The colonel occasionally broke forth in
lansruag-e not exactly suited to th<» draw-
ihg-room,. says the Xew York K-.-er.ins
Sun. The colonel .was well on In the fifties
and had. not married. ' Not that- ha
couldn't, lie was wont- to explain, but fce
cause.so few women struck his fancy.
- One evening the colonel attended a Ut
tle "at home," and taking the "hostsas. a
very dear friend of his, aside, poured into
her ear the story of his rejection by a
charming, young woman whom he t had
a'sked.to be his .wife. ' The hostess thought,
the colonel needed sympathy, and, beck-"
oning a charming dinner companion to
her, said: f " ; : j
"Colonel ha? been tellins me that h-a
has not been fortunate in winning tha
hand of Miss — — . 'Now, I 'think the colo
nel ought to" remember the old, adage:
'There are Just as good fl3h In the sea as
ever were caught.'**
"Yes, madam, lots ef CsTi, but tnere ar* -
so— few mermaids," interru^tad tfr* s-rf™
LOTS OF FISH BUT
FEW MERMAIDS.
The absence of, railroads is less felt
than one - would think : f on There ; - Is no
hurry, in- Tahiti, and the people .'do j not
hay* -to w&rk raising heavy cargoes; to
.It' seems ; droll- to. me^-so very, droll—.
-that . Americans jj should^ ask, , "Are j they ':
civilized in Tahiti?" : when thereV, w.ere
nearly t. 10,000 , murders g committed , . fn the
United States last year and but half a.
dozen in • thirty *>' years in -Tahiti— since
1S70. .;. . .; '! :¦„ • '£ ':¦ -,\. } .;' . -. . r
"..It. is .true that .we have the comforts
of. civijizatlon, the .pleasures driven by
music and. the study ,of -languages . and
such things, -yet without what I consiaer^
the • drawbacks, - such - as- railroads, that,
by their. gigantic .operations, make pos
sible dangerous aggregations of : capital.
. That is another, curse jthat the. islands
have, escaped, f or ;thef mild ;and liberal
government .-of ..the-j French' colonial sys
tem "gives liberty^ that , even< Americans
might. envy.- •¦¦/'. *_";-• •.-•¦'.;
The. result is that no one, after-arrow
ing^ up in Tahiti,, ever asks the question,
"Is life' worth "living?" ... It answers Itself
before, asking, and . no one ever commits
suicide.,, . .' -¦', ,•;' . :
Why. should they?.' ? " ...
"Financial disappointments -there are
none,, for finances are not worth mention
ing,, and no one in^Tahiti' is ever disap
pointed in love.y . -^ •: ..- , . ¦ >jj . i ... .' ;',:.»;
Often, too, in' other places, man man
the- peace, that God. has made by ofH
cious useless, misdirected'
energy and unceasing, pernicious activ
ity..;;, -..- . . ; -. . . ' , - ;f ; :X > ;.;- y ....
as the moat precious gift that one human
being can bestow upon another.
, Not only- do childless people, thus seek
to gain for themselves a family, but those
w.ho . have children , .alrfady-; art . Just as
pleased to welcome another little stranger
into their happy homes.
The unwelcome child, is an unknown
person. . ' ' . . \ . ' - ; .¦.,""
"When it 4s known that the storks t hav«
brought a little^baby,- sometimes even be
fore; there Is an eager rivalry 'among the
neighbors, of the parents Ao see lit the lit
tle child will not be given to one of them
¦ -.--..-. - ¦- - - , -. .... _ .
Will not the guest stay for a week? .For.
weeks? For months? Society la what Is
wanted. Company for that lonesome feel
ing that pursues' all humanity and half,
the brutes,- even in this happy island.
Not only for months is the. guest wel-
come, but for.llfe, if young. .
.There is probably no other place in the
world where prevails the strange and
beautiful ' custom, • an account or which I
shall relate. ¦ ' . •'¦;..- .
. A, guest, isa. boon, a delight to his host,'
for "the host feels himself to be but' a
guest at the great, bounteous table which*
. nature spreads arid .loads .the whole j year"
round /with the daintiest foods of the.epi
cure's dreams. ""
•Hospitality goes farther than a casual
invitation to meals. ; ' :. „
--There are no beggrars. Each has so much'
that the.^greatest pleasure is in finding
some other to whom he can srive some-"'
thine. " .v '.-¦:, /¦¦;: : ¦ ¦. ; ¦¦-. ; '. .
v At the time of eating all who pass ara
welcomed. There is no -withdrawal to*
privacy, to eat . in solitude, for fear that'
the meal mlcht have to be shared.
t'runVenness fhe .p«opTe flo not care for.
