The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-11-05

ed the natives INF endeaFed him to them.
He soon became q f~avorite on the Islands
and particularly with q young sister Of the
king. The attachment between the cast
away and the dusky maiden increased, and
it was not long before the marriage of tho
royal sister and the white god was herald
sed throughout the little kingdom.
Young's married life was a happy one,
| and in the course of time a daughter was
| born, ard she was named Margaret. She
was q pretty child and the idol Of her IA
Their. As she advanced in years her father
taught her the language Of his native land
and gaye her what education he was capa-
Bile Ct Along about that time little trad
| ing sloops manned by Samoans began to
call at the Islands at long and Irregular
| intervals, and from them some books and
| papers were obtained, and Margaret was
| taught to read and write. The child grew
to be q handsome young woman, and her
| father when one of the trading schooners
| called at tho island of his homo was per-
suaded by q missionary who was on board
to SEM her to a convent school at Samoa.
Margaret remained at school for about
four years, and during her education she
lost her heart to a handsome young Sa-
moan chief. When her education was de-
| clared completed, the chief begged for an
immediate marriage, but Margaret asked
to be allowed TO visit her father at her old
home before the ceremony should take
| place. Accordingly the first trading yes
| sci that sailed toward the Muna islands
| carried her as q passenger
She had been at home only a few weeks
when tho king was suddenly taken i'll,
| and in a few days he died. According to
| the strange custom of the people the cid
| est nephew CT unmarried niece Of the late
ruler succeeded to the throne, and Mar
garet was the eldest unmarried niece and
direct heir, and she was declared the ruler
of the islands,
The unwritten laws Of the nation do
not allow a queen to marry, the natives
claiming that the woman would be then
| dominated BIZ her husband and the hus-
band would practically be the ruler OF the
kingdom instead of his wife, who alone
inherited that right. The queen. moreover,
| was not allowed even to look upon the
form of a man, and to prevent such 8
thing being possible she was closely guard
| ed. and the palace she occupied was so
| constructed that she could not see outside
it's walls, and only two maidens were al
lowed her as companions and attendants.
When the chiefs of the nation held coun-
| ell with her, they approached the palace
with much ceremony and a beating of
tomtoms and chanting of prayers to drive
away the evil spirits and to ask divine
guidance on the coming deliberations. AS
the chiefs advanced they every few steps
Frustrated themselves on the ground. On
reaching the walls of the palace they knelt
| and with foreheads to the ground asked
the wishes of the confined ruler on the
various matters Of state. The questions
| and answers were made through the
| matched walls, all the while the queen
| being invisible to h
The council over the chiefs withdrew
with as much ceremony as they advanced
md the captive queen was left with no
| one to speak to but her two maids and
| nothing to dc but to think of her hand
some young Samoan lover, whom she
| would never see again unless he should
come with a force and rescue her from her
palace prison.
The horror of his daughters situation
! was d sad blow to tho doting father, n
he dcilv grew feebler and feebler n
wnen margaret nau been the sOrroWlng
queen Of the islands nearly two years he
sickened and died. His funeral was the
only occasion on which the queen was al
lowed to leave hor palace. and then she
saw nothing OF what was going On about
her. Al bamboo box was made 10 which
to carry her to the grayesida of her father.
Its sides aEd bottom and top were thickly
1aced with palm leaves aud SO arranged
that Ii was impossible for her to even psep
through lis oracks md obsarve what was
going orl af}os3t her. Along IFS u~pserinost
sides were placed yentIlators. but 20 shield