The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-04-14

On the 9th OF January. 1889, tn
beautiful white racing yacht Case,
flew into Honolulu harbor. having OF
! board the celebrated author, Robert
Louis Stevenson. With him were hi:
mother his wife and step-son, theil
servants and the ships men. For six
months they had been cruising among
| the picturesque islands of Polynesia. in
the desperate hope that the balmy airs
OF the Southern Seas would accomplish
what Switzerland and France, the Ad-
irondacks and California, had failed 70
do-namely, to restore his lungs "a
health. He himself pronounced the
cruise a great success. claiming to have
more health than any time in 10 long
years" He must as a matter of fact
have been much stronger. or he never
could have come north To- cold" Homo
lulu TO finish his book. The Master OF
Ballantr1e.s nor could he have planned
returning to- England in the summer.
and spending the winter in the mild
Madeiras
Two days after making port, the gen.
tlemen OF the Casco party visited the
palace. and were presented to the king
a week later Stevenson sent "A yellow
sonnet metre.
The Silver Ship. my King-that was
her name.
In the bright islands whence your ia
theirs came
The Silver Ship. at rest from winds and
tides.
Below your palace in your harbor
rides:
And the sea-farers. sitting safe on
shore.
Like eager merchants count their
treasure DER:
One gift they find. a strange and lovely
thing.
Now doubiy precious since it pleased a
king.
The right, my liege. is ancient as the
Tyre,
For bards to give to kings what kings
admire.
And since the gift is fitting, yours to
To golden hands the golden pearl 1
bring:
The ocean jewel to the island king"
Honolulu. Feb. 3. 1889.
1t Is all Enthusiastically poetic, but
especially the lines.
ITO golden hands the golden pearl 1
bring.
the golden hands" referring. of course.
to an earlier state of society, when all
property rights were vested in the
king 1t is interesting to know that
our Professor Scott. supposing the line
TO be a Renaissance of Stevenson
early reading of Saxon poetry. quoted
from Cardmon.
The king. the golden-handed friend of
man."
Stevenson replied:
II don't remember that In fact, I'm
rnf inf cd IN
Only in the poem. however, was the
Casco to have a permanent anchorage
in Kalakaua's harbor. for on the 18th
Of February she was packed off, to
her owner in San Francisco, carrying a
mail from the Honolulu postoffice.
Meantime the Stevensons had found
suitable winter quarters and were
speedily settled in Manuia Lanai, the
Henry Poor premises at Waikiki-the
site now owned by Mr.. Gartenburg-
We have Stevenson's own
Impressions of the place.
We need no man OF letters to tell US
the charms OF our Waikiki. 1t is a spot
FOR idleness and merriment, for music.
for poetry and dreams-but for toiling
ike a galley slave over a tragic serial
that has already begun to appear in
it is the last place on
,arthi
Little wonder. then. if Stevenson
found his task irksome-'the hardest
Job" he ever had to do" 81 am quite
worked out" he declared, and this
cursed end OF The Master hangs over
me like the arm OF the gallows; il is
4 difficult thing to write. above all in
(Machellar being the
E'uritanic Scotsman who tells the
story. and l cannot yet see my way
lear. II ! pull this of. The Master
yiil be pretty good novel. or / am the
more deceived; and even IL / don't pull
q off. it'n still have some stuff in it,
Thus he wrote, relentlessly. feverish-
y day or night. whether i'll or able to
Dc about: describing lawless doings in
snow-bOund forest OF pines and bal
sans while his tired head was cooled
Jy gentle trades" sweet with scents of
,leander and warm dry earth. The
urid book dragged on, a sore cross
% its creator. till May Il. when IL was !
inished and dedicated TO the poet Shell !
ey's son and Lady Shelley.
Stevenson had a way OF exploiting
NO or three literary projects at once, |
" dropping one for a time and begin |
ling upon another. or a third. or even |
| fourth. Soft was quite characteristic /,
" him while he was at Waikiki work |
nE on The Master TO throw of an eN- |
,uisite little poem now and then; to /
D. writing and rewriting them; TO be I,
writing and rewriting and re-re-writ- |
ng a long narrative poem; and To be !
,aying "a real lark with Mr.. Lloyd .
)sbourne in writing the amusing I
Wrong Box" About this time kala- 1