The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-05-24
LOCAL COLOR
BY John Fleming Wilson.

| coins. Then she put her hand up t.
her hair TO see whether it, was coming
| down.
| 1t was all romance to her!
a man in white cotton trousers, a
long. black coat and a very limp
straw hat. came aboard and asked
her whether she was not Miss Ethel
Harris. Very glad to meet our new
| sister," he announced when she ac-
knowledged her identity. Wen just
go right up to the church. My wife
| is holding her little sewing class this
morning. and she'll introduce you to
| the work -
I'll not bore you with more details.
| The missionary was a good man and
his wife a very good woman. l knew
| them both. When 1 met their new
! teacher, two weeks later she was still
dressed in her best gown, and went as
SISTER Harris" She was undoubtedly
thirty years old and not pretty. Every
now and then she shifted the book in
her right hand-she was studying Ha-
waiian-to her left, and then felt of her
hair. 1t was thin, and pale in color.
I stopped her on the street a month
later. she was in a great hurry. I'm
teaching in the Chinese school at Pa
lama" she said. I'm late now"
Six months later Fat Sing, a labor
contractor for the Eva plantation,
came to the Office in a black suit,
standup collar and a string tie. He
wanted to put marriage notice in the
paper. "Clistian malliage," he ex-
planned, pompously. He handed me a
cigar
I took the weed. who's the lady?"
inquired.
'Clistiap woman he said, settling
himself down in the chair and expand
ing. Miss Halls. Fine CELL eh?"
I wrote the notice in due form, pub
fishing the fact that at ten a. m. OF
that day and date Mr.. Fat Sing. a
prominent Chinese merchant and labor
contractor. had been married in the
First United church by the Reverend
Peter F'axon to Miss Ethel Harris. a
member # the mission and a feather
in the Palama school. 1 enlarged on
the fact that the groom had become
enamored of his fair instructress while
learning English and studying religion,
gave them good send off, read the
finished product to Fat Sing, accepted
another cigar, and went out to have a.
drink by myself.
1t occurred to me lover the drink
that Fat Sing had formerly been a
disciple of Father Xenias at KaHhi
Church; quite natural that a Macao
Chinese should worship at a Portu-
guese shrine. you know. So 1 gave
Sister Harris credit for a double con-
version.
l met the Reverend Peter a week
later. He mourned the loss of his best
teacheS. but trusted that in her new
field of labor she would continue to
garner sheaves for the harvest.
She's left the SCHOOL," / asked.
Mr.. Sing urged her to give up ac-
tive work with us. and go with him to
the plantation for the season." said
the Reverend Mr.. Faxon. she felt
that her duty lay with her husband
Two years later 1 saw her again
They lived up Punchbowi way. in
house set back under the bananas
Mrs. Sing was cooking rice over a
stove set in the yard, while her hus-
band, his slippers on the lanai beside
him, drowsed over his pipe. On the
broken boards that served for a walk
from the lane in wet weather child
lay on his back. blinking in the sun.
Across the fence a drunken Kanaka
was beating his wife and yelling for
gin.
She did not recognize me. But as
she rose with the pot of rice in one
hand, | saw her reach up with the
other and feel of her scant hair.
Fat Sing branched out in business
and got together a gang of Koreans. |
That, same season. while walking
along the path amid the cane, brown
hand plucked at his skirt and Sing
turned to die on the knife of laborer
whose coiled hair he had twisted in i
laudable effort to quicken industry.
We hanged the Korean to the tree in
oahu prison yard. Sing we buried in
the hold of the steamer that was to
take his body to China and to the
tomb of his fathers. After this last
ceremony, Mrs. Sing. holding fast TO |
the hand of her daughter. walked up
the wharf, dry-eyed; and the burners
of incense and scatterers of holy |
paper and priests of her husbands ma
tive gods paid no attention TO her.
/ was at the wharf gate when she |
came out: a slattern figure, clad in a |
shapeless holoBu. she looked up at me |
from her pale eyes and felt of her thin |
her side. waving a punk-stick that
some Chinese had given her, swung |
part way round to stare at me. The |
woman pulled her on. the punk waved
wildly under my nose. the little feet |
fattered over the pavement, and I was
left alone to mediate.
The Reverend Peter FaXon stopped |
me on the street a week or so later. |
His truly excellent heart was perturb- |
ed. "A mistake. he confessed. He !
was a heather at heart. Sister Har- |
ris has borne the heat and burden of
the day. The problem is a hard one" |
The child?" [ suggested.
He assented. ponderously. "A fe- /
male child he went on. "Conse- |
quently the widow has no property |
coming to her. 1t appears that the |
property is in China. and lacking a |
son there is no provision possible for
her
What does Mrs. Sing say?" I de-
manded.
He gazed at me with genuine horror |
written on his face. Nothing" he /
rauIieJ We stared at each other a /