Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-05-26
4 LEPROSY TRAGEDY,
The Sacrifice Of Kaomouna, the
Hawaiian Beauty.
HER LIFE FOR Her MOTHER.

,y----s
A Story Which Sheds a Bright Light
Upon the Fiiiai Devotion of kanaka
Wcmen-The Reason Baby's Ad.
vances Were Not Returned.
The usual Honolulu crowd was down
Mt the dock when the steamship from
San Francisco pulled alongside the
pier OH i, brilliant, bnlmy afternoon in
january some years ago. American
women IN summer afternoon costumes.
n few English and II few German wo-
men OF society. arrayedulso for steam
ier day. leaned back languorously In
their carriages and plluptons. under the
shade Of pirlsols. listening to the lazy
complimentary talk Of the duck clad.
lei eilwrentl,ed young business men
who combined duty with pleasure In
thus waiting for the great steamer to
slip laborously into her measured
berth beside the pier.
All ofthe knlmka women had bare
feet. They stood about In little groups
ms silent MS the mon of their race. A
few of the Kanaka women carried
tiny brown babies-silent also. The
young women were of varying degrees
of beauty, their figures showing auni-
form excellence of proportion.
One Of these kanaka women Mt the
dock On this brilliant January after
noon was particularly beautiful. SHE
was clad like he rest of he women Of
her race. She was fully five feet ten
inches IN height, and the white SILK
cord with which. unlike the other Ka-
Snaka women, she drew her white dress
about her waist emphasized the SPLEEN
lid heroic proportions of her figure.
Kaoinouna seemed quite unconscious
of her beauty. The young shipping
clerks, hurrying to and fro on the dock
with their pencils behind their ears.
stopped suddenly when they caught
sight of her. The women In the car.
5riagcs. who had not been long down
from he States or from Europe. saw
Kaoinouna and asked the women of
longer Honolulu residence. who is
that glorious crea;ura?' Kuomouna,
with II very sad face. spoke only all
occasional word to one of the Kanaka
women.
Tie steamship was made fast to the
pier. and the passengers. began to troop
over the ganspank There was one
man with his pretty young wife and
three ye,lr-od little girl. The little girl
was the first to catch sight of Kao-
nioiinu MS, She reached the bottom of
the gaigway. She quickly freed her
hand from her fathers grasp and ran
toward Kaomouna with baby words.
Kaomounn smiled at the little girl. but
did not offer to take her up. Instead
she folded her arms. looking down al
The little pink faced child pleasantly
When the mother had taken the little
girl she raised her eyes to look Mt kao.
uiouiia.
Did you ever In your whnle life see
such n perfectly beautiful woman:"
asked the young wife of her husband
IN n whisper when he came up. And
sYita seemed to take to her immediate.
~. II we could only have her for a
nurse fer If!a!'
IS;tomoiln;t heard her.
.'N,iuinGiinl would love to be that"
she replied In i, soft Ilanaka accented
speech, smiling. Then IL look of pain
came into her face. But it may not
belt may. not be-" And. with her
hands ut her eyes. Kaomouna turned
suddenly and disappeared among the
departing men and women of her race.
Three months later thu parents of
little girl We're at the dock to-
getber 10 witness for the first time the
fnddcst Of sights--the departure of the
Keepers for the island of Molokai. The
Kilnuea Hou, the lcper steamer, was
out III the stream. and the lepers We're
being carried out to her in barges. A
litter was horne through the roped In
closure fer the lepers. On it lay
very old Eanalia woman in the final
stages of the disease At the side of
the litter walked Kaomouna. Her face
was very sad The parents of the lit
tie girl wondered. They spoke to an
official of The Hawaiian board of
health. who WAS busy in the task of
emburking the lepers.
Surely" they said. "she does not
accompany the lepers?"
) ..Wlm ) kaomouna?" replied the
health official. "Oh, yes, she does
But 1t is her own choice. Kaomouna,
you know. hns Eeen secreting her old
mother fer Il number of years. We al
ways knew there was something mys-
terious about Kaomouna-that is, we
have known 1t for the last five years.
She had made queer visits to n palm
hut far over III the Nuuanu valley.
last week we followed her. We felt
there was ieprosy in it. We found her
mother In the hut. Kaomouna had
had her in hiding. trying to save her
from Molokat. ever since the disease
became evident Kaomouna is not in
3fected III the least. She has been care.
full. But she elects to follow her
Sinother to Molokai. Extraordinary?
Why, not at all! You do not under
stand the tilial devotion of Kanaka
women-men, too, for that matter. Such
cases are common enough"
The parents of the little girl looked
at each other. There We're tears in
the mothers eyes.
"That is why she folded her arms
and would not touch Titaw she said
..In this world of God, civilized or un-
civilized. could there be anything more
tnoblei.
All was ready, and the Kilauea Hou,
with Kaomouna and her mother on
board. slowly started down the har.
Dor, the Kanakas OH the dock setting
up the weird. plaintive death walls
Washington Star.
Always Dreaded the 18th.
Most dismal Of all men off the stage
was Grimaldi. the clown, and his
father fathered him. He had that
curious dread of n certain date which
assails so many. The elder Grimaldi
hated the 18th of the month, and when
It was passed he regarded himself as
safe until the next. He was born,