The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-04-29

not miss the chance So We pass the
night on deck in our comfortable
steamer chairs.
The air is deliciously balmy and re-
freshing. One shrinks from closing
his eyes in so commonplace a thing
as sleep while the nighttime sea is
shimmering in soft white moonlight
that transfigures decks and masts
with the magic of its silvery rain. Our
phantom ship moves through the
mystery of it all, and one is reused
from his revery by the cries of Land!
Land o what a relief to eyes wear
led with the days of dead level
stretches sloping outward and up
ward to the all-confning line of UNI
broken horizon.
Close at hand, now, rise the rug
ged peaks of the Island of Oahu. The
moon yet high in heavens starry arch
is the sweet luminary in this fairy
land of calm enchantment. At last we
know there must be other worlds than
we have dreamed of; the sea is
smooth, a CLASSY mirror DER which
CLEANS and shadows fit from our
trembling steamer to the silvered
shore. Faint signs of morning light
show along and above the cloud-cap-
ped mountains. 1.-THE morning light
is breaking" but o! not more sweet
ly than in the smiles and tears Of
those faithful men and women who
first crossed these seas, bearing to
every darkest vale the Light of the
World
Once more in the fight of days
comes the sun in his unceasing round
through the realms of his kingdom.
His coulter clouds are CARRIED in col
ors of richest dye and tints of rarest
dellcacy; pearly CLEANS of the deep
sea shells, royal puppies and shining
gold finer than that of ODhir, Grim
son broideries, and silver bands. And
now the great king, flashing in blind
ing splendor, comes on with unerring
step, shooting his golden shafts
straight against the wrinkled brows
of the slumbering mountains.
Our boat is in harbor, and nosing
up to the dock. The charm is dispel
led when we find ourselves confront
ed with all the hubbub and commerce
ialism of a modern shipping wharf. Of
a truth, Honolulu, though it has
background Of mountains, and clus-
tiers of tropic verdure, is strictly
modern city. There is remarkable ac-
tivity. Taxicabs and rubber-tire car
riages are at our disposal. Our driv-
er to the hotel shows us that Honolulu
is "up-to-date," cosmopolitan, and
tropical. There are electric cars, snug
business blocks, some buildings Of
real architectural merit, telephone
poles and wires, paved streets-and
then, the people. There are the ma
tives. or Kanakas, CHEEKY and fat
yes, very fat and contented the ma
tive women in their flowing, comfort
able holukas. kind of dress which
is an exact duplicate on ampler scale
of the kind our dear old Mother Hub
bard used to wear And there are
Cinnamon, plenty of them; Japs, too
many Of them, and Portuguese and
Americans and Englishmen.
If such things as modernness and
commercialism need redemption, the
redeeming features of Honolulu are
its broad tree-lined avenues, clean
yards, and parks with their wealth of
tropical luxuriance, clustered between
the eternal mountains and the bound
less sea.
The ponciana regia is in bloom. Try
to imagine a tree-a large, self-satis-
fed tree-putting forth into the
clear, warm air glory Of foliage like
the fronds of the fern, arching toward
the earth, and then over the whole
crown, ripples and bursts of flaming
scarlet-that, or something like it, is
the ponciana regia, and there is a
whole avenue Of that airy fiowery fire
silently doing its work in the minds
and hearts of men. There is, too, the
golden rain, another tree, that show
ers golden blossoms over its rich
green foliage. But there are trees and
trees. all strange to us. The wonder
full banyan tree, the broad-leaved ba-
mana, the unrivaled tree fern, the
the spreading mango, and
more besides may be seen by just
stepping out for bit of a stroll about
town