Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1909-01-29
DR.. Edward Letter

out through the Golden Gate at
San francisco I have the lines Of
Nlpllng ringing in my mind, and
l have thought "she's CARRYING
tired people to the islands of
the blest. Ever since when as
a small child | sprawled on the
floor looking at the pictures of
scenes In the South Sea islands.
and all those mysterious lands be
low the equator | have longed fo,
tne DAY to come when /, too.
could go to 1.-THE islands of the
blest," and rest in that wonder
ful dreamland. Now the dream
mas come true and mystery no
: longer surrounds the tropical is
lands below the equator for | am
sitting under the shade of LOW
8 porch surrounded by tropica
foliage, and breathing an air that
lsredolent with the perfume of
all those tropical fruits which
we hear about and seldom see in
our temperate zones.
The charm still remains, how
ever, but l have been one of
those tired people," and have
come to the Islands oft he blest.
| have seen those things which
we OF the prosaic temperate zone
are vouchsafed only in dreams,
and now there is left to me a
longing that will never be salts
fled until l can 50 arrange my af.
fairs that l can return to these
islands Of the blest and pass my
declining years. July IA is the
French Fourth Of July, and as
these islands are under French
domination, the more to be re-
GREETED, | have reached here, Just
IN time to be in the midst of the
celebration. All around are the
sounds of such a merry making
as these simple minded tropical
children of nature can devise to
express their pleasure. We cele-
brate our Fourth of July in the
States with much noise, speech
making and music, and a liberal
allowance of drunkenness mixed
in to show our good faith.
On the Mariposa, coming dow
we did not escape this idea, for
we had our celebration in the
social hall, music, speechmaking,
hilarity and even the drunken
ness thrown in for good meas
ure. There are always some Amer
leans who seem to think that
when they are aboard ship, or in
foreign land that they have Ii
cense to do many things that
would disgrace them if they
were at home, and we had a few
of these on the ship. Captain
Hayward permitted much license
because it was the fourth Of July
and he even went so far as to
permit the display Of a few fire
works from the bow of the ship
in the evening. But all this al
most faded from our memories
when we watched the natives
of Tahiti show their patriotism
to France by celebrating the Fall
of the Bastille.
It seemed as if Fate stepped
in to assist the people of this far.
away isle in the South Seas In
their effort to provide ample en-
tertainment for the visitors on
the Mariposa, for fairer weather
and smoother seas could not be
than those which marked the
closing days of the twelve day
voyage from San Francisco.
Twelve days is a long time at
sea, especially when in all that
time there is no sight of land;
nothing but the everlasting wat
er, continuously rolling, and toss
ing, consequently when we did
spy out a bit of low lying land OF
the evening of yesterday, it was
a sight that took all Of the eighty
odd passengers to the bow of the
ship, and even the ordinarily .! wei
come sound of the dinner gong
failed to take us down below un-
til we had Toasted our eyes to
their full on the welcome sight
In my younger days I wrote sOm'
line to my Dear Ones eyes, ana
her Voice, which I likened to
emusic on the waters---
"Whose sound is causing the
charmed oceans pauslng, .
"And the waves lie still and