The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-31
COLONY OF ESTHETES.
LITE OF THE GIBBONlTES ON AN
 ISLAND IN THE PACIFIC.
the Greek Costume and of Some Greek Customs A Woman's Account of the vTsSd ia Lf

Undertaking.
 On a palm-fringed island in the northern part of the Samoan group a colony of esthetes are trying to live as
 did the Greeks in the days of their greatest glory, says the San Francisco
 Examiner. They call their sea-washed
 home Hay Nasos Kalla."
 The first news of this remarkable
 colony has just reached San Francisco
 In a letter written by Miss Adelaide
 King, a. music teacher who left there tsix months ago for the 'Island Beauti- full"
 According to Miss Kings letter, the
 oolcnists are thoroughly delighted with
 their experiment. Their leaders and
 the original promoters of the plan are
 MT. and Mrs Wilfred Gibbons, who
 formerly lived in Boston. The Gibbon-
 ites have adopted the dress of the an oient Athenians, and the life they lead in the tropics Is an odd combination of ancient Greek and modern customs. | We believe in the doctrine of beau l ty," writes Miss King. Not only do we strive to obtain physical beauty, but we have freed ourselves from the sor- did and hideous things that smirch so- called civilization, We have adopted the beautiful Greek dress, their system of making music and gymnastic exer- cise-important factors in education Though we women dress like the Greek women, our position in affairs Is dis tinctly modern. We have the social and political rights which the new wo- man craves.'
 Miss King met MT. and Mrs. Gibbons at a lecture in Chicago. They were touring the east giving talks on physi- cal training and esthetic dress. Their lectures were usually under the auspi ces of some club, and, like the esthetic Russell who lectured oi1 the same lines some years ago, attracted large fol- lowing. Wherever they went they pro- posed the South Sea colony scheme, and wear ago, with band of about one hundred eager disciples, set sail for their island home Several converts have since joined them, among them Miss King
 The island on which the Gibbonites have settled is not far from Gente Her. mosa and they were enabled to make a satisfactory treaty with the natives through the influence of one of the Jen- nings of Gente Hermosa. The story os the colonization of Gente Hermoso is itself intensely interesting and encour-
 ta oat it, hotr vicinity. Some forty years ago a young Yankee skipper Eli Jennings, was sailing around the Horn on wha- Ter for the Hawaiian Islands. The ship stopped at Gente Hermosa for wa ter and fruit, and Jennings was charmed with the spot and the primi- tive courtesy of the natives. He sailed away to Honolulu with vague idea of some day returning to the South Sea. At Honolulu he quit the whaler but the methods of his countrymen in dealing l with the Hawaiians did not dovetail l with Jennings idea of how the natives should be treated. In year he was back at Gente Hermosa
 The story of Jennings life on that bit | of land far off in the South Sea is like | a page from fiction. He learned the | Samoan language, married Samoan | girl and, like Robinson Crusoe, was undisputed lord of all he surveyed He induced several English sailors to come and live on .Gente Hermosa. English became the language of the island, and | the natives were taught industry and | morality.
 Jennings placed the Stars and Stripes +nI oil who | and contentment on Gente Hermosa had to swear allegiance to the Ameri- I can flag He never gave up his conten- ton that he had added Gente Hermosa to the United States When he became rich in the copra trade he procured |! American books and an American teacher from Honolulu, and all of his many dusky- skinned children were