The morning call., 1893-02-12
Potent Influence of a Little
Boy.
FAVORED BY A PRINCESS
An American ChiId's Unconventional
Greeting to King Kaiakaua-The
Deposed Queen.
Written for THE MORNING CALL.

steamer LIke-Llke, on which i, with large
number of others. was going down for my
first visit to the sunny kingdom of Hawaii.
We were several days out from San
Francisco, and / was sitting reading and
watching my little son, who was playing
about the deck, when tall, fair-headed
gentleman stopped beside me. removing his
hat and bowling very low as he said:
Excuse me, madam, but are not you Mrs.
CO"
"Yes," was my reply.
81 am Mr.. Cleghorn. and want to borrow
your baby for little WHILE" was his as
t0nishing reply.
"To borrow my baby ?"
"Just that Mrs. Cleghorn. the Princess
Like-Like, is still TOO i'll to leave her room.
but she wishes TO see the little boy, as /
have told her that he very much resembles
our little girl, whom she has not seen for
six months. She would have come here TO
see the child if she was not too Ill to
move"
or course that was sufficient and handed
my baby, who was two years and half old,
over to the gentleman. lie carried the
child away and kept him for some time.
When he brought him back the child
had considerable TO say about lady who
kissed him and eyed" over him. for which
reason l was rather curious to see her dusky
highness. / had not known until Mr.. Cleg-
horn spoke TO me that we were to have
royal companions on our voyage, but | had
known that the steamer was named In
honor of the Kings sister, so knew who she
was when he spoke Of her.
The day after the borrowing OF my son
| was again sitting IN my chair watching
the changing light on the waves as they
rose and fell with long languid motion
we'll calculated to make one Seasick II any,
thing would so affect one. AS | looked up
from nv book TO see what Boy might be
getting into in the way of mischief, saw Mr.
CleghOrn coming toward me with lady on
his arm she was so bundled up that |
could see no more OF her than her size at
first but when they reached the part OF the
deck upon which / sat, Mr.. Cieghorn drew
forward steamer chair and seated her
carefully in il, drawing the shawl which
she wore around her shoulders as If IL was
freezing weather. AS | had been rejoicing
in the warmth OF the summer air, l was
rather surprised TO see the shiver with which
she settled back into the depths OF her
chair and the care with which her husband
drew the wrappings around her; but when
| reflected that her whole life had been
spent in tropical Hawaii l no longer won
dered that she found this warm morning
too chill for her. When $. was comfort
ably settled Mr.. Cleghorn TUNED and intro
duced me TO her, saying:
This Is the mother OF the little boy l
brought to see you yesterday, and here is
the child" he continued, catching Boy up
and tossing him in the air as he spoke.
1t was my first meeting with royalty. and
as | was rather young and very shy | did
not feel sure OF myself and wondered how
/ ought to address the Princess, so said as
little as possible in answer to the introduc-
ton, but when Boy was brought forward
had no need 10 say a thing. for he monop-
olized the Princess whole attention.
She embraced him warmly and looked I'D
to me with the tears standing in her dark
He Is SO much like my little one. and
have not seen her for very. very long
time. am afraid she will not remember
me when get home, and that Will De so
hard. will 1t nOtP"
NV heart warmed 10 the poor woman,
who though a princess, was Still mother,
and separated from her child, so In few
minutes i found myself talking 10 her as
IL we had been friends for years instead OF
meeting for the hrst time WITHIN nan
hour
found the Prince SIS a very pleasant little
lady She was fairly well read, fond OF
music, and, as 1t happened. We had Sc
cured the same books for our sea reading;
and what with baby talk and chat about our
books. we managed to get quite we'll ac-
ouainted before the luncheon bell rang.
There were quite number OF people from
the islands among the passengers, but so far
as remember now, but one lady from there.
This was Mrs. Mott Smith, wife OF the
present Hawaiian Consul at Washington.
We had a very pleasant trip OF ten days
and in these ten days we made rapid strides
toward friendship. Boy was the link which
drew us together. Like-Llke was rs fond
of him before we reached port as If she had
been my Oldest friend Instead OF the &C
quaintance OF a week.
In personal appearance the Princess was
not very attractive. She was rather darker
than the most OF her race, probably from
the slight faint OF negro blO0d which Is said
To run In the veins OF the royal family. Her
face in repoSe was heavy, and she did not
strike strangers AT al agreeably But when
she talked with animation her face lightened
and frightened and her gloious eyes, her
only fine feature, sparkled and shone until
by their brilliancy they would have re-
| deemed n much more ugly face than the
| one from which they shone. Like all her
race she had a wealth of en-black hair.
not fine, but long and wavy. Her figure
was better than that OF most OF the Ha-
waian women of Ter age. She was some
| 80 years of age at that time, / should think,
and she moved gracefully and with sway
ing, gliding motion, as If she walked TO the
| sound OF music unheard by others.
We reached our destination and my last
glimpse of the Princess that day showed
| her to me sitting in her carriage casping a
| sbowering kisses upon little face which
| was hidden from me against the mothers
| breast.
OF course the mem bers of the royal fam
| lily were not obliged to wait for Custom
| house officials, so the Princess was far out Of
| sight before we mortals OF lesser rank got
| our impedimenta through the searcher5'
| hands.
| AS we drove to our stopping place / could
| but wonder If | should meet the Princess
/ IL rffWr AZ
| she would treat me. Ny ideas OF royal state
were very vague AS became a daughter of
the Pilgrims / felt that ! was her equal,
| but whether she would take the same view
OF the situation did not know.
| had considerable curiosity to see the
| little Princess, who, had been told 10 oked
enough like my baby to be taken for twin
sister, but | rather doubted the likeness
being so very strong My boy was very
| fair, and ] thought that the child OF n
mother so dark as the Princess must GER
| sainly show some traces OF It's dark an
cestrv, so thought that | should probably
| not see the same likeness which the mother
eyes, longing for glimpse of her darling
so long eparated from her, had seen.
| But soon had chance to see whether
| the likeness was all in the mothers eyes or
not. The second day after our arrival In
| Honolulu | sat on the veranda wishing that
| the wind might rise and let me get one
breath of good refreshing air. when Boy
| called out:
''See the Princess, mamma" and rising |
saw that carriage was standing at the
gate from which the Princess had Just
alighted. She was reaching up her arms to
take little child from the lap of her CON-
panioD, very pretty young white lady.
The two ladies came into the veranda and
| Like Like said
II have brought my little girl TO let you
see how much she resembles your boy. /
wanted you 10 see it for yourself" and she
| sat the child down upon my lap.
| AS Boy stood beside me | looked from
| face 10 face, and had TO confess that the
| resemblance was striking.
| The infant Princess was some months
younger than my boy. but she was rather
| large for her age, and the features were
| almost Identical. while. Ii any thing the