The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-06-13
KATE FIELD IN HAWAII.
How ShesAstonished and Captivated the
Honolulu Folks

| T'C. L. c." in New York Jourpal.)
was in Honolulu at the time of Miss
| Kate Field s arrival there, late last wear.
and for several months thereafter. I had
known her in the States, and when it was
announced that she was to visit the
Hawaiian Islands, partly in the In terest
OF Chicago newspaper, hut chiefly for
! the rehabilitation of her Rapidly declin-
ing health, looked forward to oapti-
waiting study OF the effect she would nro-
duee upon a community that was entire
iy new to ner. l mean captivating in
| this sense, that while Miss Field was in
some respects the most splendidly unoon-
| Ventional of women that the North
American Continent has produced, the
dominating note of ths social symphony
IN Honolulu, and. indeed, in all the
Hawaiian IslaAds, is conventionality
This could hardly be otherwise in a
| country in which the missionary ele-
ment'' having social as well as a politi-
cal and business majority. preserve in
great part the irouclad traditions and the
neatly stitched social rules of their fore
-~S>ASAS oio AOrSluOCQ6rS.
Into a social field of this character
stepped the American woman writer from
the deck OF the Mariposa A reporter for
the Pacific Commercial Advertiser. one
OF Honolulu's daily papers, interviewed
her as she was going over the steamers
gangway. Miss Field had suffered fear.
luly from seasickness on the passage
from San Francisco.
Quoth she to the newspaper man:
suppose you recall those verses
apeat wet sheet and flowing seaY
Don they make capital reading-when
one 10 in country house on a rainy af-
5erNoonf But. do you know, 1 greatly
Qoubt II the gentleman who wrote 'em-
. forgot who he was-ever got beyond the
canal boat stage in his nautical career.
otherwise, how could he have been SO
becile as to apostrophize the scar Oh,
YES, am passionately fond of life on
tne ocean wave-when it is we'll sung;
and the melody for cardboard Watch,
AhoyP quite unnerves me; but nobody
can convince me that the composers of
craft larger than fat bottomed skiff on
the Ohio River-else had they forever
life. - :
How, very unusuall" exclaimed Hon
oiulu society when this came out the
next morning. An aquatic people, born
within sound of the clanorous Sea, and
Water. could not understand Migs Fields
declaration of dislike for their fayorite
element.
Miss Field was driving In Nuuanu
street, In an open carriage, one day short
" after her arrival in Honolulu. She
noticed beautiful, bare-legged young
Kanaka girl, clad in the Short white
Mother Hubbard affected ny Kanaka
women. Miss Field had tho coach1nan
stop the carriage, and beckoned to the
girl. will you ride with me, my dear?"
she asked the bewildered Kanaka maiden,
who, after standing for moment, with
downcast eyes, stepped into the carriage.
Miss Field drove the pretty, grateful
young girl, who in all her poor, squaIid
life had never before been seated behind
| horse, out to the Waikiki Beach, and
then set her down at the hut of her
people in Iwilani, on the outskirts of
Honolulu.
"Wellp' painted Honolulu society
| open eyed
Another time, while Miss Field was
driving on the water front, she stopped to
watch the operations of u crow of Kanaka
and Portuguese laborers, who were
shovelling coal into China steamers Just
in port. While she was watching the
men at their work, the noon hour came.
Now, the Kanaka laboring man regalss
himself at luncheon with pint or quart
bottle OF that vilainous decoction of
Japanese rice fields called saki. He is
used to it, likes it, and. If he handles it
moderately, 1T apparently does him no
harm. One of the Kanaka men produced
his bottle of saki on this occasion, and
was about to take pull at it, when the
bottle was violently seized by a fellow
laborer, a burly Portuguese, who ran of
to an adjoining coal yard. The Kanaka
it is truly mild, gentle race of men
gazed after the retreating figure Of tn
thief, uttering never a word. Miss Field
had seen the whole performance.
Here" she said, handing the victim
some silver, go get some more'-and
drove off.
"Well, well, wellp' gasped Honolulu
society once more.
All Of this happened during the first
few days of Miss Fields stay in Homo
lulu. Two weeks after her arrival in the
island abe was the idol of all the women
In the city; the men We're all her slaves.
The American woman not only COM
trivialities, such as primness made ridic-
ulous and prudery made silly, which
generations Of iron bound custom had
caused the Hawaiian woman to bow to
as the ancient Kanakas bow to their god
dess Pele, but she became the object of
their imitation. Inconceivable victory
for woman-to be initiated by her sister
woman! Candor compels the statement
that some of her lady imitators made
,distressingly poor jobs OF their portrayals
and contributed prodigiously to the
hilarity of their brothers and husbands,
who snickered IN their clubs over the
startling ''breaks'' made by their women
folks in their effects to achieve the "Field
manner"
A United States war vessel, the Ben
nington, was lying in Honolulu harbor
when Miss Field arrived in the islands.
One or two of the officers of the ship HAD
met Miss Field in Washington. So they
invited her to come aboard toa ward
room supper. She went accompanied by
Mr.. Willis, the American minister to
Hawaii. Now, it is sufficiently trying
ordeal for the most accomplished man of
the world to dine in the ward room of
a ship of war, owing to the impossibility
of telling a naval officer anything new.
Kate Field, twenty minutes after ascend
ing the ships ladder, was possessed of
retinue Of score of stalwart. we'll
drilled officers of the United States navy
who yvpra ready IN Law douu thar Iivpc