Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-01-15

Honolulu is peculiar and complex. The
predominance of the so-called missionary
element, the nucleus of white society in
the islands, was threatened during the clos
ing years of the reign of King Kalakaua,
who, himself queer combination of dig
nifty, dissoluteness and generosity, sur
rounded himself with a court Of adven-
turers who made burlesque of monarchy
in the Hawaiian Islands. The prestige of
the missionary element however, has
been completely re-eStablished The de-
scendants of the missionaries are the solid
people of Hawaii. They controlled the des-
TIMES of the republic, and they will be pref
ty nearly at the head Of affairs under what
ever form of government we are to get at
the hands of Congress.
The Social Atmosphere.
''These descendants of the missionaries,
1t should be said, are not of the same spirit
as their ancestors. They have been broad
ened and leavened by the influx of people
from the world In general, who, settling in
Hawaii for the love of it, refused allegiance
to social conventions which they did not
understand, and, by pursuing the tenor of
ways acquired in older civilizations where
worldliness is no vice, have gradually sue
ceeded in modifying the rigidity of the
social tenets of the former missionary ele-
ment that the social atmosphere of Homo
lulu at the present day is, on a reduced
scale as delightful as that Of Washington.
1t is a thoroughly cosmopolitan society, and
IN a rev MINOR details might even be called
unconventional by the sticklers for the
forms of older countries. The shallowness
and superiority which are social character
istics of some American and European
cities form no part of the social atmosphere
of Honolulu. The poseur, male or female
is not tolerated. Who your grand
father? is a question never asked of an
otherwise well-accredited visitor to Homo
lulu-fOr there are many charming people
there who hailing from America, Europe
or any other part of the world find it
neither necessary nor desirable to dwell
with any persistence upon their family or
individual histories.
Set High Standard.
But the stranger from another land who
presents himself for admission at the por-
tails of Honolulu society is exceedingly
likely to be asked-of course in the round
about way of colrtesy-'How much do you
krow?' The newcomer who fancies that
the society of Honolulu is in a condition of
cutter darkness and that, with a meager
store of knowledge and cheap supply of
epigram he is fitted to take the social eta
del by storm, always suffers a rude awak-
ening. 1 do not know of a social field in
the world where man is compelled to be
SO constantly on his mettle as he is in
Honolulu, for the women there, brilliant
and finished themselves, are scrupulously
exacting 10 the mental polish and social
grace Of the men with whom they asso-
ciate-not in the sense that the man, in
intendent of Sunday school or diStrib
utor of tracts, but that every rough edge
of boorishness, ignorance and intolerance
must be ch1seled from his mental makeup
before he is deemed by the women a fitting
permanency upon their invitation lists.
THE lamented Kate Field of Washington,
who died among us, was strongly impress
ed by the high tone of the Honolulu social
element.
Kate Fields Estimate.
"'Perhaps 1 am to be pardoned,' she said
| a couple of weeks after her arrival in Hon.
| olulu, for having pictured the society OF
| Honolulu, before 1 came down to the
| islands, a congregation of the tribal or
Ger, to be Interesting on account of its
| primitiveness. ! fancied that the men,
| v lille honest and capable, would probably
| be at a loss what to do with their hands
and feet on meeting a woman, and that the
| women, while no doubt excellent from the
| housekeeper's point of view, wore bonnets
| trimmed in green and yellow and read
1.-The Pilgrims Progress" for mental pas
| time.
~ cannot we'll portray the extent of nv
| pleasurab]e disappointment when discover
evening clothes than with their office coats
and that the women wear Felix costumes
| with a grace and absence of self-conscious-
| ness which l wish some Of my stunning
looking felow-Women up in the states
could COPY And when l find that the
| drawing room talk here is as scintillant
| as it is instructive, and that the people who
| do no individual thinking the merest
| hangers-on in Honolulu society, 1 am about
| ready to sharpen my quilts and engage in
| the writing of Utopian novel, the scene
of which shall be Honolulu and the time
| the present day
Drinking Is Bad Form.
/