TbWr natural'- merriment never having
.been repressed and stamped out by artifi
cially simulated- dignity, they are nat
ura^y,j more -guy, than; intoxicants could,
make them, and they have no sorrows to,
drown. , : « ' •'.. •,-.', .'.; • '. . '<¦ _' ' .", ..-'
Such simple laws as have been put J In
force by the French Government do not
bear hardly on* the people, for there is one"
law in their own hearts which renders all
othesrs superfluous. It Is the old maxim'
of "Do as you would have others do." * ¦'
And so it Is done by all. Hospitality Is.
the rule of the place. , * ' v
t Roads and driveways in Tahitfare far
ahead ' of what they are . here." There is
one road', which' extends .entirely around
the island, a, distance of 300 miles, and is
.traveiable by automobile the entire dis
tance. Automobiles are now being built
at Papeete for the purpose of . carryli>»
passengers and the . malls, and they will
undoubtedly secure such a foothold as to
The only. useless .improvement of ciyiiiz<
atibn which the Tahftiahs are'adopting is
the European style|'of .' dwelling "house.-
These they put up,^ not for use, but : to
show. to their neighbors.-Fortunately they
are ' so uncomfortable, ' compared to the'
beautiful grass huts,, that^ no one lives in :
themj and ; for. that reason only the bank
account and>not the health of the owner'
is injured. ""'. ' : . ' : 1
.Those are some of the Improvements of
civilization ..which , we ..can well, do with- j
out. <Hotels. too, are rendered .almost,
unnecessary by-- the -hospitable customs'
of the country, and as .the people do not
have to work half the night in" order to'
have ¦ jenouirh r tret their breakfast' in
the morninsr, there Is no use of electric
lights... ., r. -,.;;;-'.:.
. The . climate is so equable that steam
heaters and ice factories are alike ' su
perfluous. After all, half of the inven
tions of the'day are to "make up for cli
matic deficiencies . qf the \ places
they are used, "and the 'other half are to
enable ' one man to do the work of- ten '
and strain himself accordingly." ;.';- %
.There ia no deprivation \ to- any on* In
the. absence of smoky chimneys and
crowded tenements.- • 'A.* '¦"¦ -, : .'. ¦ ..
Mills and - factories.' too, i are - lacking;,
which' gives more freedom for those who
work,, and prevents the unhealthy crowd
ing of adjacent districts.
*.v- •¦¦¦••..¦¦
v free to all. ' It Is the opportunities ef
' the: place for individual effort that makes
ail- so 'independent and uniformly pros
perous.- i ¦'.: " -"'- .-.-¦ , : ,
«mt£X!T0E£l yOTXATVPl of Pape»ti.
jL-J 1st th» last ef the island prin
it ceases ef the Pacific. E«r sov>
ereigaty has, like that of Dom Pedro,
beeo. voluntarily eaded to make way
for the all-ccrio ueriu jr rule of th« peo
ple.
WlLea missionary dirturbtncei
threatened to cp— t the peace of the
Islands Franca extended her protec
tion over the group, and then, instead
cf exterminating the natives, g-ave
them a system cf self-government,
and guaranteed to them the tenure of
their lends.
The end cf the Pomare dynasty
came when the present Princess was
only a child, but still ehe can remem
ber the time xrhen her father was sa
luted as absolute monarch of the
pearl-crusted islands, and she carries
herself -with, tbe dignity that befits a
queen.
Che is tail, with, dark, waving: hair
and brown eyes, 81 years old, and
with the light creamy complexion of
the higher class of natives of
Oceanica. •'.••¦'¦ - \
Her calm serenity and dignified
bearing would mark her anywhere- as
a person cf note.
The antiquity of the line of rulers
from, which ehe is descended may be
Judged from the fact that the monu
mental stone colossi of the islands
about Tahiti -srhich mark the tombs
of the ruler* are so much older. than
those of Egypt that no archaeologist .
has yet been able to even approach
the subject of their age. They ante
date the pyramids and sphinx: of
Egypt as m those crumbling relics do
the monuments of to-day.
The colossi are standing stone fig
ures measuring over" thirty" feet from.'
I ' ' : ".¦' - ' ¦ •"¦•¦¦ -
THERE is one place in the world
where the primal curse does not.
rest, or at least touches but lightly .
— in Tahiti, the pearl island of the
southern seas. , '*¦ ... -
There it is not. necessary that men wring
the sweat from their brows to obtainthslr
daily bread. . Women do not suffer as they
do elsewhere. " * .
. . Sin, with its swift following punish-,
.merits, is almost unknown. ¦ . • ¦
• There* have been ui>on the island but six
murders in a third of a century.
This will net be believed at first. It
.naturally would. not be by people who eat
blood-soaked meat three times a day.
Our people of Tahiti live upon the foods,
which recent high developments of biologr-,
ical science show to be the natural bus-.
tenance of human beings— fruit and nuts.
Another reason w;hy it 'is not necessary
for our people to commit crime no fre
quently as it is with Americans is that
we have not the three great incentives to
murder and self-destruction— debt, . drugs
and drunkenness.- ¦- s
, There is nonnecessity for debt in Tahiti,
for no one has yet seized the bulk of the
land." Nature causes sea and soil to yield,
all that life demands and nature does not
charge. ;
¦. Drugs that mado"en. such as cocaine and
morphine, are not needed, for the natural.,
out, of door life and healthy foods do.not
cause the racking diseases . that demand
opiates, to assuage their pain.
