The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-12-30
IBy William .Churchill.]
[Copyright, 1894, by S. S. Mcclure
Limited. I

800 tDy N4ildHll 1NuuICtllil.J
Downright, 1894, by S. S. Mcclure.
Limfted.]
Robert Louis Stevenson won more
honors than to be. first of the romano
ers in the English tongue; he earned a
like reward for his art dn still another
speech, eminence among a nation of
tellers OF stories. He was acknowledged
by all Samoa, where his last and by
no means his least happy and fruitful
years were spent, to be IUsitala, the
teller of stories. It is no light honor
it is not so easily won; a man must have
tales to tell, art wherewith to make
the telling notable, before he can win
the approval Of these Samoans as they
sit IN the evening circles in the cool
trade lbreezes and judge of romances as
! the hospltable cigarette passes from lip
to lip.
Pride of the Samoans.
Amy Tusitala, for there are several.
ranks high in the simple state of the
Samoans. Every chief of village has
his orator, the man who in meetings of
the people or in conference with people
of other towns presents the royal pur-
pose. With the feathered wand, which
IS the ensign of his rank, ne stands be-
tore his chief and in full voice and with
skill Of words presents his case. This
it is to be Tusitala to be an orator.
pleader, master OF speech, to force
the unwilling, TO lead une ready, to
spur the hesitating, to win by arg1-
ment where argument holds. by soph-
lstry, by every rhetoric art, but to WIN
the cause and to lead men. That is
what is expected of an ordinary village
tusltala. How much more is it to be
When one is the master of speech for
chief who holds one of the royal
| names! There is greater scope there
rs fuller success. fuller failure Then
there is the tusitala for the poor pup
pet whom Germans or consuls will al
low to be the king of the Samoan peo-
pie. But higher than them all. above
every talking man, away above the
German company and above the con-
suls themselves the Samoan people
placed the master of our romance to
be as we'll the master of theirs. From
Sayaii to Manono, up the highest Of
Upola and down in the bays of Tutu-
lila, Tusftala meant Robert Louis Stew
enson in the speech of the gentle
islanders
Stevenson's Search For Health.
In 1888 Mr.. Stevenson was hunting
the earth for the spot of land and eli
mate which meant life for him, if hap
ly there were left any life to. one so
far gone in health as he. He had tried
the Mediterranean countries until he
saw that health lay not there. He had
sought the Adirondacks in the hope of
recovering strength, but the balsaqnic
airs Of the forests Of the north woods
had proved as worthless as the reek Of
the orange groves. Driven ever fur
Their afield in search of climate he came
to California in that year. He knew
what those cloudless skies and trans
parent air were; that is all set down in
the fSilverado Squatters." But for
once the climate of a state which is
all climate failed to work good. Some
where on earth he hoped there might be
a place wherein he could live and
breathe with comfort, or at least with
absence of the pain which was racking
him Beyond the Golden Gate lay the
Orient and the South Sea. He made
his choice, happily it proved, for it
added years of comfort, even of activ-
ity, to the life of a, man who seemed
scarce worth a months purchase. He
chose the South Sea.
1t was then that made his acquaint-
ance, an acquaintance since renewed
and maintained by letters with such
difficulty as hes in the fact that ques-
ton might be asked and answered in
say half a year if luck was good.
was called in as being somewhat of an
expert of the South Sea, having, in
deed, come off several years Of Voyag-
ing among the islansd.
Meeting With Stevenson.
MIR. Stevenson, wher I first saw him
in his room in the Occidental hotel in
San Francisco, was sitting UP in bed
making a. cigarette, not rightly able to
speak for the cold that oppressed him,
faggaTd from the illness that was sap
ping him, thin, pale and wan. The
first sight was something more than a
man with the blankets and counter
panes hunched up about him, it was
an impression of flowing black hair,
keen eyes and a. wonderful interlacing
of taper fingers. At this time he was
so hoarse that mis- voice had none of
the charm which was really one of the
most marked attributes of the man.
More pleasant days, and strength grow
ing in the hope that the South Sea
might indeed yield him what was no
where else for him on earth, gave
chances to hear that voice as it really
was; gentle, deep, sympathetic. But
those fingers-long, sinewy, sinuous,
never resting. either rolling the ever
lasting next cigarette or rubbing each
the other as if there were a mania of
the nerves in their tips. Those who
have never seen SteVenson'S hand may
form some idea of the fingers from the
so-called watermelon seed" picture in
which one of the forefingers seems to
reach illinaitaFbly beside the face UP in
to the hair.
Stevenson Eager For Information.
At this first meeting he seemed eager
for all that might be told of the mys-
teries Of the South Sea He asked after
the voyages of the old voyagers, he
of today, and this in one breath. Again
he caught at the name OF Bully Hayes.
the last pirate of the Pacific, and
Jumped with him the mystery of La
Perouse Names of islands and Of
groups were, of course, all new to him
and he asked again and again where
they lay and how they were pronounc-
ed. But in everything he was more than
anything else wistful to hear of the un-
mixed islanders, what was their life
and what sort of people they might be.
Cigarette followed cigarette as these
questions were put and the bed was
beautifully strewn with grains of to-
ba Geo. At odd times Mrs. Stevenson
would come in and caution him not to
use his voice so mucht. Then he would
settle himself back upon the pillows
and say: '"Ten me something that
takes a long time telling" 1t took time
this first telling Of the South Sea for
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