Evening star., 1914-02-19
COMFORT IN BERMUDA.
Happy People of Islands Nobody
Appears to Be Poverty.Stricken.

From The Philadelphia Record
When the American traveller, taking his
first trip to Bermuda, steps aboard a
liner at New York. he rarely realizes that
in less than forty-eight hours he is going
to experience a wonderful transformation,
something that he will never forget He
puts behind him trees stripped of leaves,
ground snoW-covered and frozen tight,
duh and leaden skies. cold. biting winds.
When next he sights land the sun is
warm. flowers are blooming profusely and
everything is gay and radiant. from the
| tinted water beneath the ships keel to
the glfsteninS white roofs on shore. He
has been waited from winter to spring,
and the change has been wrought with
| surprising swiftness
Nor does the transformation end here.
/ He is actually in foreign land-EngIand' s
oldest colony and an important link in the
| empires chain of ocean way stations. The
difference Is noticeable at once Tommy
! Atkins swaggers in the streets, and the
natives. even those with coiored skins
speak with an English intonation, though
! most of them have never teen in the old
country. Their ideas and ways of doing
things are British, properly modified to
| suit their own needs, and they hold the
| mother country and her institutions III
! veneration.
| There Is another contrast Everything
seems to be on a small scale the houses
/ the roads. the hills, for Bermuda is "A
miniature country. Yet the proportions
are so perfect that the islands appear to
| be quite large place after the visitor
| has gone about little In his excur-
s1ons he comes in close contact with the
| native and learns to know him. And he
| usually likes the BeTmudian
Americans and Canadians who visit
\ Bermuda-they number 10000 or more
| yearly-invariab bly, remark upon the ex-
| traordinary good behavior of their hosts
and the absence of poverty among them.
| Everybody Is polite. nobody looks as if
he needed square meal or new suit
! Of clothes the children are happy and
far different from the children of the
tenemenfs In crowded cities. because they
have normal life, and never feel the
pinch of hunger and the sting of cold.
| Even the lowliest negro lives in COM
Portable stone house, and can afford to
| share the flowers from his own garden
I with stranger. And he does this. too,
| not because he knows he will have more
| flowers next day. but because he likes
| to be hospitable. That is his nature and
one of the most charming features of ma
| tive life is the desire to make the visitor
| feel at home In this land OF sunshine and
| flowers.
| The Bermudians are happy and con-
tented people. They are happy because
they are prosperous, and contented te-
cause there is moth ng to arouse their pas
sions to great heights. They call them
selves laW-abiding. and pride themselves
upon the fact that they have few crmi-
nails. When any one does wrong he is
quickly punished. Justice is swift and
sure. and the Bermudians are well salts
fed to have 1t so.
Their regard for the law was instilled
into the people long ago-in the DAYS
when Bermuda was owned and governed
by proprietary company. many of whose
members lived In England and regarded
the colonists as their tenants. The first
Bermudians were sent out by the Vir-
ginta company in 1912. and within a few
months the Bermuda company came into
control of the islands and began to ex-
ploit them. sending out colonists and
supplies from time to time.
The Bermudians were permitted to have
their own parliament. which first met
August l. 1929. and Is now the oldest
iaW-making body in the British empire.
with the exception Of the mother parlia-
ment In London. Thus from the first the
Bermudians governed themselves. and
they made some very strict laws in the
early days. Although the people kept up
a constant controversy by mai, with the
company In. London and often declined to
obey It's rules. they would not counte
nance disorder among themselves. Most
OF the colon1sts We're sturdy pioneers.
whose one idea was to behave themselves
ana make decent living. but there were
some hardened characters in the islands.
and they We're dealt with sharply if
they overstepped themselves