The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-12-27
A TRAGEDY OF LEPRosY.
An Incident of Life i'm Our Newly Ac-
Quired Possessions.
Washington Star.

w dSIlnSlOn OldT.
The usual Honolulu crowd was down at
the dock when the steamship Australia;
seven days from San Francisco, pulled
alongside the pier on a , brilliant, balmy
women, in summer afternoon costumes a
few English and a few German women of
society, arrayed also for steamer day (Which
is Honolulu function), leaned back lam
guorously in their carriages and phaetons,
under the shade of parasols, listening to the
lazy, complimentary talk of the duck-clad,
lei-enwreathed young business men who
combined duty with pleasure in thus wait
ing for the great steamer to slip laboriously
into her measured berth beside the pier
The usual groups of silent expectant-eyed
Kanaka men stood in the shade of the pier
and yet sweet-natured. Some of the men
wore shoulder leis (wreaths of fowers) over
their labor-grimed hickory shirts. and the
Kanaka women wore leis in cross-belt over
their flowing white mother hubbardS. In
truth, the flower wreaths were everywhere
Staid, middle-aged merchants among the
whites wore them about their helmets and
straw hats, and all of the white women in
carriages had belts of Hawaiian exotics.
All of the Kanaka women had bare feet
They stood about in little groups. as silent
as the men of their race. A few of the
Kanaka women carried tiny brown babies
silent also The young women were of vary
ing degrees of beauty, their figures showing
uniform excellence of proportion
One of these Kanaka women at the dock
on this brilliant January afternoon was par
ticularly beautiful She was clad like the
rest of the women of her race She was
white silk cord with which. unlike the other
Kanaka women, she drew her white dress
about her waist emphasized the splendid,
heroic proportions of her figure. Kaomouna
seemed quite unconscious of her beauty.
The young shipping clerks, hurrying to and
their ears, stopped suddenly when they
caught sight of her. The women in the car
riages, who had not been long down from
and asked the Women Of Of longer Honolulu
residence. Who is that glorious creature?'
kaomouna, with very sad face, spoke
only an occasional word to one of the Kama
ka women.
The Australia was made fast to the pier,
and the passengers began to troop over the
gangWay. There was one man with his
pretty young wife and three-year-old little
girl The little girl was the first to catch
tom of the gangway. She quickly freed her
hand from her fathers grasp and ran
towards Kaomouna with baby words Kao-
mouna smiled at the little girl; but did not
offer to take her up. Instead she folded her
arms, looking down at the little pink-faced
child pleasantly. When the mother had
taken the little girl she raised her eyes to
look at Kaomouna.
Did you ever, in your whole life, see such
young wife of her husband in a whisper
when he came up. And Tfta seemed to
take to her Immediately. If We could only
have her for nurse for Tita!'
Kaomouna heard her.
"Kaomouna would love to be that" she
replied, in soft Kanaka-accented speech,
face. But it may not belt may not be-
and with her hands at her eyes Kaomouna
turned suddenly and disappeared among the
departing men and women of her race.
Three months later the parents of the little
girl were at the dock together to witness,
for the first time, the saddest of sights-the
departure of the lepers for the Island of
Molokai The Kilauea Hou, the leper steam
err, was out in the stream, and the lepers
were being carried out to her in barges. A
litter was borne through the roped Enclosure
for the lepers. On it lay very old Kanaka
woman in the final stages of the disease.
At the side of the litter walked Kaomou IA
Her face was very sad. The parents of the
little girl wondered. They spoke to an Off
was busy in the task of embarking the
lepers.
surely, they, said, "she does not accom-
Who Kaomouna?" replied the health Of
fetal "Oh, yes. she does. But 1t is her
secreting her old mother for a number Of
years. We always knew there was some
thing mysterious about Kaomouna-that is,
we have known 1t for the past five years.
She had made queer visits to palm hut far
over in the Nuuanu valley. Last week we
followed her-we felt there was leprosy in
it, We found her mother in the hut-Kao-
mouna had had her in hiding, trying to save
her from Molokai, ever since the disease be-
came evident. Kaomouna is not infected in
the least-she has been careful But she
elects TO follow her mother to Molokai. Ex-
traordinary! Why not at all! You do not
understand the flial devotion of Kanaka
women-men. too, for that matter. Such
cases are common enough"
The parents of the little girl looked at
each other. There were tears in the
SThat is why she folded her arms and
would not touch Tita!" she said. I'm this
world of God, civilized or uncivilized, could
there be anything more noble?
All was ready and the Kilauea Hou. with
Kaomouna and her mother on hoard. slowly
started down the harbor, the Kanakas on
the dock setting up the weird, pIaintive
death wall.