The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-09-07

troops or servants TO wait upon them
and II they live in primitive fashion in
one or the thatched cottages OF the inte-
rior the head OF the household does all
,he work, which consists OF little more
tnan going out and cutting a few ba-
hanas or yams or custard pears. or dig
ging up some taro root to make the ma
I'onai dish. poi or chasing a pig or wild
Iowi through the forest on feast days,
or lying for hours beside some fern
shaded stream angling for fish. Life is
idyllic in those far islands OF the Pacifc.
ana had Tennyson known Hawaii he
probably would never have written
those world weary lines. Better fifty
years OF Europe than a cycle of Cath
| ay"
Among the simpler classes In Hawaii
that Is. the country people OF the inte-
rior--there is no heartache over a lack
OF up to date millinery or frocks. for.
ciapping a palm or a banana leaf upon
ner head and gracefully donnng a short
Mother Hubbard OF perchance a gayly
woven mat, the Hawaiian lady Is quite
in the south sea mode.
There are very few OF the natives OF
the Sandwich Islands who do not know
now TO read and write. and as a conse-
quence the women as a class are edu-
Gated TO greater degree than in many
communities that have had the advan-
tage OF civilization for hundreds of
years. The white women who have come
into Hawaii-mothers. wives and sis
ters OF the Americans or Englishmen
whose capital is helping to develop the
country-have set an example to the
natives which they are not slow to fol-
low. The children. too, In the kinder
gartens and the public schools are being
rapidly Anglicized.
The half caste population, families In
which the head OF the house is Portu-
guese. Chinese or Japanese and the
wife a native woman. receives greater
respect than is accorded the same class
anywhere else In the world.
There Is the family of the Chinese
Vanderbilt, for instance that of All
Fong. whose 13 daughters are said to be
the bellies of Honolulu and have long
peen the toast OF naval officers whose
ships fingered in Honolulu bay The
lovely slant eyed Misses All Fong are
said to be very we'll educated, clever
and of excellent taste. Those OF the 13
now married have bestowed their hands
and hearts and shares of All Fong's
fortune upon appreciative Caucasians.
Many Of the native Hawaiian women
are quite we'll endowed with land. and
this has of course won them fortune
hunters from other lands. who have |
gone to Hawaii to take up rice or sugar
planting. Marrying Q. Hawaiian lady |
is of course cheaper than buying .
Possibly nothing will give a better
idea OF the character of the Hawaiian |
an 10 ho
semisavage, Princess Kapiolani who
visited this country in 1887. Like all
Hawaiians. she believed that the crater
of Mount KlIauea was Inhabited by the
terrible goddess Pele, who, whenever
she was angry or offended. poured forth
a storm of fire and lava upon the land
Being convinced that Pele was a hum
bug and in order to prove II to her peo
Die and perhaps chase away any linger-
ng doubts of her own. she announced
hat on n certain day she would ascend
he mountain with her attendants and
challenge the goddess In the name of
Jehovah, the Christians God, to do her
worst.
AS they climbed the mountain side
ne of the priestesses of Pele, who lived
N the mountain, came out to urge her
lani merely laughed at the old woman {
nd went on. When they reached the
rink of the crater, looking down into
he horrible pit with it's seething lava 1
nd flames. she solemnIy invoked the !
oddess: a
These fires were knded by Jeho-
ah," said she. HE alone Is God. and r
ele is naught. / trust In Jehovah. and l
xxyflI \ |
nth fire and stone and lava as her an I
ver." +
Kapiolani cast stones and other rub d
sh into the sacred crater, and, break
q OF cluster OF the mountain berries v
cred to the goddess. she deliberately "
e them In the presence OF the priest II
ses OF Pele and her suit. She also 81
oke off the long, fine threads OF lava e.
at hung over the rocks upon the a
ountain side and which were known &
Peles hair.
There was no desecration which she I,
uio think OF which she did not offer ir
e ancient goddess OF the mountain. "a
L the voice of the volcano was attn G
'r days after the faithful waited. ex. p
citing Pele to make reply. but aha el
yer resented the affront, and with one
cord the Hawaiians disowned her.
nee then Christianity has fiourished
the island.
IN their homes the Hawaiian people q
e simple and hospitable The better II
'sses have an ideal life. being deeply Il
voted to one another. PICTURESQUE ana h
rhaps q trtfie emotional, they add TO q
rather deliberate practical charac- a
'istics or the Americans qualities ne
Ion may round out and soften some hs
the more rigid national traits. co
may not b generally known. but IN on
lwan men greatly exceed women ! oc
number. % that spinsters have de- bu
nIui range OF choice even though I'm
y remain single untii well on toward as
"fsis, fst and forty" stage. otI