CHAPTER III

SOCIETY IN HONOLULU

WHEN I made some inquiry of a Honolulu business man about the society of the city, he answered with an ironical laugh:

"Why, we have no society in Honolulu. We are so mixed up with Chinese, Japanese, Portuguese, Siamese, Kanakas, and nobody knows what else, that we can't tell what we are, where we belong, or who is who!"

"But you have churches?"

"Churches be" he answered with a contemptuous sneer. "They don't make society. Some of our greatest frauds are in the churches," and he highly seasoned his last remark with a brimstone adjective.

One could see at first glance that my informant was an agnostic. He was not in sympathy with the present rulers of the islands, whom he denominated a missionary government, with a few more sulfurous adjectives in evidence of his sincerity.

"Now, my friend, let me give you a bit of advice," he added, laying his hand entreatingly on my shoulder. "If you intend to write up Honolulu society as it is,

you had better place the broad Pacific between yourself and this country before your book appears."

Investigation has convinced me that his pessimistic ideas of Honolulu society have been overdrawn. Like any other city, town, or village, Honolulu has grades of society. It may be classed as good and bad, cultured and uncultured; and if one's associations should be among the grossly immoral, it is unfair that he should judge the whole city by the persons he has chosen for his companions.

Society is too often measured by the native standard; but it would be as reasonable to measure the society of America by the North American Indian, as to make the native the standard of Honolulu society. Tho the whites have imbibed many qualities, good and bad, from the original inhabitants of the islands, they are quite distinct from them.

The natives originally had little regard for the marriage tie, and it is said hold it rather loosely today. This has always been the greatest obstacle the missionaries have had to contend with. Unfortunately, whaling and trading vessels brought swarms of dissolute sailors to the islands who in a great measure undid the work of the missionaries. Their efforts to inculcate principles of morality in the natives subjected these teachers to the enmity of the sailors, who frequently threatened their lives.

With these two conflicting elements at work, one of

God and the other of Satan, the moral nature of the native is still weak. The heart of the Kanaka is kind, and his desire to please has often proved a fatal weakness. Nothwithstanding all this, there are many native men and women, of pure, upright lives, whose intelligence is surpassed by none with equal advantages. As education is compulsory and the English language almost universal, the natives are obtaining a more perfect knowledge of Christianity and the relations of husband, wife, and family. They have begun to marry and give in marriage, and to a great extent observe the rules of civilization. Now when the heart of a Kanaka has been touched by the soft dark eyes of some Kaikamahine, he tries to woo and win her in the civilized fashion, tho he makes many blunders at it.

But often it is the girl who becomes enamored of some young swain, and not being versed in the wiles and charms of civilized maidens, she resorts to more open and direct means of captivating her lover. Lacking the modesty of civilization which would enable her to smother the fires of her love tho her heart burned to ashes, she proceeds in a direct way to win the person who has engaged her affections. She may have been educated in English, yet she sees no harm in proposing to him or declaring her love. One of the most amusing objects I found in my journey was a love-letter written by a Hawaiian girl.

The young Kanaka who had won her affections was in the employ of a dealer in musical instruments, and the Kaikamahine thought it proper first to confide the secret of her love to his employer. This is the missive the employer received:

"Will you please that Kaiama be my marriage husband. If you said yes I want it. I heard that it was a workman for you, and I want him to keep myself and I keep hisself too. If you no said yes, you sent back my letter and I sorry to myself. you. I stop here.

Farewell to

T. U. L."

The above will illustrate how crude the average native society still is, even among the partially educated. This epistle was written in a neat feminine hand, the chirography almost perfect, or at least above the average in the United States, yet it shows a woful ignorance among the average natives of what we call the proprieties of life.

But

There are exceptions to this rule, for some of the natives are capable of adorning any society. after all it is the white people who fashion and mold society in Honolulu, as well as in all the Hawaiian Islands. The leading society in Honolulu is very similar to that of the same class in any American city or town. There are leaders of fashion there as here. There are sensible men and women there, who strive for the comfort and advancement of the people. There are a few whose extravagance in dress would

lead to their being called foppish, but there is no country where the people dress more in good taste, and where there is less nonsense displayed in clothes or jewelry. White duck suits, white Panama hats, and white gaiters form the neat business dress of the gentlemen.

Literary societies of a high order are found in the city. One of the most famous of these, known as the Social Science Association, is composed of twenty-five gentlemen of culture and refinement. This association is now in its fifteenth year. It meets once a month at the house of one of the members or of some friend, where papers are read and discussed which would do credit to statesmen in America or Europe. Some of the papers read before the society have found their way to some of our leading American magazines and newspapers. The society is composed of such men as President Dole, Dr. Emerson, Dr. Hyde, Dr. Rodgers, J. M. Whitney, Professor Alexander, Professor Richards, Professor Lyons, Mr. Thurston, ex-Minister to the United States, and others equally noted in literature, theology, and statesmanship.

Of the twenty-five members of this society, nine are graduates of Yale, nine of Williams College, Massachusetts, two of Harvard, and one of the New York University, yet two thirds of them were born on the Hawaiian Islands. I had the pleasure of attending three meetings of the society during my stay