The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-04-14
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON IN HAWAII
BY MABEL WING CASTLE



points. "A lovely week" he wrote o.
II, among Gods best-at least God.
sweetest works-Polynesians.
In May he went with Mr. Gilfllan tC
Molokai. where Father Damien had
died but month before. He was hall
sick with horror and dread at what he
saw. yet he stayed a week, hoping
care say. for material for story, but
/ hilnS IN his time by comforting the
/ two new workers who had come tc
! dwell among the lepers. Sister Irene
and Sister Crescentia, visiting all parts
Or the settlement, playing croquet with
! leper girls. spinning yarns with old
bind beach-comber lepers in the hos
pital, and riding much on the desolate
! Island Upon his return to Honolulu
| he wrote to Mr.. Colvin: THE sight of
! so much courage. cheerfulness and de-
Votion strung me too high to mind the
| infinite pity and horror of the sights
| of old Damien, whose weaknesses and
| perhaps worse 1 heard fully, L think
/ only the more. 1t was a European
peasant. dirty, bigoted, untruthful I'M
! wise, tricky. but superb with generosi-
| tyi residual candor and fundamental
| humor; convince him he had done
| wrong Qt might take hours of insult)
| and he would undo what he had DONE
| and like his corrector better. man
with all the CRIME and paltrinesS of
earth, but saint and hero all the more
Bulletin of June Il, find that Steven
son had sent a three hundred dollar
Westemayer piano to the girls home at
kalaupapa-surely a substantial proof
Of the deep interest he felt in the lep-
ers
Honolulu had proved too cold for Ste
venson, even if he could declare his
health 'astonishingly reinstated." Long
before this the European trip had been
abandoned, the elder Mrs. Stevenson
H.. -
were arranging to sail south again, this
time in the Equator, a trading schooner
of 62 tons, and not in the Morning Star,
as they had planned at first. The par
ty was to include the author, his wife
and step-son, Mr. Strong; the route to
cover the Gilberts, MarshallS. Philip
pines. Samoa, Tahiti and Sydney; the
diet, besides their ship supplies to be
fish and cocoanut
They sailed at half past one on the
oath of June, just six months from their
arrival in the Casco, and many of their
friends were at the wharf for good
bys. Among their farewell presents of
duck hammockS. flowers, fruits and ev-
erything they might need, was q unique
gift brought by Mr.. Frank Damon. 1t
was toy ship. which his wife had
fitted with white silk sails, and bore
the wish in golden Chinese characters:
May the winds and waves be favor
able" 1t was a dainty little ship, and
T a dainty prophecy of the bronze galley
that was to stand in San Francisco for
his memory, in Portsmouth Square, the
plaza he most frequented.
AT the very last moment, when the
Equator was ready TO set sail, the king
and some band boys drove hastily to
the dock, when Kalakaua produced the
inevitable champagne for a good bye
glass. Then, as the music of farewell
fioated out over the water, the little
schooner wendell her way out of the
harbor. headed for the South Seas.
The voyage lasted six months. until
December, when the party landed at Sa-
moa, and were so delighted with the
climate that Stevenson bought tract of
land for the purpose of settling there
''Sl4lA acres of beautiful land in the bush
behind 'Apia." 1t was soon necessary to
go to Sydney to catch up with their let
tiers and funds, and almost Immediately
upon landing, Stevenson came across in
a newspaper. a letter of DR.. Hydes con-
tanning his views of Father Damien. AL
though the traits DR.. Hyde ascribed to
Damien We're similar to those already
noted by Stevenson. DR.. Hyde's final csc
innate differed so radically from Steven
sons that the latter at once undertook
Father Damien's defence. He replied to
DR.. Hyde in a hasty public letter which
he published in pamphlet form in sgd
ney. and later, in a six-column article
in Scotch newspaper.
n lew HlOulHS DtlOIt tiiiS a PcAScAiHi
letter OF his own had been published
without his knowledge, and he had COM
planned: How disagreeable ii is to have
your private affairs and private unguard-
ed expressions getting into print! 1t
would soon sicken any one of writing
letters
II Stevenson could have known that DR.
Hyde's letter was private! If he could
have remembered his own discomfort IN
der similar circumstances! / should pre-
fer to pass over this episode in silence. |
but 1 may not do so. because it belongs
to Stevenson's Honolulu history,
and involves some of his Honolulu friends /
who were alienated by this action. To |
censure Stevenson is a thankless task |
of that 1 am well aware. so widely IS he !.
known and loved-but it is task L may |
not shirk II / would be just no less to /
Stevenson, than to our late fellow-towns- |
man DR.. Hyde.
Every piece of writing, once In print. !
has to be tried at the worlds bar of /
literary criticism, has to be judged on its !
merits. Consequently, Stevenson was |
justified in taking exception to DR..
Hyde's conclusions. If he saw fit. If this |
were all. he might be supported in his |
defence OF Father Damien, melodramatic |
rs it is. In legal pleading. however. the /
world demands a knowledge OF the cir
OF the case to be tried; and.
in dealing with il. fairness, logic and ad-
herence to facts. In all these points
fairness. logic and adherence
to facts / am forced to admit that Stew
ansons letter is somewhat lacking There !
Is also a literary charge to prefer against
him.-and a grave one for so thorough an /
that the letter is lacking |
IN proportion and in the quality OF re-
straint.-the finest of literary virtues.
To make this my final word on the
matter would be manifestly unfair
must ask you to remember that Steven
son could never do anything by halves
hat his pity for the lepers amounted TO
/ passion. his admiration for those who
lived among them was also passion,
md above all. you remember. he admired
Father Damien: that he did not recoS-
lize DR.. Hyde's letter to be a private
me. never intended for print. published
without DIR. Hydes knowledge, therefore
Tot open to public cr'ticism.-and. finally.
hat he was in an agony of fear lest the |
r,Ondon memorial 70 Damien should be |
abandoned became IF DR.. Hyde's letter, |