The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-05-08
NJ. McInerny, Ltd.
Corner Merchant and Fort streets.
PROMOTE SOCIAL PURITY
BY EDUCATIONAL MEANS

plant of ''Religion not being practi-
cal. The overcoming of this one
great weakness, resulting from sheer
ignorance, would be the open sesame
to all happiness.
Let us consider first of all the up
per class. The self-indulgence of the
very rich, which is license run riot,
serves as example to thousands upon
thousands of those who have been less
fortunate in the accumulation of this
world s goods, and challenges them to
lead a life filed with similar excuses
which they can i'll afford, and which
brings ruin to themselves and the coun-
try to which they belong.
This is not saying that there are not
noble examples among the ultra rich,
which would be well worth following
who hold their wealth as sacred trust
and use it for the good of the whole
which is frequently met with here on
the Islands. We all know though that
social ambition and publicity means
virtually nothing out the aping of the
weaknesses, not the virtues, hence is a
serious peril.
A nation is composite thing, and
its strength, like that of a chain, is
gagged bv it's weakest link. Could
some of these people, who live solely
for the qualification of their senses. be
made to see the extent of their terrible
influence, their better nature would
surely rise to their rescue. Unfortu-
nately, they are usually so immersed
in personal pleasure and amusement
that a survey of the whole is impossi-
bic to them, hence they cannot reanze
the extent of their mischief; neither
can they be readily reached by others.
How do the questions agitating the
public at present fit in with the accu-
mulated wealth of humanity, which we
now represent? One would think we
had never awakened to tthe higher
potentialities of human NATURE 1t
clearly demonstrates that our develop
ment has been one-sided. Intellectual
" we are still rising, but our higher
possibilities are being safely pigeon
holed. The education of head and heart
must go hand in hand before we can
attain to greatness. Christ sees the
some far-off, divine event, toward
which the whole creation moves.' Are
we. as His would-be followers, going to
make an effort to lessen the perspective
of this great event? It remains to be
seen. The opportunities certainly are
not wanting. We,- who live in this
balmy climate, only too frequently for
get that we do not constitute the earth
and we know very little here of the for
lorn hopeIessness of the abjectly poor
of both the States and other countries,
where often starvation, death in it's
most hideous garb, drives them to crime
and suicide. To speak with Francis
G. Peabody: ''There are social condi-
lions in modern life, in which promis-
Guilty and homelessness are almost in
evitable, and where it is mockery to
talk of the sanctity of the home.'
There is a faction of the british I'M
developed. but they furnish only
small percentage on our criminal dock
ct, and can be handled easily. Then
there are the families - in which the
children are morally and irremedially
wrecked by the criminal conduct of the
parents. but even these need not be
taken into account for they are rare
with us.
These lower elements are being
reached very rapidly through educa-
tional influences. transmitted by the
children, which fact can be readily YER
fled by anyone following the work of
the school room. Miserable inspira-
tionless homes gradually change their
tone and give way to an atmosphere
of cleanliness, with pictures and flow
ers to lend an air of brightness and
cheer.
Now as we assist in equalizing social
conditions. and succeed in intoxicating
a stronger sense of self-reliance and in