The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-01-04

sG 80 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
/ composed of men, clapping of hands
and stamping of feet as the enthu-
siasm runs wild, is not the political
meeting of the Hawaiian Islands.
To begin with the meetings there
| are always al fresco and as for the
| audience it's case of ''Molly and ]
! and the baby and there are a great
many MolIies and great many babies.
And they all come. There are quite as
| many women and children as there
are men and they dispose themselves
about the park where the meeting Is
| being held with the air of having come
! to spend the evening.
! Quite typical was meeting I at
| tended in Aala Park and it was an in
teresting study just to watch the aud
fence collectively and individually. On
this occasion the bald-headed row in
front had given place to the bareleg-
ged row and scores of little urchins,
some of them hardly more than
babies, sat about upon the grass, most
/
mice. The wee babies slept peacefully
away in the shelter of their mothers
arms or made occasional acquisitions
on the only comnffssary department
they knew. The todGlers blinked their
beady eyes at the lights and the crowd
and looked about in baby wonder
/ ment.
HUMAN PATCHWORK.
| All kinds and conditions there were
and it looked like some great human
patchwork. Cinnamon, tired with the
days washing, had come out for a bit
of recreation, their expressionless,
parchment-colored faces betraying
nothing of the thoughts which lay be-
hind those withered masks. japanese,
some in the grotesque kimonos, some
in European dress, Portuguese, Ha-
waiianS, Americans and all the COM
binations of race and color which have
resulted from the various alliances Of
all of these nationalities were there.
Chinese women in trousers and jewell
ry sat next tall Hawaiians in flowing
hOlokus. with leis around their hats;
American men and Hawaiian girls
f1irted in the background, and the
peanut boy was kept busy. exchang-
| ing his bags of infinitesimal peanuts
| for fve-cent pieces.
| The incongrulty or blue-checked
shirts, ragged straw hats and fresh
| leis was never more noticeable. One
old Chinaman wrinkled and wizened
past all resemblance to a human be-
| ing crouched in shadow and listened
with eyes squinted4up into two little
wrinkles and mouth wide open. Ma
tive women chatted with one another
occasionally or gave some sharp word
of reprimand to a too active son or
daughter, but for the most part it was
a quiet crowd listening stolidly to all
that was said, making little comment,
showing little enthusiasm. Dogs We're
there in large numbers scampering
about across the little amphitheater
of grass between the platform and the
audience, seeking for chance peanuts
thrown their way and barking with
sharp yelps of pain as they We're kick
ed out of the way.
With impassioned utterance and a
wild swinging of the arms native
speaker would give expression to his
feelings. then an American would arise
and say the same thing in English and
SO it went till one could not tell wheth-
er the American was interpreting what
the Hawaiian had said or vice versa.
Sometimes voices of the speakers were
low and monotonous like the droning
hum of intoning the service at a Cath
Ole funeral when the service is all In
Latin.
You talk too much; keep yourself
uuiet!" snarled a ruffian in the audi
ence during one especially fmpassion-
ed speech At intervals through the
meeting other similar remarks were
hurled at the speakers but no one
seemed to pay the slightest heed and
the one who gave vent to these bril-
liant remarks must have felt rather
squelched.
DEPARTMENT STORE STYLE.
Over at one side the lemonade booth
did a rushing business by the light or
a family Pickering lantern and the
crowd kept it's interest fresh by fire.
quent draughts from the lemonade
pail.
Here and there a sailor with the
Iunge of the ship in his legs sauntered
by and stopped to hear what was going
on. Back of the crowd were the lights
of the shops of the Oriental quarter,
but none save the saloons seemed to De
patronized. Everybody had gone to the
meeting. Each incoming car brought
still others to swell the throng and the
crowd gradually increased.
After each speech native musicians
played familiar airs, sometimes singing
with picturesque Bohemian abandon
as their dark fingers caressed the
strings.
One of the unique features of these
mass meetings is that of the depart
ment store musical attraction the OF
fering of some special inducement 10
arouse interest. There is all the COM
petition and rivalry of the marker
place and those in charge of the varl-
Gus meetings vie with one another 70
secure the best attraction. Night al
ter night the people go, men, women
children and dogs. and though the Wo-
men don't say much they hear a great
deal and they do more to influence the
votes of their own particular men tnan
all the speeches of the men on the
platform
4.