The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-12
POKER WITH STEVENSON.
THE NoYELIs1,s INTRODUCTION TO
TIE GAME IN HAWAII


Luck or tire MAN who Taught Him the Me-
lirhts or nrnw-A session with King Rknl-
aLnun-stevenson's Interceur.e with Enis
Friends and Natives while at Htonoiulu
WASHINGTON, Dec. 1l.-Turner c. Northrup,
q California grape grower, who taught Robert
Louis Stevenson how to play draw nok or. spent
O few days in Washington last week. Ho is a
typical California ranch owner in appearance,
the sort of man that Stevenson indicated a Xix.
ing for in many Of his works.
II met Stevenson when l went down to tho
islands to look into the cofTee.raising business
in Hawaii about eight years ago. said MIR.
Northrup. Stevenson vas then living with
his family in n comfortable frame house at Wal.
kiki, Il pretty suburb Of Honolulu. Every day
he would come into Honolulu in a disreputable-
looking old top buggy driven by a Kanaka boy.
On these occasions he would dismiss his coach.
man for an hour or two and prowl contontedly
through tho streets of Honolulu. He would
usually wind up these tours by repairing to the
docks, where he would engage the Kanaka
longshoremcn in talk The could speak their
language welD, and pick folklore stories out of
them, treating them generously TO their beloved
saki the while. Comparatively short as
Stevenson's residence was in Honolulu, I sup
pose no got to know more OF the Kanakas there
and was better liked by them than many Of the
whites who have spent years in the islands.
Il was down at the wharf one afternoon when
tic American steamer camo In. A Honolulu
newspaper man was with me. He pointed out
to me a man leaning abstractodly against a pilo
of fruit crates, watching the debarkation of tho
passengers. He was a dark. thin man. with a
Chinese sort Of mustache. dressed In spotlcss
white duck, and, pulled somewhat over his
large, piercing eyes he wore a broad. brimmed
straw hat with a wreath Of red and white
flowers around 1t.
" That's Stevenson my newspaper friend
told me.
The man that wrote the "Silvcrado Squat.
~tersl"' 1 asked, for l had read that book, and it
had struck me as being a mighty fine book, al
though I didn't know much about the writer of
1t except that his name was Stevenson and that
he was a c~onsumptive Scotchman. / told the
newspaper man that I'd like to meet Stevenson,
so he took me over to him.
-" Friend of mine from the coast who raises
grapes was tho way the newspaper man pre-.
sented me to the Scotchman. Stevenson seemed
to catch at the words, and he sized me up and
gave me a grip with his long, bony right hand,
which had a lot of strength in 1t for a man who
looked so delicate.
A raiser of grapesi' said he. You've an
enviable lot, Mr.. Northrup. I never perceived
the truth of the dictum. Paris is France"
Rather it should be, Frances vineyards arc
rThnCc. IL IstTdCb "o 10 SEQ twenty aCTeb
Of grapevines in bearing. I have longed for
the life of a grapeman since first / saw this pic
ture.'
well, this Scotchman had me on my hobby,
and we began to talk grapes. 1t did not take
me more than a minute to sec that he was we'll
up on the subject, and he talked of the phyl-
loxera and the black rot like a man who had
be Ref had S0r picked fe up p his fnoiwled seK Of the n,% nin Msef'
1 went into the matter with some care
when in France he said, looking hopefully to
the Information to some use.'
II suppose Stevenson. must have taken some
the pier was ali over he Invited me to drive out
to the Waikiki place In his dilapidated old
Sahssy could / went Sr5te slGnfb; Book OK qG GRe The for ;s tHS mdo
Squatters' was pretty near right with me-, and
he was an interesting. man to hear talk, besides.
his house, and the brand of Scotch whiskey
that he gave. me to drink was the kind Of
island in. the Pacific Ocean a couple Of thou.
sand miles from Nowhere stevenson got
appeared to have absolutely no effect whatever
on him: / often noticed this thing when |
WiSit t MIN nnG sft @rynr w,tb he m could tw drink H., Scotch StIt,
and strength, without even becoming flushed.
Come Go sd to think x Of it tou thOq bd1s, ! lin never yet s,t saw y
Scotchman in drinking. Stevenson rolled
cigarettes necessarily as he talked. and his
toned this cigarette business to him one day.
"I should think those things would damage
:Pogbtless they do he replied. More.
over. ! fear tho vice is unnmiable in the nos
trils of men not. addicted to it. Yet ] hardly
feel equal to the punishment of abandoning
After that first visit, Stevenson invited me
and ] was glad OF the invitation, for he was a
good fellow-he spoke the language of my tribe,
Of driving out to 5 stevenson's FMaiEiki house, suso u a
couple of times. a week, always in the evening
and generally in company with the newspaper
man who presented me to him. This news.
paper man was a Chicago boy who now own;
900 acres of the finest coffee land in bearing on
the main island Of Hawaii. The three OF us
would sit on the second'story. veranda of Stew
enson's house, smoking. sipping, w%hiskey, and
talking; although never in an obtrusive sort OF
way. He talked in SO low a tone that some
d th&ss Mo to c narS his H. Usm : 'oT Tbe d nl% IN m 9Ss
in the world couldn't help sec that Steven
son was a illustrator, a man among many mil
him. He was an admirable story teller. 90
and an excellent m~imic-which latter fact I've
written Of him: / happened to mention one
evening that when was a pretty young fel
i9w ! AMI had amt htted 9 up a schooner ca Sssrs at IT, San nrae FPbn
trading in the South Pacific. The, information
had picked VI, on this voyage about the isl
son a good deal, and he asked me many ques
tions that stumped me n bit-for he wanted tc
tics of the natives. to whom / never paid NOR,
attention than was needed to get the creates
quantity Of their cochineal and conks for tn,
smalless, quantity of cotton and beads when
was trading.
'Ono evening when the wind was pretty hiRt
and sitting on the veranda was therefore no
pleasant, Stevenson invited us in to his den fol
q game Of cribbage. The newspaper man didni
feel like playing, for his eye had caught sight OF
q lot of queer books, as soon a. we reached
Steyenson's library den, and he wriggled on
Of tho game in order to have 9 chance to loci
was a pretty good player. without being par
ticuiarly lucky. didn't take much intores
any kind Of a card game except poker, anyhow
After we had played a couple Of games OF crib
each of us winning one, said / to Stevenson:
WHATS the matter with n two-handed gam'
of penny, ante pokcrf
".Nothing whatever the matter said he, 'ex
cept that l can't play the game, anxious as w
, been to learn II since first l read Bret Harte
Are you a good playerf
well. this was kind o. mixing 1t UP a bi
with me, and the best could do was to tel
him that ! knew the difference between an ac'
full and n pair of fours.
American way of saying that you know al
about it. said SteyensOn. Teach me poker