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THIRD PART.
THE PITTSBURG DISPATCH.
PAGES 17 TO 20.
PITTSBTJEG, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1891.
A
NOBLE RACE
Fhe iSplendid Physical Manhood of the South Sea Is
Fast Disappearing.
DISEASE OF WILL
tobert I.oais Stevenson's Second Letter From the Pacific Isles Lands Where Life Is a
Dream and Nature Contributes Its Choicest Gifts to Unman Happiness Startling
Statistics In Regard to a Wonderful Teople That Soon Will Be So More Tlia Polyne
sian Dread of Death and Belief in Ghost? The Mysterious Tapn Which, Though
Founded in Superstition, Is More Potent Than the Laws of Kings.
WRITTEN FOB TUX Dfsro.TCB.1
LETTEIt NO. 2.
Of the beauties of Anaho, books might be
rntten. I remember making about 3, to
lad the air temperate and scented. The
ong swell bummed into the bay. and teemed
i fill it fall and then subside. Gently,
leeply and silently the Casco rolled; only at
kmes a block piped like a bird. Oceanward
he heaven was bright with stars and the sea
. itb their reflections. If I looked to that
tide, 1 might have sung with the Hawaiian
loet:
Va tnaomao Ka lani. va ICahaea luna.
ra pipi ka maka o ka hoku.
rhe heavens were fair, they stretched above.
llany were tbn eyes of the stars.)
And then I tnrned shoreward, and high
snails were over head; the mountains
bomed up black, and I could have fancied
I had slipped 10,000 miles away and was
lochored lu a Highland loch; that when the
TvV TrK "
'").
Hobert Louis Stevenson.
ay came it would show pine, and heather.
nd green fern, and roofs of turf sending up
le smoke of peats: and the alien speech that
ould next greet my ears -must be Gaelic,
ot Kanaka.
And day, when it came, brought other
ghts and thoughts. I have watched the
orning break in many quarters of the
orld; it has been certainly one of the chief
ys of my existence, and the dawn that I
:iw with most emotion shone upon the bay
i Anaho. The mountains abruptly over
ang the port with every variety of surface
d of indication, lawn, and elm, and for-
d. Not one of these but wore its proper
at of saffron, of sulphur, of the clove, and
the rose. The luster was like that of
tin; on the lighter hues there seemed to
oat an efflorescence; a solemn bloom sp
eared on the more dark. The light itself
as the ordinary light of morning, colorless
d clean; and on this ground of jewels,
enciled out the least detail of drawing.
canwhile, around the hamlet, under the
alms, where the blue shadow lingered, the
d coals of cocoa husk and the light trails
f smoke betrayed the awakening business
f the day; along the beach, men and
omen, lads and lasses, were returning from
le bath in bright rasment, red and blue
d green, such as we delighted to see in
ic colored little pictures of our childhood;
ad presentlv the sun had cleared the east-
n hill, and the clow of the day was over
II.
The glow continued and increased, the
usines, for the main part, ceased before it
ad begun. Twice iu the day there was a
rtain stir of shepherding along the sea-
ard hills. At times a canoe vent out to
h. At times a woman or two languidlv
lied a basket in the cotton patch. At
nies a pipe would sound oat of the shadow
'a house, ringing the changes on its three
otes, with an effect like que lejonr rue
are repeated endlessly. Ur at tiniee.
ross a corner of the bay, two natives
iglit communicate in the Marquesan mail
er with conventional whistlingb. All else
as sleep and silence. The sun broke nnd
lone arnuna tne snores; a species oi uiacic
ane fished in the broken water; the black
igs were continually galloping by on
me itflair; but the people might never
ave awaked, or they might all be dead.
