St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1891-07-23
LIFE IN SAMOA.
mother Letter from Mr.. Ide.

Another letter has just been re-
ceived from Hon. Henry c. Ide and
through the kindness of the family
the CALIFORNIAN is enabled to pre-
sent its readers with copious ex-
tracts from it.
A visit to the Chief Justice.
Yesterday l went by boat to call
upon the Chief Justice, and the boat
could not be hauled near up to the
beach for me to get in, but when
came to the waters edge vigorous
native backed up in front OF me,
stopped over, threw a lavalava
(piece of cotton CLOTH over his back,
and | discovered that l was expect
ed to straddle him and ride 'pigback"
out to the boat, which | did IN as
dignihed a manner as possible under
the circumstances, although of course
it all seemed immensely funny to me.
When l came back, the native took
me bodily in his arms and carried
me out to the boat. The only ObJec-
ton to this mode Of locomot1 is
that the abundant supply OF cocoa
nut oil with which the people make
their toilet is apt to leave its impress
upon the white clothes which we
wear here The consul's boat has
an awning over it and is rowed by
four Samoans, so you see Mr.. Sewall
goes in state when he goes by water.
A Samoan Church.
Last Sunday attended the SamO
an church near the consulate. The
church bell consists of three sticks Of
wood Of varying length, with deep
channel cut in each Of them, which
three young people carry in their
hands as they march from the pas
tors house to the church, and beat
upon with polished sticks, keeping
time and varying the rhythm and
motion and force Of the blows so
that, with the different sizes of the
instruments, the strongest and most
weired kind of music is produced.
Two girls came to the consulate
and carried chairs into the church
for us and we were given seats inside
a railing at the front Of the church.
The church is of stone, with Win
dows without glass SO that the air
can circulate freely. The ground is
a floor, but covered with roundish
cobble stones laid like a smooth
pavement, along the center of which
from the doors to the platform is
laid a long palmetto mat or carpet,
and on each side of this are mats
reaching from the center mat to the
sides of the room, like pews, only
they simply rest upon the pavement,
mere mats or strips Of carpet. Upon
one side of the "aisle" sit the men
and boys fiat upon the mats, cross
legged, with bare arms, heads, waists
and legs. On the other side, in rows,
sit the women and girls with some
light garment over the upper part
of the body and the ''lavalava" or
garment tied about the lOinS and
reaching to the knees, with the rest
of the feet and legs bare, and hats on
their heads. The hats are worn
only on Sundays and constitute the
dress up for church, and are not
in the latest Partisan style. The
minister wore a white blouse, but
like all the rest, he was barefooted
and barelegged. He preached with
the utmost dignity, read from the
Bible and hymn book, in Samoan
language of course, prayed as earn
estlv as any minister, preached from
a text, "Dainles" (Daniel) 10: 10,
gesticulated entirely appropriately
and gracefully and was in all ways
as self possessed and devoted as any
fully dressed American clergyman.
The audience all had hymn books
and sang with great vigOr and earn
tSlIlCSS. vi (Olil NOIiI llOl I'LL
derstand word except Jesse" for
Jesus, and "Jesosolemam" for Jerusa-
lem, but the whole service was so
simple, plain, dignifed and earnest
that all thoughts of bare waists and
legs and feet vanished and one only
felt the usual feeling of reverence
and worship that comes in any
house Of religious devotion. Some
of the youngsters, sitting bolt up
right and as straight as an arrow,
were q little uneasy, and slyly pinch
ed one another, or folded a handker-
chief and tossed it up and down.
One bare legged girl kept notes of the
sermon. After the close several of