The Washington herald., 1922-10-15
By JAMES NORMAN HALL.
Author of "Kitchener's Mob,

Nearly everyone. 1 imagine. ha,
dreamed, at times, of the islands
OF the South Seas. and 1t would
be interesting to know what soIt
of a picture the thought of thos,
distant lands calls up in the minds
of the average man O. woman a.
home. | was given some infor.
nation on this point recently by
friend whose business prevent:
him from being anything but q
fireside traveller.
The moment l think of the is
lands of the South Pacific" he said,
Il see dimly. land of wooded
peaks and sunny valleys filled with
the odors of strange flowers and
the music of falling water, and sur
rounded by mirror like lagoon.
Wandering up one OF those en-
chanted valleys is a white man. a
beach-comber. and hand-in- hand
with him he stroIls through the
shaded solitudes is the dusky
maiden of his dreams. Her black
hair falls free from her shoulders
and her 1.-the form is clad in the
scantiest OF frocks.
Listens and Dreams.
"Or perhaps he Is alone. the
beach -comber, sitting. lost in rev
erie. by the bright waters Of the
lagoon. listening to the wind sough-
ing through the fronds of the palms
The morning passes. its changes
marked only by the leaping OF a
fish or the resounding thud of a
railing of a cocoanut. He is reused
- Of ir1 1fSl
laughter. and looking mp quickly he
catches n glimpse of a pair o: brown
eyes peeping shyly at him through
barrier of foliage. How beautiful
they were" he thinks during the
long afternoon.
twilight comes gradually on
and still lost in dream he returns
70 the village. There is n slither-
ing Of hare feet in the moonli'
streets. and from afar he hears the
deep throbbinG Of drums. a burst OF
song. making an appeal to old saw
age Instincts. These sounds die
away gradually and the silence OF
the tropic night IS broken only by
the distant booming of the surf on
the reef. There you are! That's
my impression of the South Seas
gained through the reading OF
books"
strike Note Of Fcminism.
Great Scot" I said, "is it as
vague as all that?''
Very nearly" replied my friend
'and l believe most people, fireside
travellers like myself, would bear me
out in this. Mind you. I'm not'say-
ing that we don't like the concep-
tion. But occasionally. in sober
practical moods. l for one wonder
what those brown eyes find to dc
during the course of the day, be-
side peeping shyly out from screens
of foliage, and where, il l may use
the expression, those bare feet are
slithering to? All the South Sea
writers from Herman Melville down
have struck the note of feminism
Well, what about the women, Are
they still the same gay, tickle, filrta-
tious, impulsive little vamps they
used to be by all accounts
knew that my friends would get
round to this question. 1t is the
outspoken first one, or the discreet
BY -the-way" last one asked every
returning traveller from the islands
The Women of the South Seas" is a
subject of perennial Interest seem
ingly; and those who know them
only through books believe them
all to be sirens and Circes of the
most abandoned sort.
Makes Cheerful HeIpmate.
The common belief is that NOR
ality, as the word is defined with
us, doesn't exist among the women
Of the Islands, but this is far from
the truth. A Polynesian woman is
capable Of making a cheerful help
mate, a patient and loving mother
and a wife as faithful as any in the
world. She is more lik ely than not
to be all of these things, provided
that two conditions are fulfilled.
Her husband must keep his side of
the bargain. and in the complexities
of civilized society We often lose
sight of these two essentials to a
happy marriage. but the island
woman never does. She lives in a
primitive society, in thinly popu-
lated lands where everything is
known; where gossip runs from
island to island with mysterious tel
epathic speed. If her husband ex-
changes so much as a word with a
possible rival she is sure to hear of
it. just as she is sure to hear of
more fragrant infidelity, and she re-
pays her husband in kind
If the years pass without bringing
children no matter how faithful her