The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-03-24

HONOLULU, Dec. &c, 1S95.-Had yes
terday been the Fourth of July there
could not have been less peace on earth.
Firecrackers took possession of the
town. Considering the many Sunday
schools. and the knowledge among, jul
veniles of all races of the significance
of the day, this anomalous demonstra-
ton would surprise me, had not ceased
to be surprised at anything occurring
on these islands A country that rains
without provocation and stops raining
without provocation; that is even &C.
centric enough to invent a rain war
ranted to wet but one side of the street;
that stamps out cholera in few weeks,
though Honolulu has no sewerage sys-
TEN; country that makes revolutions
almost without bIoodshed and sup
presses instructions through the me-
dunn of those who led them; a coun-
try that has one season all the year
around. where all signs fail and mo-
notony kills time, is without precedent,
and can be judged by no foreign stand
ard
Yes. [ listened to the Christmas ser
vice at the English church (St. An
drew's CathedraD to an accompaniment
of firecrackers. Don't assume that these
crackers supplied the place of an organ.
They supplemented it from without.
Never a door or window is shut in Ho-
noIuIu from January to December, so
what goes on in the open concerns the
preacher, the speaker and the musician.
Stone pavements would make life a
burden.
/ fancy that the use of firecrackers on
Christmas is due to heterogeneous lot
OF boys, who, having no proper vent for
their animal spirits, seek solace in the
most noise to be had for the least
money. A departing circus that for
weeks has reaped a rich harvest rather
cIinches a theory that am ready to re-
nounce ON the presentation of a better.
Christianizing of the Chinese.
Whatever doubt there may be as to
the advisability of attempting to
Christianize the Chinese on their ma
tive heath, there can be no question
about the value of the work done here
among the Chinese by F. w. Damon,
q
Father Damon, and a brother of S. NJ.
Damon, the present Minister of Fin
ance. AS sat on Christmas eve in the
Chinese church, crowded to suffocation
with the parents, sisters, cousins and
aunts of the children who were to cele-
brate the birth of Christ, 1 saw some
good in a system of contract labor that
in a few years has well-night converted
these islands into an ASiatic colony.
Assuming that the majority of Chinese
Darents send their children to Sunday
school for the purpose of gaining knowl-
edge of English, Anglo-Saxon influence
is bound to impress plant children. The
growth of seed thus planted may be
slow, but with so tenacious race it is
sure. The Chinese have memories.
why do you put all the women on
one side of the church and all the men
on the other?" l asked Mr.. Damon, who
was talking Chinese to the boys engag-
ed in lighting the great Christmas tree.
Because it is the Chinese custom.
In China a partition separates the sexes
in public. We have done away with
that. but we can't reform too fast, you
know. Some of our boys have cut off
their pigtails and gradually we are
making Roadway. Did you know that
this country is the first to abolish the
small feet torture? No Chinese girls
born or reared here can be subjected to
that outrage.
So the leaven works.
The exercises that evening consisted
of songs, anthems and recitations, as
well rendered as could be expected from
little people who, with the least of mu-
steal ears, are wrestling with a strange
tongue and a new kind of civilization.
What struck me most was the earnest
ness of the wee kindergarteners and
the intense interest of the adult audi
ence, arrayed in their finest silks and
embroideries, when they had them.
Mothers with babies, little girls carry
ing younger children, listened and look
ed with an eagerness that, to me, was
pathetic. That night was an oasis in
their patient, barren, Woodworking
lives.
At the Portuguese Celebration.
To attend two Sunday school celebra-
tons in four languages in o. night is
a feat which l performed on Christmas
eve for the first and probably last time
in my life. Not far from the Chinese
church is the Portuguese, which was
filled with we'll dressed childrenk and
their parents and friends Portugal is
far nearer American than China, and,
OF course, the singing and recitations
were better. In fact, there was nothing
remarkable in this exhibition, except
the advance of the children over their
parents Vivacity of expression was far
more apparent in the Latin than in the
Monaghan faces. The little imp that
sat beside me was as pronounced a f1irt
as ever saw in short petticoats. Fix
ing her bright eyes first on my japanese
fan and then on me, she undertook to
bx,1ro+;1o tho fan away from me When