The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-01-08
OUR ISLAND CHILDREN.
UNCLE SiM'S NEW- PROTE-
GEES

Brown People, Whose Children, who
Once Ran wild la the Woods. are
Now Being Educated.
Almost exactly in the middle Of those
islands which are sprinkled over the
South Pacific ocean TO the eastward Of
Australia lies the Samoan group. four
islands of which Uncle Sam recently
has taken under his care.
On the largest of these, Tutuila. he
has built a naval station. where men
of-war can get coal and other supplies,
and where. in sheltered harbOr, they
can take refuge from the fierce storms
which sometimes sweep over that part
of the ocean. Here flies the American
flag, and here American laws and
American civilization are gradually
winning the natives from their old saw
age ways of life.
About sixty miles east of Tutuila lies
the next largest island. Manua, and
near it are the two smaller islands that
also belong to Uncle Sam.
There are about six thousand people
On these islands, and about a thousand
of them are children.
The people are not black, but they
are of light brown and yellow COM
plexion. AS it is warm there all the
time they do not bother themselves
with much clothing. When the Amerl-
cans came to the islands they found
that, while the children were apparent
ly running wild in the thick tropical
woods, they knew what an education
meant, and many of them were attend
ing school.
Missionaries had dwelled there and
converted the natives to Christianity,
and wherever the missionaries had
built a church they had opened
school.
But the missionaries, being mostly
English people, had not taught the
children much about the history of the
limited States. Probably the Revolu-
tionary war and the war of 1872 were
not subjects on which they cared to
dwell.
The children are intensely curious
about the United States and ask stran-
gers all sorts of questions concerning
the great country of which they are
part now. They call the governor who
is a naval officer sent out by the Uni
ted States, Your Susuga," and they
speak of the president as His
I Afloga."
When Captain Tilley, whom the Uni
l.S of hn
island, firstfi visited Manua, he found
native kag named Moa reigning there,
Moa jouri1esed to the principal village
to see the governor He was preceded
by two tall naeNes blowing conch
shells and two taking men," whose
business it was to- make speeches for
the king. -
All the children of the island had a
holiday and gathered in great numbers
to see the conference between the king
and 'His Susuga''-the governor.
The people of Manua never before ac-
knowledged themselves as subject to
and government other than their own
Samoan Island rule. They claim to be
OF an older race than the Inhabitants
Of the other islands, and old King Moa
son why he should come in under the
government of the United States. But
Captain Tilley told him what great
and powerful nation the United States
was, and pointed out to him that if he
did not accept it's government some
other nation would be sure to come
along and gobble him up.
The king thought it over and finally
concluded that it would be a fine
thing for the children Of the island to
grow UP under the American flag and
have the advantages which would come
to them from being citizens of the do
mains of the United States.
So he sent a delegation to witness the
raising of the Star Spangled Banner at
Pago-Pago, the coaling station in Tu-
tuila, and he has been loyal to the His
Afoga," the president, ever since.
OF all the possessions of the United
\ States, the Tutuila group alone lies
south of the equator Children there
looking into the heavens at night, be-
hold some of the consultations which
YOU see, but they also see many which
Won can never see-the Southern Gross
and the starry groups of the skies OF
the southern hemisphere-whilen they
miss many which you see every night
such as the Great Bear and the Pie
fades.
The children of Tutuila and Manus
are fond of singing and reading aloud
The entrance of the Americans have
given them a stimulus to acquire al
sorts of information about the outside
world from which they have been shu
off heretofore, occasional copra trader!
and the missionaries being the only
white men whom they met before th'
Americans came.
AS soon as child Of these islands il
old enough to work it leaves school ant
~ goes to help the father collect cocoa
nuts. the white meat Of which is driet
and sold to traders under the name o
copra. The children also work at farm
ing on the small plantations Whcr
tropical fruits and vegetables ar
raised for domestic use.
@ Their homes mostly are mere huts
@ set in the clearings of the dense forests
or stuck away in a grove of tropica
trees.
# All the boys are good sailors. The,
begin to go out on the water with thel
fathers when they are very young, AM
VIA +bo1r ovp ton wears old the