.My favorite haunt was opposite tlic
auitet, where was a landing in a cove un
er a lianacd cliff. The beach was lined
it'.i palms and a tree called the buran,
methiug between the fie and mulberrv in
rowth, and bearing a flower like a great
cllow poppy with a maroon heart. In
laces rocks encroached upon the sand: the
each would be all submerged, and the surf
oma t.uuoie warmly as high ns to ray
nces, and play with c'ocoanut husks as our
ore homely ocean plavs with wreck and
rack and bottles. As the rtflux drew
wn, marvels of color and design streamed
etween my feet, which I would grasp at,
iiss or seize, now to find them what thev
roraised, ihells to grace a cabinet or be set
gold upon a lady's finger: now to catch
aly maya oi colored sand, pounded frar-
hcots, and pebbles, that, as soon as they
rcre dry. oceanic as dim and borne v as the
lints upon u garden path. I have toiled at
is childish pleasure lor hours in the
Irong sun. conscious of my incurable itrnor-
lice, but too keenly pleased to be ashamed.
leanwhile. the blackbird (or his tronical
InderstudyJ would be fluting in the thickets
verheaa.
A little further, in the turn of the bar. a
Ireamlet trickled in the bottom of a glen.
pence spilling down a stair ol rock into
he sea. The draught of air drew down
Inder the loliage in the very bottom of the
pen, wnicn was a perfect arbor lor coolness,
b front it stood onen on the bine bav and
lie Casco lying there under her awning and
er coeenui colors. Overhead was a thatch
buraoi, and over these spaln mini
tandished their bright fins, as I have seen
conjurer mate nimsell a halo out of
aked swords. For in this SDot. over a
ck Of low laud at the fnnt nf tho tnnnn-
iins. uf iraae wind streami nin ln,t
ay in a flood of almost constant volume
ja velocity, ana o: a heavenly coolness.
I; chanced one day that I was ashore in
ie cove wun .airs, atevenson and the ship's
ion.. J-Mcui jur me vjasco lvinc mitsM.
id a crane or two, and the ever busy wind
id sea, the face of the world w. f ,..
storic emptiness: life nrniwr .'.j
ockftill. and the sense of isolation wis
ofound and refreshing. On a unrUl.r, rf,
ade wind, coming in a gust over the 'isth
us, struck and scattered the fan. r h.
ilms above the dell; and, behold! in two of
e tops there sat a native, motionless as an
ol and watching us, you would have sM
ith a wink. The next moment the fr.I
osed end the glimpse was gone. This dis-
.very oi numau presences latent overhead
a. piece where we bad supnosed our.
live alone, the immobility of nn.
etD spies, and the thought that perhaps 1
nn. fflgra
1 Vi
THAT IS DYING.
RATHER THAN OF BODY.
' at all hours we were similarly supervised,
struck us with a chill. Talk languished on
the beach. As for the cook (whose con
science was not clear), he never afterward
set foot on shore, and twice, when the Casco
appeared to be driving on the rocks, it was
amusing to observe that man's alacrity;
death, he was persuaded, awaiting him on
the beach. It was more than a year later,
in the Gilberts, that the explanation
dawned upon me. The natives were
drawing palm tree wine, a thing for
bidden by law; and when the wind thus
suddenly revealed them, they were doubt
less more troubled than ourselves.
The thought of death, I have said, is upper
most in the mind of the Marquesan. It
would be strange if it were otherwise. The
race is perhaps the handsomest extant. Six
feet is about the middle height of males;
they are strongly muscled, free from fat,
swift in action, graceful in repose; and the
women, though fatter and duller, are still
comely animals. To judge by the eye, there
is no race more viable; and yet death reaps
them with both bands?" "When Bishop Dor
dillon first came to Tai-c-hae, he reckoned
the inhabitants at many thousands; he was
but newly dead, and in the same bay Stan
islao Moanatini counted-on his fingers eight
residual natives. Or take the vallev of
Hapaa, known to readers of HermanJMel
ville under the grotesque misspelling .of
Hapar. Tbe'tribe of Hapaa is said to have-
numbered some 400, when the smallpox
came and reduced them one-fourth. Six
months later a woman developed tubercular
consumption; the disease spread like a fire
about the valley, and in less than a year
two survivors, a man and a woman, fled
from that new-croated solitude. A similar
Adam and Eve may some day wither among
new races, the tragic residue of Britain.
