means of showing to him the opportunity of making his way in the world; as years passed by he established himself in business, and soon became one of the leading merchants of Lahaina, at that time the port of call in the Islands for the whaleships, ranking second only to Honolulu.

It was then the base of supplies to this fleet of vessels, was a thoroughly thrifty place, and a business city of growing commercial importance. But the oil-wells of the land have thrown into neglect the oil-ships of the sea, and since this decline and decay Lahaina is little more than a city of ruins. Mr. Gilman probably saw the approaching decline of the industry by which the place was supported; for he broke up his business connections there, sundered certain personal ties, and returned to the East with a very handsome fortune, it is said, the result of the accumulation of years of mercantile life on Hawaiian soil and under Hawaiian laws. Honolulu he returned to Boston, where he has resided ever since, save that once, since the overthrow of the monarchy, he made a brief visit to his Honolulu friends.

From

In 1887, during my journey with Queen Kapiolani, we met Mr. Gilman, who was at that time very kind and attentive to me. To be sure, he had a point to gain; he wanted a decoration from the king, and did not hesitate to say so. On the return of the queen's party to the Islands, letters were received from Mr. Gilman, directly applying for the honor to my brother. Chiefly by means of my personal influence his petition was granted, and he was made a Knight Companion of the Order of Kalakaua, and the decoration forwarded to him.

The next thing I heard from Mr. Gilman was that he had espoused with alacrity and fidelity the cause of the revolutionists of the month of January, 1893, and that he avowed his implicit belief in all the absurd and wicked statements circulated by the missionary party against my own character and that of my people. Papers were sent to me where Mr. Gilman had repeated and vouched for the truth of these abominable political slanders; and at first I could scarcely credit it, for this man was often at the house of my adoption, and showed great partiality for my society when I was a young girl and he a young man. He knew Paki and Konia, a couple of the strictest morality, whose household was organized on the basis of the most regular family habits and the most pious Christian customs; and these had taken me from my very birth under their parental care.

He further knew me as the foster-sister and daily companion of Mrs. Bernice Pauahi Bishop, where I was ever under the kind care of her husband, Hon. Charles R. Bishop, a couple whose principles of exalted piety, whose love for all that is good, honorable, and pure, are too well known to need at this moment the least praise from me, and whose protection was ever and always surrounding my earlier life. From their house, when married, I went directly to that of my husband's mother, with whom I lived to the day of her death, not so very long ago.

Such were the lives of those with whom my own life has been passed; such were the families with whom Mr. Gilman knew I had been in daily association, and where he met me. At the time when he hastened to avow his

allegiance to my enemies, and to ask them for the dec oration of a consular station, in the year 1893, I was fiftysix years of age. Yet the past was reckoned by him as naught; he permitted himself to be instantly prejudiced against his early friend, and to be led away by the base slanders and political falsehoods of her adversaries. He proceeded to vilify me in such articles as those sent to me from his pen, and has been a zealous servant of the men who placed him in office; he has rushed into print not only his own misstatements, but has endeavored to nullify the influence of any article written in my favor, or in defence of the rights of the Hawaiian people.

Such has been the animosity, openly and secretly expressed, toward me, not only as a queen, but as a woman, by those whom all the claims of gratitude should bind to me as friends, and who should rally to my assistance, that, since leaving home and arriving in America, I have constantly received communications from Hawaii, often by special message, begging me to be careful of my life, still regarded as "infinitely precious to the people of the Islands," reminding me that I was surrounded by enemies, some of whom from home were entirely unscrupulous, and assuring me that great anxiety was felt by all classes, as it was a persistent rumor that evil was intended me.

CHAPTER LII

PRESIDENT AND MRS. CLEVELAND

ARRIVING in Washington on Saturday, my party took rooms at the Shoreham; and amongst the very first callers to greet me was the Hon. Daniel Nash Morgan, the Treasurer of the United States. A Mason of the highest degree himself, Mr. Morgan noticed at once the jewel of the Mystic Shrine which I wore upon my breast, and asked for its history.

I told him that General Powell, a grand commander of the Mystic Shrine in the Western jurisdiction, visited the Hawaiian Islands about the time of my return from the Queen's Jubilee. When he met me he took the decoration of the order from the lapel of his own coat, and pinned it on the front of my dress. As he fastened it on my breast, wishing me God-speed, he said that, should I travel and find myself in need of any aid or protection, it would be of great assistance to me; and I have worn it ever since. Mr. Morgan was much interested in this narration, and, with his charming wife and lovely daughter, as well as with others of his family, did much to render my stay in Washington pleasant to me.

My first call, after arriving at the Shoreham, was at the White House. The day of my departure from Bos

ton, President Cleveland had gone on one of his huntingexcursions. This was immediately telegraphed over the land, and his going made out to be a consequence of my coming. As no person, excepting the three members of my suite, knew of my intention to visit Washington, of course this was impossible. However, it was as true as the long list of falsehoods written during my residence at Washington and elsewhere.

On Monday morning, Jan. 25, Mr. Cleveland set the gossips at rest by appearing at the executive office; and at eleven o'clock my secretaries delivered to Hon. Henry T. Thurber, the President's secretary, a brief note from me, advising him of my presence in the city, and offering to express to him my friendly feeling by a personal call, if it would be convenient to receive me. I had suggested no day nor hour; but they had scarcely reached the hotel on their return when a most courteous note was received from the President, conveying to me his sympathy, and welcoming me to call upon him at three o'clock that very afternoon, which I did with the three members of my suite.

The President received me in the little Red Receptionroom. Every door opened as we passed in; and the crowd of reporters on the piazza were forced to be content with a mere glimpse of my party, and to draw on imagination for any account of the interview. Not a hint was given by me as to any intention to visit Mrs. Cleveland. The President very naturally spoke of his wife, who had shown me such consideration the last time I was in the executive mansion; and I expressed the hope that she continued in good health after so