The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-01-29
SOUTH SEAS CLAIM
YOUTHFUL PENMEN,
GOTHAMSURFEITED
Hall and Nordhoff Els.
chew Homeland for
Polynesia.

We useO 10 near all about the
lure of Broadway"
Now it Is the lure Of the South
Sea Isles
The lure OF fragrant siIences.
mystery. poetry, peace, versus the
sophisticated pleasures and the
struggles Of the Great White WAY
Broadway has a rival in the an
tipodes. More and more OF her
hab.tues have journeyed forth to
explore the queer manners and Gus
toms of the uncivilizcd. and have
succumbed to the lure" of the
Islands, never to return. 1t used
to be the popular conception that
Broadway gets you" Now that is
said about the Islands OF the South
Seas.
A striking illustration Of this Is
the case OF James Norman Hall and
Charles Bernard Nordhoff. These
two young men. writers by profess
sion, and adventures by nature,
went to the South Seas to gather
material for a book which they
wrote in collaboration-'Faery
Lands OF the South Seas" which
was just published by Harper and
brothers, and which closes with the
following sentence, written by
NOrdhoT:
81 fancy the South Seas have
claimed the pair OF US"
A pretty and dramatic ending, the
reader might reflect, upon closing
the book. and yet as a matter of
fact. that line is not purely fiction.
For Nordhoff has never returned
A news dispatch from Papeete, dis
closes the fact that he has married
a native girl, relative of the
former Queen OF Tahiti. and is the
father OF a 2-months- old daughter.
And although Hall. for a brief pc
Rod. reappeared at his home in
Iowa. he is even at this writing.
on his way back to the mystic
beauty OF his "Faery Islands"
What Is the secret Of the South
Sea. Islands spell?
The question was asked OF Fred
erick O'Brien, who FIRST put the
South Seas on the literary map as
far as popular fancy is concerned.
He answered:
Men go there hoping to md a
new variant Of romance. They seek
IN this strange. outIandish environ
ment some new impression or eI-
perienCe. 7 think they are urged
to do this by a very basic stimulus
in nature. the desire for the return
TO the primitive. Those who are
fitted by strength OF purpose or OF
urge to live permanently under this
simple regime arc destined to re-
main. Either by a surfeit Of civ
tliZation or by natural liking for
the aboriginal. they are prepared to
forsake the comforts and excite
ments OF modern life.
The comforts Of the South Sea
Islands are those OF warmth, of a
certainty of food for little effort, Of
freedom from the restrictions Of
too many clothes and from the op-
pressive word. that is. Mime. Grundy.
The settlements there are the
natural ones which our forefathers
enjoyed-swimmin sailing and
fishing. Man in the South Seas is
close TO the salt water. and gets
from il most OF his interests.
'Nordhoff and Hall are two men
who. after comparatively brief
career (bccause they are young
men). in family. college and war.
have the accentUated longing Of
men who have suffered from a
super-civilizatton TO return to
completes.
! doubt il Nordhoff will ever re-
turn to civilization. He'll spend his
time in lying down. in sitting. in
walking, in swimming and in FISH
ing. and perhaps. in writing books
He's very earnest student OF life
and men
II was in a Paris cafe. after the
armistice. that the young men.
weary Of war and our machine
made modern civilization" agreed to
go to the South Seas. Nordhoff had
lived good share Of his life in
Mexico. and particularly in Lower
California. lie went to France in
the early days OF the war as an
ambulance driver, and afterwards
| enlisted as volunteer in the
French aviation service with the
French Combat Squadron, Spad So
Hall was in England when war
was declared. and enlisted in the
British army, serving for a year
and a half as a machine gunner in
| the Ninth Royal Fusiliers. After
receiving an honorab bile discharge
! from the British army. he became
a member OF the EscadriIle Lsfay-
! cite. Roth he and NordhOff were
transferred to the United States
service after Americas declaration
! of war.
Small wonder that these two
young adventures should shrink
| from a return to the humdrum life
of the average citizen. The wonder
! lies in the fact that that they have
evidently renowned that humdrum
life-in other words, civilization
forever