Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1893-02-25

to enlighten him on. | bore my testi.
mony TO the family and we then
resumed our journey, having u stand.
Ing offer 60 call there again any
time wnen passing. We walked on
y couple OF miles, wncn We were
accOsted by young man who we
iOund was teacher or preacher IN the
London mission persunHiOu. He de-
sired us TO come In and rest in his
house. While walking along q Roman
Catholic preacher also came out OF his
house to talk Ia tho first named teach
or and desired US TO rest Ia mis- house,
but we thanked him aud decided IN
keep to our first invitation anu finally
reached his house, where was the heat
teacher, an old grey headed man, read.
ing his Bible. He did not have much
Is say to us, but lett II mostly to our
couuuutor anu another young man Ia
the house. OF course our nversa.iOn
soon dri ted on to the doctrines Of our
respective religions AMI our conductor
soon showed his true character. His
semi. piOus smile SION Id one tue state
OF his heart, aud anyone VINO II
acquainted with Charles Dlckons'
DOmbey n Son would Had second Mi.
Cafker In our qunsi.religious teacher.
While taking on the gifts which fOl.
low those that believe aud which |
testified were in this Church, he In a
mocklng tone asked me II | would
please be kind enough TO turn n stone
In the hUuau there ine bread for his
spe isl ediiicatlOn. / warned him o
what such sign.seeking denoted, but
he still persisted ID wanted me 10 20
and heal n sick man Ia the
village to show him that l
had the power. | told him those
slgns only followed those that
believed and not TO please his mocking
cur Osity. A Roman Catholic chief
having come In nj the tune, listened TO
the conversation aud wanted 10 know
where the true church was. ! uid not
feel like allowing tho preciJus truths OF
our Gospel to oe ridicuied aud made
| light Of by our Samoan Ca. KeT, no
bore to HIM aud all IN the house my
testimony, tolling them to repent anu
| be bapt BED for their sins and that this
aIoue was the only true Church rocog-
uized by God. some VI them lett before
| finished, and when | ended we left,
aud further pursued our journey.
We passed the night with n friendly
native chief who trust soon will EN-
brace the Gospel, for he believes IN II
anu always makes us feel welcome.
| lie gave Us the best mis- house afforded
aud u luxurious bed for n Samoan
| house. l may say that when |
reached the mouse IN the afternoon
through my long, rocky walk, and not
having walked for some time, the ten.
| don Of my right leg was ~ spfained at
the knee that could scirceturn 1t anu
| almost fell down IN my eflorlstO walk
| FOUND. Before retiring for the night
nnsintcd 1t with some consecrasoJ oil
nnd asked the Lord's blessing on it,aad
when rose In the morning the paln
| had gone ana have not felt II since. i
know 1t WIS ouly His mere" and power
that healed II, anu to Him he the
praise. IL may be only small thing
| TO relate, but TO one travelling like my
self, asprAinei leg means CONSIDER BILE;
| lust mention This small Instance out
Of scores Of others | have experience
here, to testiiy | know that these signn
follow those that believe, but they do
not mocking sign.seekefs.
We had intended leaving early tina
next morning, but our kind host begged
us TO stay until he had cooked some
food, which he did, consisting Of bread
/
fish until the afternoon, hs begged
hard for us to stop another night 30 he
could got some better food Tor us anu
have longer chut on the Gospel. He
begged 40 hard that we could not refuse
him. We then went OIL anu visited
some other friends near, and the after.
noon soon passed away. While we
were In two OF these houses, two seps.
| Fata An ppinU an rfias au ma. alnnn M IA IA
IL the cuntotn here at the beginning OF
the new year. II IL much the same
principle as that OF the waits or musl-
clans who come around n. Christmas
time In England and play and sing
carols for money.
Here in Samoa It IL only another
form OF bsgging. A company OF
twenty, more or less, OF young men
aud women decorated up In Same N
style with leaves and flowers, appear
In front Of a house. One acts n spikes.
man aud tells the Inmates OF the mouse
that he and his company are poor aud
they want their hearers to give them n
"sigpO" or fine mat or whatever they
think the household has. They then
commence 10 dance, going through all
sorts OF gestures, many OF which are
by no means elegant, and they work
thelr bodies into all sorts OF cOntOrtiOn I
as they get worked up by their music,
which generally consists Of beating 4
stick on tin can In lieu
OF drum, which sometimes
they have; they pat their
hands together and sing some old song
belonging to their especial town OF
district, ms the case may be; keeping
this up until something Il brought oul
to them, and woe be 10 the household
that will not give them anything. III,
desire OF appreciation IL very highly
developed III samoan aud they thus
work on one another, rather than be
called pOot anu OF no account, which
certainly they would be 10y the dancing
company II they did not give them
something. They would rather pau Dor.
ize themselves and give away what
they have. spoke to many about II
VINO were grumbling at the custom
anu how II paupeslzpd them, but
there 1t rested and thn matter was moi
mended. Thus these dancing com.
panies keep 1t up all day, followed by
the fruits OF their laboIs carried on
pOles, consisting Of native cloth (sinpo'
AID all kinds OF samoan articles, which
they divide out when thoy reach their
village, stitienei and tired out by
their numerous genutlsxions and con.
toTtiOns OF their bodies. SO much fol
sal sina," or dancing parties OF New
Year beggars la Samoa, although
properly speaking there are No beg.
gaIs las We apply the term 10 tramp
Ia Amerioa) here In Samoa, there being
u pretty general distribution OF tho