When I first heard this story, the date
staggered me; but I am now inclined to
think it possible. Early in the year of my
visit, for example, or late the year before, a
first case nf phthisis appeared in a house
hold of 17 persons, and by the month of Au
gust, when the tale, was' told me, one soul
survived, and that was a boy who had been
absent at his schooling. And depopulation
works both ways, the doors .of death being
set wide open, and the door of birth almost
A Btarer of FruiL
closed. Thus, in the half-year ending July,
1888, there were 12 deaths and but one birth
in tbe district of the Hatiheu. .Seven or
eight more deaths were to be looked lor in
tbe ordinary course; and M. Aussel, the ob
servant gendarme, knew of but one likely
birth. .At this rate, it is no matter ot sur
prise if the population in that part should
have declined in 40 years from 6,000 to less
than 400; which are once more, on the au
thority of M. Aussel, the estimated figures.
And the rate of decliue must have even ac
celerated toward the end.
The Marquesan beholds with dismay the
approaching extinction of his race. "The
thought of death sits down with him to
meat and rises with him from his bed; he
lives aud breat his under a shadow of mor
tality awful to support; and lie is so inured
to the apprehension that he greets the reality
v.itti relic'. He docs not even seek to sup
port a disappointment; at an affront, at a
THE BAT OF
breach of one of bis fleeting and commun
istic love affairs, he seeks annuitant refuge
in the grave. Hanging is now the fashion.
I beard ot three who had hanged themselves
in the west end of Hiva-oa during the first
half ofl888j but though this bea common
form of suicide in other parts of the South
Seas, I cannot think it will continue popu
lar in the Marquesas. Far more suitable to
tbe Marquesan sentiment isthe old form of
poisoning with the fruit of the eva, which
offers to the native suicide a cruel but de
liberate death, and gives time for those de
cenies of tbe last hour to which he attaches
such remarkable importance. The coffin can
thus be at hand.the pigs killed.the cry of the
mourners sounding already through the
house; and then it is, and not before, that
tbe Marquesan is conscious of achievement,
his life all rounded in, his robes (like
Csesar's) adjusted for the final act. Praise
not any man till he is dead, said the an
cients; envy not any mac till you hear tbe
mourners, might be the Marquesan parody.
The coffin, though of late introduction,
strangely engages their attention. It is to
the mature Marquesan what a watch is to
the European choolboy. For ten years
Queen Vaekehu had dunned tbe fathers; at
last, but the other day. they let her havener
will, gave her hercofftuaud jtha woman's
soul is at rest. I was told a droll instance
of the force of this preoccupation. The
Polynesians are subject to a disease seem,
ingly rather of the will than of the body. I
was told the Tahitians have a word for it,
erimatua, but cannot find it in my diction
ary. A gendarme, M. Nonveau, has seen
men beginning to succumb to this Insub
stantial malady, has routed them from their
houses, turned them on to do their trick
upon the roads, and in two days has seen
them cured.- But this other remedy is more
original: A Marquesan, dying of this dis
couragementperhaps I s'hould rather say
this acquiescence has been known, at the
fulfilment of bis crowning wish, on the
mere sight of that desired hermitage, his
coffin to revive, recover, shake off the
band of death, and be restored for years
to his occupations carving tikis, let us say,
or braiding old men's beards. From all
this it may be conceived how easily they
meet death when it approaches naturally.
I heard one example, grim and picturesque.
In the time of the smallpox in 'Hapaa, an
old man was seized with the disease; he had
no thought of recovery; had his grave dug
by a wayside, and lived in it for near a fort
night, eating, drinking and smoking with
NATIVES TAKINO
the passers-by, talking mo3tly of his end,
and equally unconcerned for himself and
eareless of the friends whom he infected.
This proneness to suicide and loose seat
in life is not peculiar to the Mnrquesan.
"What is peculiar is the widespread depres
sion aud acceptance of tbe national end.
