in, clothed i'll
pajamas and cigarettes, and badly
tangled in an argument as to
whether we should this morning,
undertake our long deferred trip to
see the sun rise from the top OF
Tantalus. The captain, as usual,
wanted to put the exertion off until
tomorrow, by-and-by, mahope, or,
in fact, to any indefinite, future
time which would get rid Of the
whole bother for today. The pro-
fessor did not see it that way.
"See here" finally blurted out
the man of much erudition, "Im
sick of this. Either we will go
today or I'll give -" OF all
the plaques which disturb the en-
joyment Of quiet life in Hawaii,
mahope is the most aggravating;
and the bnm-by of our contented
brother from the mandarinic cou-
fines of the Yellow-land is its exas-
perating climax. One who
has spent any time among
the free-and-easy habitants of
Havana, has felt his gorge rise be-
fore the never failing manana Of the
indolent Cubian-but the to-
morrow of the West Indies, is the
present tense compared with the
indefinite futuritv of the Hawa-
iian's mohobe. When the slow
moving creole told you that your
coat would be mended manana, he
intended, in good faith, to do the
job, sometime; but who has yer
penetrated the misty horizon Of the
boundless mahopeP And the worst
of all this is, that, after one has
been soothed into somnolence by
the genial kisses of the bloom laden
oreezes of Hawaii, he becomes i'm
bued with fellow feeling for this
god Of procrastination, which leads
him to first endure, then to pity,
and finally to reform-mah0be.
All well! The present is placed
Immediately before US and we are
always scrutinizing 1t with critical
and unsatisfied eyes. The days
that are no more are recalled with
sorrowing tenderness, for memory
is always grateful. But the days
to come-the sweet mah0Pe, are
anticipated with delight unalloyed,
because they are embelished by the
impulsive fancies of desire. Why
then can we not postpone some of
the cares and anxieties of the pre-
sent moment, to the great, vacant,
unemployed hours of the delusive,
but magical mahOpe?
I'll do it tomorrow. In the
abundance Of his ingenuity, man
has invented no surer method of
cheating himself than procrastina-
ton. The period beyond the pres
ent moment is guaranteed to us by
neither promise nor pledge. To
morrow may become either today
or eternity; it will never be mahQpe.
Some forgotten sage has said: All
the good you will ever do-all the
labor you will ever do-must be
done today-for there is no to-
morrow How mad one must be
then to postpone anything import
ant upon so absolute an I'M
certainty.
Defer not till tomorrow to be wise,
Tomorrow's sun to you may never
RISE"
But should tomorrow's sun come
back, twill not bring with it the
opportunities of today.
The first example I can remem-
Der of the I'll do it tomorrow
mania, is found in the myth
history of Homer, and is, of course,
tinged with the dreamy postposi-
ton of Orientalism.
You will remember the poem
says, that Agamemnon, King of
Argos, vowed to offer up to Ar
tennis the best possession that came
into his hands during the ensuing
twelve months. This happend to
be an infant daughter, to whom he
gave the name of Iphigenia, but
the king forbore the fulfillment of
his vow. ,andby would do as
we'll. Long years afterward, when
he was on his voyage to Troy, the
fleet was wind bound at Aulis,
and Kalchas, the priest, said it was
because Agamemnon had not car
ried out his vow; so Iphigenia,
then in the pride of her woman,
hood, was bound to the alter. But
Artemis, being now satisfied, car
ried the maiden off to Tauris and
substituted a hind in her place
Thus the sorrowing, homesick
maiden signs before the Temple
of Diana in Tauris:
Beneath your leafy gloom, ye waving
bows
OF this old, shady, consecrated grove,
As in the goddess silent sanctuary,
with the same shuddering feeling forth
step,
As when trod it first. nor ever here
Doth my unquiet spirit feel at home.
Long as higher will, to which bow,
Hath kept me here concealed, still, az