The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-02-13
MORE BY HON. WOOLLEY

York the blight of the saloon is all too
visible. But here nobody i'm the rout
is poor to the naked eye nor uptidy.
nor angry, nor drunk The firm is
fast, but clean and the crowd is good
to see. One goes through the pigeon
holes Of his consciousness i'm vain for
any reason that explains the racket
as applied to the season, but reckon
that if joy, full measure pressed down
and running over, untainted bv any
bitterness is the order Of the anpiver-
sary this fills it.
The other focus of the holiday
eclipse is the postohice. One cannot
celebrate on food alone; he must have
letters. The postohice. so far as the
general public is concerned is ont Of
doors, and the whole ethnoIopy of
steamer day in this social Kaleidoscope
is on view there. The crowd is at its
best, greatly sifted and refined as
compared to that at the fish market
and with its finest emotions outermost
in obedience to the suggestion made
by truckloads of mail bags and small
army of distributing clerks.
Between the fish market and the
postoftice the natives drop out all but
few. They have little correspond
ence Their friends and their inter-
ests are all here. But the orientals
are lovers of their own people and
watch eagerly for the letter from
home. And especially at Christmas.
for Christmas is catching" and many
orientals have" it, just as their Am
erican-born children have the ailments
and the games of America The whites
IN the Islands, although greatly in the
being the employers of la
Dor and the Representatives of wealth
and education, are naturally infuen-
tial in their festivals. House domes- |
tics are in the midst of all the surface
of Christmas. Many Chinese
men have native wives and, as they
express it, plenty children" The naN
tive population is Christian to the
core in all the picnic features of the
term. The children go to Sunday
school and all the homes are vocal
with our hymns. The laborers with
their children coming home from
school with Christmas gifts in their
hands and Christmas carols on their
lips, can hardly keep the Ioadstone of
Bethlehem from getting on the needle
Of their life compass. And finally. it
IS a fact that the body of Christians
both here and in the Orient is growing
rapidly in ways that cannot be set
Town in church reports, so that it is
strictly true that In this territory.
where Buddhism and Mahommedanism
ar outbulk Christianity, the birthday
If Jesus is the great general festival of
he year.
And while the public revelry is flow
ng like torrent down the central
horoughfares, and the public lights
re fiaring and suffering on the
Gene, back from the centers on spaci-
'us lawns, where the harshest sound
S the whispering of the palms in the
rade wind that is half asleep. family
groups gather about some tropical tree
Iressed up in tinsel and candles az a
Christmas tree II
There are no pines or cedars in
Hawaii. They can be bought at the
1arket, but they come from the states
II Australasia and are high-priced
nd scrawny, as If they were seasick
n homesick. But a young palm is
with a star on, and Christ
mas lights, and half-acre lawn of
waving, blooming, fruit-laden palm,
range, guava, breadfruit, pomegran-
tie, .oleander and Transplant fenced in
With walls of hibiscus blossoms makes
wonderful drawing room.