Evening star., 1901-11-23
THE PEARL GIRL.

Standard
THE PEARL GIRL.
How an Army OGicer's Daughter
Earned the SObriquet.
From the San Francisco Examiner.
Miss Marie Sweet, to whom some months
age the Sultan of Sulu sent two pearls of
great price and beauty. has come in con-
| sequence to be called the pearl girl Her
father Is distinguished officer Lieut.. Col.
Sweet, of the regular army. Two years ago
he went to the Philippines as military gov
ernor of the Sulu archipelago and he has
| but recently returned from the cares and
responsibilities of governing the most diff
cult and piratical of our new brothers. shat
| tered in health and suffering from neuras-
| thenia. He is still a patient at the general
! United States military hospital in San
| Francisco, and his wife and daughter are
| there to be with him.
While Col Sweet was governor of the
| Sulus his pretty daughter sent him a pic
ture of herself 'just to remember her by
| This picture, a pose full of coquetry and
| spirit, Col. Sweet showed to the Sultan of
SUlu. The sultan was charmed.
''Muy hermosaw he exclaimed raptur-
ously
Nothing would do but he must have the
picture and. perhaps, because royalty
| even in Suu-s not to be denied and per-
|
cations, Col. Sweet yielded to him the pho
| tograph. The sultan studied it with in
! creasing enthusiasm. He wanted to know
| the color of her eyes and hair. everything
| that a fond father could tell dotng ad-
| mfrer.
Would she come to the sulu Islands?
| Would Col. Sweet send for her?"
Col. Sweet temporiZed by explaining that
| the journey was long, that the tropics are
not particularly attractive to pretty girls,
and that American girls do very much as
| they please in their own sweet way. The
sultan not easily discouraged He did
| the best he knew how. He got his mamma
by threats or commands or beseechings,
| it is not for us to know how-to send her
! hat as a present to the fascinating Amer
| lean girl
| Il somehow percolated into his inner con-
| scicusness that American girls need more
| acknowledgement very pretty girls as the
one of the photograph-and he tried the
! charm of all lands. the charm of jewels.
| From the royal collection he selected two
Of Of the finest pearls o rare beautiful per
| lets into your hand, hard and of luster
| like the moonlight on the water. With
| these he sent letter written in the quaint
| SaEskrit characteristic oldest of Aryan
! lansuages-on parchment The royal seal
| of one significance was in an upper corner
| the royal seal of another significance was in
| a lower corner 1t was carefully rolled
around little stick with ivory tips-the
| strangest letter an American girl ever got
| 1t was his first letter to a woman and 1t
read:
| The Capital Of His Highness
| The Sultan of Jolo,
NAHUM (Sulu Archipelago. P. ~,
January 90 1901.
To My Young Unknown Friend, Miss Marie
E. Sweet, in the United States. in Amer
lea. with greetings and good wishes:
| May l ask you to allow me the pleasure
| to present you with two pearls from nv
| waters in the Sulu seas and as token of
my respect to the daughter of my great
good friend, Major Sweet, the governor of
the Sulu Archipelago. and as a sign to you
| of the estimation in which your father is
held by myself and the Moro people?
Hadji Mohammed Jamaluu Hiram,
His Highness the Sultan of the Sulu Ar
| cEipe1agO.
Miss Marie Sweet tried the hat of the
| sultan's mamma on her pretty blonde head;
| she rolled the pearls he sent over her pret-
ty pink palm admiringly, and said artlessly:
| How very nice of the Sultan of Suluv'
| She did not know the significance Of the
gifts-that the sultan's mammals hat was
an heirloom, and that the gift Of it, mean
| ing an invitation to become a sultana. is
| the Sulu way of proposing marriage. When
sh- found that out she laughed. She wrote
| graceful, diplomatic letter of thanks, eX-
planning that 1t was quite impossible for
her, much to her regret, to make visit to
Sulu; and she sent this letter in the most
| original way woman has yet sent her re-
| lection OF sutor She talked it into a
| phonograph and sent the record to the sui
| tan.
This is how Miss Marie Sweet came to be
| famed as the 'pearl girl"
| She is a pearl giri' by the number of
| her pearls, as We'll as the fame of the sui
| tan's gift, for she has a beautiful and val
| liable collection Of pearls which her IA
! ther bought for her while he was in the
| Sulus. but none with such a halo of ro-
| nance as the sutan's pearls. She isn't in
deed, bothering her head about titles of any
| sort. She is more interested in music. She
plays the cornet remarkably well, and she
| has mezZo-sOprano voice of extraordinary
| range and power for so young girl. When
| Col. Sweet has recovered sufficiently her
mother plans to take her east and then to
Europe to have her voice cultivated.
| In the meantime
| We'll" says the pearl girl II have the
sultan's mammals best hat packed away
carefully and the sultan's gift of pearls
waiting to be set. Oh the hat is beauty
with peaked crown and wide brim. ever
SO fine. and just covered with silver thread
Yes. 1t certainly is beauty! And the
pearls-they're simply lovely! I wrote the
sultan letter Of thanks-what more could
do? And the pearl girl smiles a smile
Of mischief and merriment that would quite
turn the susceptible little sultan's head If he
could see It, Fancy" she says, dazzled
not in the least by the gift of the best hat
OF the mamma Of a reigning monarch
with all that that implies fancy me mar
rying the sultan!