The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-11-15
Continued from Page Ten.)

4Kalaupapans go over for days riding
Through the settlement, auditing of ac-
counts and visiting.
''It was my fate to 60, few years
back | had not seen Simpkins nor
heard much of him, but one of the first
men / saw in that town of pestilence
was he. He waddled along under a
ridiculous sunshade, his fat arms bulg-
ing from thin jacket, his whiskers
blowing in the breeze, his bald head
shining with perspiration. 1t was the
most incongruous sight / ever saw. The
manned shuffled by with bound feet;
the wind brought odOrs of antiseptic
and balm. Chinese chartered along the
way, fiat of voice, shriveled of limb.
Kanakas barked out greetings and
smiled miserably White men, carry
ing themselves with a final jauntiness
waved their dry arms. Babies played
under the papayas, played silently. And
through this throng waddled Simpkins,
obtrusively healthy, his full face flush
ed with clean blood.
"He insisted on talking. / don t
remember what he said. He bored me
intensely. The visitors scattered, and
by some mischanee 1 fell into the hands
of Simpkins. alone. You must come up
TO my mousse luI uihuCi. hC AhSAohNh'
4 have had some good chickens killed.
We must hurry, because L don t know
whether you like them stewed or
baked And he talked chicken all
the way to his gaudy house.
lit was queer mansion to rise
4 among those groves of pain. 1t was
I painted vile red, with yellow trim
mings. No vine grew over its naked
ness. 1t sat in a bare yard through
which a gravel walk ran as straight as
a string He took me in and immediate
" sat down on a porch. How do you
like our town. he demanded.
81 could have struck him for the
sleek tone of those outrageous words
But he wiped his forehead and went on:
EWe have made many Improvements the
past year. We have built a theater
with a ballroom over it. We had a
wedding there two months ago. A fine
young couple. too. I think they ENJOY
ed our little festivities.
'Travesty of mercy! I got up. L
could not eat the bread of such a man.
1t suddenly occurred to me that he had
a most devilish rancour against his race.
He was the Satan of this unspeakable
hell. But he was warmly hOspitable
when l rose, and called for a drink of
beer. The servant-a leper-shuffied
out with it, and we drank. Simpkins
nodded over his beer and sighed. Il
understand they say in Honolulu [ am
crazy he remarked abruptly.
- 'They don t see why a well man
should bury himself in this asylum
without any object, 1 paltered.
I" Hunt he calculated, with an in
deseribable ponderOusness. 'Hum!'
90 Personally / continued, Il fail
to see what you came here for. You
came for no charitable purpose. No
one but a brute could enjoy the sight
of this organized misery
''Simpkins looked at me with a puz-
lied face. Il don It catch your mean
ing, he said.
F's L mean ;. I recolleet saying, that
your coming here is offensive.
Ellis fiat face became drawn in
violent effort to disengage my intention
from my words. / rather enjoyed it.
ale squirmed in his chair, and the sun
Shade (Which he had deposited by his
side) rolled away and off the porch. He
waddled over and with prodigious ex-
ertions recovered it. Then he sat down
again and stared at me. Il have no
intention of being offensive to you, he
y
my dear fellow, I had no intention
whatever of being offensive, none
whatever.
''What could / say9'' / retreated. Il
enlarged on the fact that personally
had nothing against him. / mentioned
that outside, in Honolulu, the people
who had known him did not understand
his sudden departure and voluntary
descent into a living death Then il
came out. l don't know whether You
will understand it at all. But l shall
try to be plain. Frankly, / am not sure
of all this myself-that is, l sometimes
think l fail to catch some vital point,
some point in the Persistence of the
Uninspired.
"Simpkins drew closer to me, hitch
ing his chair up the porch, with various
expressions of regard. He finally came
to, rest and gazed at me with look of
Importance. You see, he said, have
a place in the community here. Really,
my dear fellow, / am one of the prin-
cipal men of Kalaupapa! 1 was the
head of the committee on the new
theater. and was chairman of the floor
committee of the first ball. The paper
mentioned me here in fiattering terms.
81 am not going to bother yOu with I
the details of his talk, except to state |
that 1 firmly believe Simpkins had
never in his life had a home. No, he /
didn' t come from Libertyville, Iowa. |
He came from Illinois, From that viii |
lage in which he had first lived, to the |
} boisterous streets of San Francisco and |
>ahe designations of Honolulu, he had