Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-07-14


silence. Then the old gentleman be.
came reminiscent.
"Sbe woa tbrea yoors o,j ,rho a.,
old woman died. and the how here
well, he could Just toddle about. hold.
ing on to his mothers skirts Tbere
were some who blamed me for taking
her to that outlandish New Britain
where the people are real sayaoes. and
not civilized like here. But what was
1 to do? I'd been trading for McAlis-
ter e. Co.-you've heard Of them. L sun
pose?-when the firm broke M and T
was left stranded on the beach T
hadn't had chance to saye mucb o,d
there was the wife and child 70 lraan
When l got the offer to 90 to New
Britain and open up some new trad.
ing stations, / jumped Mt II without
thinking overmuch of the risI,
II was a fool. I know and now IL
I could only take it oll hack - Ho
took another cup of kava 70 hide bis
emotion.
l could think of notb;no onnronr;o+o
to saw. so T sat and wo;ted MI 49,
girl. souattinp on tho aoor 1ooI.od ',,s
in her masters face and thonobtf,,Ilpp
began to prepare n second Iowl of
kava.
AT last he resumed tho brol,or NOV
ratiye: "We GOT on all rigbt os low aa
we were at the head station -
there were several wbitas or,1 ~
natives had. in q way Ieorrad 900
manners. But when went owou ~
distant parts of tbe isle to onan
new stations beoon 70 feaI sorr,, that
I'd brouobt tbe m;ssuo w;th ~, d.
she would not hear of oo;ng bocl, nat
she; she swore she'd sticI, TO- wv NV
through thick and tbin and co sba IA
till the end. '--0 '''
"But to cut n lone story sbor+
We opnned nm thraa o4 forr s+ot;on. ;o, =,
safely enouoh we nsad 70 no ;ra1
ourselves. in n boot With onr hov 'N of
trade and II crew Of four bovs fron,
the Duke of York,s isle Tlar ,onl
more afraid of being eaten tEom wo
were, so they stuck to ns nrettv cIoso
'It was the cheek of the thinn thot
did it, and 7 wonder now wIen T 7
look back. that we we're not hilIoJ n,d
cooked a dozen times over The no.
tives simply could not understand =
white man coming among them like
that all alone, and they were 90 aston
ished that thew forgot TO attack nc
"They were n Door lot of eoynges
and if YOU gave one of them n niece of
print he would hang it aroilnd his
neck aud walk away rs nrond 40
Punch. They were ALWAYS figbt;n,r
among themselves. and thougIt no
more of killing a man than we wonld
of shooting pigeon. Whv I've sean
a Young fellow executed there inst for
stealing a cocoanut off n chiefs tree
and if they had dared thew wonld
have killed me Just as readily for the
sake of nv trade.
"They hadn't much TO buv Goods
with, either, little copra and some
beche-demer and pearl shells Tbay
wanted axes and tomahawks and
knives. but most of all tbev wonteJ
tobacco .pipes.- common cl9v mines
What they did with them r DONE
know, for they did not buy anv TO-
bacco. Kept them as n sort of idol or
! fetish. | SuOnOSe. They would soil
everything thew had to oct n nina aud
especiallv n black one. and II ,ros ha'
conse of those cursed mines tho+ T,os+
nv wife and nearly lost NV own Iifo
too. Perhaps it mioht have been 90
we'll. !" he added desoondantIv "
"Nonsensa man Ut ;ntornosad 80
cheerfully as 7 could. "bnt how did
it happen. tell me abont II '''
eft wos tbe forrtb nlooo T u,o. T
think n wild mart whare no m;ss;nn-
ary had ever dared 70 set bia font
We were a long WOW fron tha mo;n
station, and 7 had 70 dement, nmnn
myself entirelv n vos m ~ tI,o III III
of n deem bov and tbara wara m lnt @ as
monnroves remembor nraU;na ~
oIoro ths boocb o,J tba,, %, 1 80
m steen honi tan % nr tusi,a sTu "ens soat
bigh ON top of wbioL wa, tho '.;,,i ,ee'
1Wau +bo ch;ef woo rorr ~, =.
soo mo. Ia so;d H. ootSS5 81 "
trader bodlv md inyitoJ mo 70 stnn tow