Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-10

do, eaten at every meal and often in be-
tween; the mango, which grows luxu-
riantly that billions rot upon the ground
every season; and the succulent askee, a
scarlet fruit which forms an excellent sub
stitute for the mushroom-all these, and
many more. were within the-range of his
vision.
Looking around. I felt whole hearted
sympathy with the lazy natives he said
Work? Why should anybody work in such
a land, where food of every kind and de-
scription falls from the trees and only needs
to be picked up The primal curse has been
removed. If Carlyle had lived in Jamaica
he would not have Numbered so eloquently
about the dignity of labor. For one thing,
his liver would not have troubled him, and
that would have made a whole lot of diff
ference to his point of view"
When l met the late Tom Reed some
time Speaker of the House of Representa-
tives, down in Jamaica, l asked him when
he was going back to Gods country
Gods country he exclaimed. why, it
is right here.'
Too Beautiful for Words.
Mark Twain. who was with Mr.. Reed at
the time. went into ecstasies over the beauty
of the country. He was taken to one lovely
waterfall after another, to one fern-covered
glen that opened into another still more
beautiful and he exhausted the resources of
the language in admiring adjectives
At last he reached a mountain peak from
which he could look clear over twenty miles
of hill and valley and forest to the turquoise
sea.
Well, what do you think of it, Mr. Glenn
ens?' he was asked.
He did not reply. He sat down on moss
covered rock under shady bamboo filled
his pipe and gazed at the landscape for the
best part of an hour without talking. His
jamaican hosts asked him to come and have
lunch. but he waived them aside inpatient
~ At last, when the mules were brought
up for the return journey down the noun
tain. he arose to his feet, sighed deeply and
said
I'D like to come here when 1 die, instead
of going to heaven"
Unfortunately the American traveller does
not often see the best that is in the West
Indies when he goes down there He stays
in the hot. stuffy, dusty towns most of the
time, and when he makes flying trips into
the country districts he stays at wretched
little lodging houses and so-called hotels
that are utterly devoid of the comforts and
decencies of life. But if he is lucky enough
TO have even one solitary introduction to an
English planter he need not spend a cent
for hotel bills while he is in the island
Generous Hospitality.
West Indian hospitality is as generous to-
day as it was in the times of Michael Scott,
when Tom Cringle, Aaron Bangs and Paul
Geld drank one another under the table
with Sangaree and rum punch. The plant
ers are not as rich as they were, owing to
the decline of the cane sugar industry They
dine off silver plate and lament the good old
days when their ancestors ate off golden
dishes and entertained British dukes with
magnihcence to which the dukes were I'M
accustomed. But the same spirit of hospi-
tally is there. although it cannot be so re-
gally displayed.
The planters still own the great houses
OF their ancestors, with stone walls five feet
thick, and they are served by perfect
army of barefooted. grinning, devoted ne
gro retainerS. There is always a horse t
the disposal of guest, always a servant
assigned for his special use, and when at
last he feels himself obliged to 60 in spite
of the most pressing invitations to stay. his
host insists upon filling his pocket with a
dozen letters of introduction to other plant
equally good time.
1t is just like the life of the old south
Defo de wah.' The negroes on the plan
tatons are every bit as loyal and devoted
as the colored people in those novels of
southern life which are so popular nova
days There is an old nanny in the