Evening star., 1943-06-20

oPl uiS, Mu AZ
Mary Felker. though it was to
Miss Mary that most of the sketches
were addressed, it was Miss jose
phine who realized how unusual the
letters are and made them available
to The Star.
Other drawings than the three
accompanying this article included
a rough sketch of his neighborhood
and neighbors. and landscape
after the passing of hurricane.
Chief Petty Officer Felker has
never had formal art training. Prior
to his service in the Seabees he was
an employe of the Capital Transit
Co.
Excerpts From Letters.
Following are excerpts from let
ters:
From a distance the lump loom
ing on the horizon looked like a
huge rock having hardly enough
vegetation to feed goat, but, as the
ship neared, l discovered that the
grass on the mountains was tall,
waving palm trees. In some ways
this landscape is as romantic in
appearance as a preWar world cruise
travel folder. The coconut palms.
pink sand of the Coral Sea and clear
blue water are all here, but as for the
South Sea beauties that look like
Dorothy Lamour-it isn't so.
At first our outfit was in an old
prison, taken over for use. There
is nothing in this world quite like
that place. I cannot begin to de-
scribe it. However, we are in our
own little huts that provide some
of the comforts OF home. The Sea-
bees have installed a pretty fine
water system and we have good,
clean. hot and cold water.
When We first arrived, the sum-
mer season was just beginning to
slacken. 1t has been raining here
for week or so and everything that
was formerly covered with dust and
dirt is now dripping and emerald
green. The rains have come and
this jewel of the Pacific-this price
less rock and earth-has become soft
and gooey. Highways and byways
have turned into a beautiful brown
soup that sticks to you like a good
grade of paint. But the winter sea-
son is coming for it is much cooler
The endless supply of flies, mos
quitoes and tropical bugs is begin
ming to diminish and will probably
almost disappear in a month or two.
Go Touring in Eden"
This week I met marine master
sergeant with whom I spent many
happy hours in the good old days
in the States. During the week, on
my liberty day, I made trip and
was fascinated to have my friend
as a guide. for he knew every nook
and Granny in those mysterious
places not usually seen by members
of the armed forces.
We visited village after village,
travelling over rugged and towering
peaks, through perpendicular gorges,
winding down those perilous road
ways from which. should the driver
make the slightest slip never again
would the mosquitoes gnaw on his
hide. He would hurtle thousands of
feet into space and down. down. into
the tropical underground, which,
from the peaks, reminded me Of my
early childhood ideas of the Garden
of Eden.
From one peak looking down and
across to our next adventure the
roadway below and above reminded
me of the web of giant spider, and
across these we travelled warily but
quickly, because we did not wish to
waste one precious moment Of the
real reason for our trip.
Island Types Pictured.
I saw many island races in their
native villages, but the strangest of
all was that of the Javanese and
Chinese mixed, in which children of
about or 10 were caring for their
own infants. Haggard "old" women,
perhaps 80 or IS for they are short
lived and rarely attain 40). some
times nursed young infant and
sucking pig at the same time.
The island type of Chinese is a
strange race of notwithstanding
degenerates. The women wear black
silk pajamas and black jackets with
white rag of some description
around their upper bodies
The Javanese wear beautiful sa-
rongs around their lower bodies but
seem to prefer nudism when in their
homes.
The black Melanesian is the true
wildman and lives anywhere and
eats anything.
The mountains are deep green and
the Coral Sea is deep blue. The Coco
nut palms are rather poor in color
in the winter. Everything else is
brillian green, except the roadway
winding off into the mountains very
much like the average Virginia lane.