Pleasures are neglected, the dance lan
guishes, tbe songs are forgotten. In like
manner the Marquesan, never industrious,
begins now to cease altogether from produc
tion. The exports of tbe group decline out
of all proportion even with the death rate of
the islanders. "The coral waxes, the palm
grows and man departs," says the Mar
quesan, and he folds his hands. Over ail
the landward shore of Anaho cotton runs
like a wild weed; man or woman, whoever
comes 'to pick it, may earn SI in the day; yet
when we arrived the trader's storehouse was
entirely empty; and before we left it was
near fall. So long as the circus was there,
so long as the Casco was yet anchored in the
bay, it behooved'everyone to make bis visit;
and to this end every woman must have a
new dress, and every man a shirt and
trousers. Neyer before, in Mr. Kcgler's ex
perience, had they displayed so much
activity.
In their despondency there is an element
of dread. The fear of ghosts and of the
dark is very deeply written iu the mind of
the Polynesian; not least of the Marquesan.
Poor Taipi, the chief of Anaho, was con
demned to ride to Hatiheu on a moonless
night He borrowed a lantern, and sat a
long while nerving Himself for the advenr
ture.anil when he at last departed, wrung the
Cascos by the hand as fir a final separation.
Certain presences, called vehinelue, frequent
and make terrible the nocturnal roadside;
I was told by one they were like so much
mist, and as the traveler walked into them
dispersed and dissipated; another described
them as being shaped like men and having
eyes like cats; from none could I obtain the
smallest clearness as to what they did or
wherefore they were dreaded.
We used to admire exceedingly the bland
and gallant manners of the chief. An ele
gant guest at table, skilled in tli3 use of
knife and fork, a brave figure when he shoul
dered a guuiud started fur the woods after
wild chickens, always serviceable, always
ingratiating and gay, I would sometimes
v. under where be found his cheerfulness.
He had enough to sober him, I thought, in
his official budget. His expenses, for he
was alwara mii nttired in virgin while,
ANAIIO.
must by far have exceeded his income of SO
in the year, or, say, 2 shillings a month.
And he was himself a man ol no substance,
his bouse the poorest in the village. It was
currently supposed that his elder brother,
Kauanui, must have helped him out But
how comes it that his elder brother should
succeed to the family estate and be a wealthy
commoner, and the vounger be a poor man
and yet rule as chief in Anabo? That the one
should be wealthy and the other almost in
digent is probably to be explained by some
adoption; for comparatively few children
are brought up in the house or succeed to
tbe estates of their natural begetters. That
the one should be chief instead of the other
must be explained (in a very Irish fashion)
on the ground that neither of them is a chief
at all.
Since the return and tbe wars of the
French, many chiefs have been deposed, and
many so-railed chiefs appointed. "We have
seen, in tbe same house, one such upstart
drinking in the company of two suoh ex
truded island Bourbons, men, whose word
a few years ago was life and death, now
sunk to be peasants like tbeir neighbors.
Our chief at Anaho was alwavs called, be
always called himself, Taipi-Kikino: and
yet that Was not his name, but only the
wand o! his false position. As "soon as be
was appointed chief, his name which signi
fied, if I remember exactly, Prince horn
among flowers fell in abeyance, and he was
dubbed instead by the expressive byword,
Taipi-Klklno Highwater-man-of-no-ac-count
or Englishing more boldly. Beggar
on horseback a witty and a wicked cut. A
nickname in Polynesia destroys almost tbe
memory of the original name. To-day. if
we were Polynesians, Gladstone would be
no more heard of. We should speak of and
address our Nestor as the Grand Old Han,
and it is so that himself would sign his cor
respondence. Not the prevalence, then, but
the significancy fif tbe nickname is to be
noted here. The new authority began with
small prestige. Taipi has now been some
time in office; from all I saw he seemed a
person very fit. He is not the least unpopu
lar, and yet hU power is nothing. He is a
chief to tbe French, and goes to breakfast
with the resident; but for any practical end
ofchie taincy, a rag doll were equally effi
cient. .
