The Washington herald., 1922-06-25

sprDeiss1 that - % larrs - oGlan6
where there is - much fop4 80
must pay even for fhroe oocoanuts.
rays ~ Gesv1se.
ApatI gave money TOR svorx-
tning. The money ! have sea hin
g1ve u one DAY would by flour
tor ny family for . year. and The
ksrcsens OIL for my lamps and The
know the vaius OF your nonev. -
watched closely 70 see II I could
understand
-Aiasi could not. Apau effen
gave little for . great ssrvfce ana
much for = small one. We rode far
In the cars which 20 In the streets.
and for this he gave but two lIftte
pieces Of money. Sometimes a.
midday We ate In places where hun-
dreds OF people came. Here . beau
tifui woman hung our hats on
hooks near the door. and for this
service Apati gave q large piece Of
silver. But II IL was q man who
placed our hats on the hooks- n was
not necessary to give % much. why
was this.
~ws had food at many di9erent
places at the noontims when we
were In the middle OF the village
far from Apatfs home. But threi
times we ate NJ the houses Of hIs
friends. II would have been better
had we gone there often. for we
ate AZ much az we would and paid
nothing.
But ! will tell you something
which puzzied me very much. and
TO this day I do not nnderstand a.
i had long been wishing for q feed
of raw hsh. for you know how
much better they are when eater
alive. freshly from the sea. Often
at Apatrs home we had 6sh. but 81.
ways cooked ones. and my stomach
ached for the uncooked flesh.
-One evening ! went with Apati
to the house Of his friends, and
here at last I was content to see
that hsh were 20 be eaten rawl On
table there was q large Kiass
bowl nlled with water, where little
FISH of a golden color were swim
ming about. These were like tho
little soft-boned ones which we fnd
in our lagoons. and i was eager for
the dishes of salt water 60 be
brought that we might eat.
Ate Gold Ffsk.
'T waited long. but the others
were not so hungry. and 30 at last
] asked Apati IL / might have q
fish. He was talking with his
friends. but nodded his head and
smiled. So ! ate one and found Il
the bowl was not sea water, but
fresh. Then because there were
many fish-more than enough for
ALL took another and was eating
IL with pleasure when q woman
screamed and another made q great
outcry.
Il thought they had been taken
with a sudden sickness. or that per-
haps they had seen the spirits of
the dead such as often trouhie my
mother. But no. I saw that the wo-
men were frightened of me. and ]
knew ! had done something wrong.
do not yet understand what ft was.
Should ] have eaten but one fishs
Or should / have waited until the
others first had eaten7 ] will he
glad. my friend. n you will explain
this. for / do not understand. your
customs are strange TO me-
did explain. told him and
the other islanders the uses of gold
fish in America, and they thought
IL the funniest thing they had ever
heard of. What! Fishes as pets,
ornaments7 They couldn't believe
Il.
i wish there were space enough
to tell all Of Roakfs story: what
he thought OF our dances. for ex-
ample, and what he believed a gam.
of golf was. and q dozen other
things. But / have at least told
enough Of IL. I believe. to verify the
old saying that 'One-half OF the
world don't know how the other half
lives"