By Princess Pomare.
boarding-house on Ellis street. She
is by birth a pure-blooded Tahitian.
By education and taste she is a Paris
lenne; r&nd of music, which she exe
cutes admirably; fond of dress, .as aM.
women are. Fondest of all of her isl
and home, from which even the dress,
gayety and music of a metropolis can
not win her for long. Her opinions
of life in the Pacific islands axe. val
uable wh'en so many ar© turning their,
faces westward.- * '.'
Princess - Pomare arrived on tha
last trip of the Oceanic steamship
Australia from Tahiti and during her
fetay here remained at a fashionable
Thus it is that Princess Pomare
comes of a line of queens who have
continued unbrokenly since the time
cf Cleopatra, and only researches of
the future among the colossal statues
and the tombs can tell how much
elder even than Cleopatra's time was
the dynasty of which Princess Po
mare is the last descendant.
There is a field for research almost
as rich as that of Egypt— perhaps
more so, no one knows, for no one has
looked to see what is the meaning of
these lonely giant statues on the far
away, islets. Now that the great
round-the-world roadway of steam
travel has been • run toward them
there is no doubt that interest will bV
stimulated. That the . people who
raised them were of high intelligence
can be seen by the regular and order
ly way in which their hieroglyphic
inscriptions were made, being a far
advance on the crude pictographis of
the Egyptians.' :
The insular kingdom has had an
uninterrupted succession of rulers, for
no powerful aggregation of mainland
marauders could have reached it since
the prehistoric times when it wa^ first
cut off from .the Asian cradle by th-j
sinking of Oceanfca.
blp« to head and crowned with red
coral stone crowns twelve feet Jn
diameter which have been transported
from quarries miles away by power
and recans which are mysterious to
day alike to the whites and to the
descendants of the mighty races that
raised the monoliths as guardians *of
their, tombs.
«jruc mnefi p«oy*« »-» *r? — "» ai»fl*n— «¦>'•
and so comb in* the '»?» national «•»•«
moniala In one.
A recent writer eoncernlnj tfcn tstaslj
has th« following to say In regard t» t&OM
celebrations:
"In July of ia:h jrnr the natrres J»h»
with the French In the annual obserraac*
of the Fall of th» Baatile, and nothinj
among all the festivities in. the islands of
the Pacific compares with the resulting;
demonstration. Inhabitants &f the Society,
Marquesas . and neighboring Insular
groups assemble from points as far dis- -
tant as EOO miles and, together with the
people of Tahiti itself, indulge In a cel»
bration that is on* of the most memorable)
that travelers can witness In any part of
the world. For the time being* the cele
brants bacoras utterly oblivioua to thai
fact that the habits of modern times hav*
affected them, and simply Immerse them
¦elves in a revival of tha pastlmea, tis
dances and the musio and revelry of the
old times, making; a complete* reproduc
tion of- the life' and conditions of tha
South Pacific before they were touched by
civilization.* Once In every two years th»
celebration la more than doubled in size
and- zeal.- it so happening that the present
year will rwitnesa perhaps the largest that
baa been held during th« past decade."
De trai^ponea on the, cars. The yields
of the place are largely of the condensed
nature, /such as vanilla beans,' which, are
wcrth $1 50 a pound, and can be profit
ably transported without steam.
The pearls which are found in the oys
ters within the, harrier reef are of un
usual ; purity and brilliancy, and so-nu
merous and ¦ easily obtained as • to make
fortunes for these who have engaged in
the business of diving -for them. Al
most as fast as the pearls are gathered
in one place they grow in another, so
it is a saying with the clivers there that
the - sea is . their purse, from which all
T/ho need or' care may help themselves.
This work, too, is. of a sort that encour
ages individual efforts and does not lend
itself to the advancement of either in
ventions or monopoly, for, one man can
*««•' as well *•« another, arrt the sea id
entirely prevent tne estabL'3nrnent of the
monopolistic railroads.
Until late years Tahitlans took no not*
of time, and therefore kept no calendars.
Time was of no value. They had all there
was and that was enough. Tha men were
always as young as they felt and the
women as ycunjr an they looked and no
one wanted their age set out before them
in black and white.
Much of the happlnesa of th« residents
of Tahiti, -I think, depends upon the fact
that they have not been suddenly cut or?
and entirely drawn away from their old
mode of life, JJui stlil follow it In as f^r 4
as it is superior to present ways.
In addition to this, there are annual fes
tivals'.when all' of the customS of the old
times are revived.. •
This is at the .celebrate of the Fall of '
the Bastile. for you see we are ascnthmi.
SUNDAY CALL
THE STORY
OF THE
LAST
PRINCESS
OF
TAHITI