The Garden Island. [volume] (Lihue, Kauai, H.T.) 1902-current, 1918-02-19

Cloud-cspped fair field, between the nf.,
Arising as a vision from the sea,
A uopic isle its vernal head uplifts,
With ,ilyery falls and headland to the lee.
Green-cMpeted to the forest line:
The cane field, stretch away,
And trees and flowers and vines combine
To glad the summer day.
The raineloud hovers where it wills,
But it has no ills for me,
Where the flowers kiss the foothills,
And the foothill, kiss the sea.
Those who have seen the great des-
ert sections of the southwestern por-
ton of the United States can never
forget. All they have to do to repro
duce the picture is to close their eyes
and think of the dull gray wastes that
stretch away toward the limitless hor-
izon. The yellow sand, the dull, light
green of the so.called sage brush; the
dry lake in the distance, with the heat
waves rising DER the plain; the soar
ing buzzard as he wheels on tireless
wing, hoping that man lies dead in
the brush, or that some poor starved
horse has lain down and died, after a
vain effort to find water. One can in
memory see the lean and lank coyote
as he stops on yonder knoll to see the
train go by. The mountains still loom
in the distance, the dry lake shows
across the valley, and the mirage ever
tries to deceive with apparent visions
Of a lake in that thirsty land.
Scenery of Kauai Ever Charming
To such as these, the scenery of
Kauai is very charming. Those who
live here for years, become accustom'
ed to the living green, the uplifting
mountains, the luxuriousness of tree,
and fruit, and vine, and flower, and
think not at all of the land they live
in.
But to whirl along such beautiful
roads, in land where the grass is al
ways green. the hills always covered
with evergreen trees. is not given to
residents of less fortunate lands. For
there is very little dust here. and there
is no such a thing as a road sprinkler.
The weather clerk attends to that,
and he does perfect work. The land
in most sections rises so evenly tow
ard the mountains that one can from
many points see the shimmering sea
as 1t stretches away to the horizon.
The Freshening Breeze
Thus the breezes from summer sea
sweep over the land almost daily, dis
tributing a most uplifting ozone. We
have here no crowded city tenements,
no disagreeable odors, no miasmatic
swamps, nor congested districts, no
vitiated atmosphere. Along the sea
shore, purling streams, bending cocoas
that fringe the water courses or stand
by the shore where the breakers roar.
But come with me to Waimea. Out
between a line OF royal palms to the
park-like road that leaves the little
city with its bank and stores and
shops to glide down the letter s.
around the hillside to the tiny bridge
that crosses the stream that sings
ever on its way to the sea. No dry
creek bottoms here. This little stream
hurries down by half hundred ridges
to water the little banana groves just
below. And on its banks the Japanese
women wash their dainty linen. And
tiny little streams are led aside to wat
er a taro patch, and the ever present
vegetable garden. 1t waters many of
them on its voyage of but a mile to
the point where 1t enters the sea at
Nawiliwili. 1t is a very useful little
riyulet.
Past the sugar mill, where the big
wheels slowly turn to crush the sweet
juice from the sugar cane. Hear the
centrifugals, as they hum, throwing
the last drop of moisture from the sug.
ar crystals.
The Ever Present Garden
Up the winding road around the hill
See the tiny vegetable gardens in the
little dale below. A garden for every
house. All looking green, fresh, and
thrifty, On the left the heavily wood