"We had been but three days in Anaho
when we received tbe Tisit of the chief of
Hatiheu. a man of weight and fame. late
leader of a war upon the French, late
prisoner in Tahiti, and the last eater of long
THEIB BATH.
pig in Nukahiva. Not many years have
elapsed since he was seen striding on the
beach of Anaho, a dead man's arm across
his shoulder. "So does Kooamua to his
enemies!" he roared to the passers-by, and
took a bite from the raw' flesh. And now,
behold this gentleman, very wisely reponed
in office by the French, paying us a morn
ing visit in, European clothes. He was the
jnan of the most character we had yet seen;
his manners genial and decisive, his person
tall, his face rugged, astute, formidable, and
with a certain similarity to Mr. Gladstone's
only for the brownness of the skin, and the
high chiefs tattooing, all one side and
much of the other being of ah even blue.
Further acquaintance iucrcased our opinion
of his sense. He viewed thesjascoin a
manner then quite new "to us, examining her
lines aud the running of the gear; to a piece
of knitting on whicttone of .the party was
!: 'Ar. lWSreY. ,'
fc- f,wwkmv :ffisc
IJ " Ilk 1 I IlKW I Tk l X j - SjT
z k n wi
.- k u, r z ; "?s
J wy'ij ifi'l . v'r v
rAcir Titer. inEitn sat a kativt.
engaged, he must have devoted about ten
minutes' patient study; nor did he de
sist before lie had divined the prin
c!ple; and he was interested even to
excitement by a typewriter which he
learned to work. When he departed he
carried away with him a list nf his Inmily,
with his own name printed livllis own hand
at the bottom. I should add that lie was
plainly much of a huumrist, and not a little
of a humbug. He told us, f.ir instance,
that he wa a person of cxict sobriety; such
being the obligation of hi high estate; the
commons might be sots, but the chief mnld
not sloop so low. And not many days after
he was to he observed in .1 state of smiling
and lopsided imbecility, the Caseo ribbon
upside down nn his dishonored hat.
But his business that morning in Anaho
is what eoliceins us here. The devil thh, it
seeniF, .were growing scarce upon the reoi; it
was judged fit to interpose what we should
call a close season; far that end, in Poly
nesia, a tapu has to be declared, and who
was to declare it? Taipi might; he ought;
it was a chief put of his duty; hut would
anyone regnsd the inhibition of a Beggar on
Horseback? He might plant palm branches;
it did not iu the least follow that the spot
was sacred. He might recite the spell;it
was shrewdly supposed the spirits
would not hearken. And the old,
legitimate cannibal must ride over tho moun
tains to doit foriiim; and the respectable
official in white clothes could but look on
and envy. At about the same time, though
in a different manner, Kooamua established
a forest law. It was observed the cocoa
palms were suffering, for the plucking of
sreen nuts impoverishes and at last en
dangers the tree, jow Kooamua could
tapu the reef, which was public property,
but he could not tapu other people's palms;
and the expedient adopted was interesting.
He tapued his own trees, and bis example
was imitated all over Hatiheu and Anaho.
I fear Taipi might have tapued ail that he
possessed and found none to follow him.
We all practise the Alexandra limp; but
Lame Jervas rolls along the road unnoted.
So much for the esteem in which the dignity
of an appointed chief is held by others; a
single circumstance will show what he
thinks of it himself. I never met one but
he took an early opportunity to explain his
situation. True, he was only an appointed
chief when I beheld him; but somewhere
else, perhaps upon some other isle, he was a
chieftain by descent; upon which ground he
asked me (so to say it) to excuse bis mush
room honors.
It will be observed with surprise that both
these tapus are for thoroughly sensible ends.
With surprise. I sav. because the nature uf
that institution- is much misunderstood in i
Europe. It is taken usually in the sense of
a meaningless or wanton prohibition, such
as that which to-day prevents women in
Europe from smoking, or yesterdav pre
vented anyone in Scotland from taking a
walk on Sunday. The error is no less nat
ural than it is unjust. The Polynesians
have not been trained in the bracing, prac
tical thought of ancient Home; with them
the idea of law has not been disengaged
from that of morals or propriety; so that
tapu hastn cover the whole field, aud im
plies indifferently that an act is criminal,
immoral, against souud public policy, un
becoming, or (as we say) "not in" good
form." Mny tapus were in consequence
absurd enough, such as those which deleted
words out of the language, and particularly
inose wnicn related to women. Tapus en
circled women upon all hands. Many
things were forbidden to men; to women we
may say that few were permitted. They
must not sit on the paepae, they must not go
up to it by the stair; they must'not eat pork:
they must not approach a boat; they must
not cook at a tire which any male had
kindled. The other day, after tbe roads
were made it was observed the
women plunged along the marzin
through the bush, and when they came
to a bridge waded through the water;
roads and bridges were the work of men's
hands, and tapu for the foot of women.
Even a man's saddle, if the man be native,
is a thing no self-respecting lady dares to
use. Thus on the Anaho side of the island,
only two white men, Mr. Eegler and the
gendarme, M. Autsel, possess saddles; and
when a woman has a journey to make, she
must borrow from one or other. It will be
noticed that these prohibitions tend most to
an increased reserve between the sexes.
But the tapu is more often the instrument
of wise and needful restrictions. "We have
seen it as the organ of paternal government.
It serves besides to enforce, in the rare case
of someone wishing to enforce them, rights
of private property. Thus a man, weary of
the coming and going of Marquesan visitors,
tapus his door, and to this day you may see
the palm-branch Bignal even as our
great-grandfathers saw the peeled
wand before a Highland inn. Or
take another case. Anaho is known
ns "the country without popoi." The word
popoi serves in different islands to indicate
the main food of the people; thus, in Ha
waii, it implies a preparation of taro; in tbe
Marquesas, of breadfruit. And a Maraue-
' san does not readily conceive life possible
without his iavonte diet. A lew years ago,
a drought killed the breadfruit trees and
the bananas in the district of Anaho; aud
from this calamity, and the open-handed
customs of the island, a singular state of
things arose. "Well-watered Hatihue had
f scaped the drought; every householder of
Anaho accordingly crossed the pass, chose
some one in Hatihue, "gave him bis name"
an onerous gift, but one not to be rejected
and from this improvised relative pro
ceeded to draw his supplies, for all the
world as though he had paid for them.
Hence a continued traffic on tne road. Some
stalwart fellow, in a loin cloth, and glisten
ing with sweat, may be seen at all Hours of
the day, a stick across his bare shoulders,
tripping nervously under a double burden
of green fruits. And on the far side of the
gap, a dozen stone posts on the wayside in
the shadow of a grove mark the breathing
place of the popoi carriers. A little back
from the beach, and not half a mile from
Anaho, I was the more amazed to find a
cluster of well-doing breadfruits heavy with
their harvest.
"Why do you not take these?" I asked.
"Tapu," said Hoka; and I thought to
myself (after the manner of dull travelers)
what children and foals these people were
to toil over the mountain and despoil inno
cent neighbors when the staff of life was
thus growing at their door. I was the more
in error. In the general destruction these
surviving trees were enough only for tbe
family ot the proprietor, and by the simple
expedient of declaring a tapu he inforced
his right.
W f
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T!.e sanction ot the tipu is superstitious;
and the punishment of infraction either a
wasting or a deadly sickness. A slow
dise-tse follows on the eating of tapu fish,
and can only be cured with the bones of the
same fish burned with thr due mysteries.
The cocnanut and breadfruit tapu works
more swiftly. Suppose you have eaten tapu
fruit at the evening meal, at night your
sleep will be uneasy; in the morning, swell
ing and a dark discoloration will have at
tacked your neck, h hence they spread up
ward to the face: and in tuo days, unless
the cure be interjected, you must die.
This cure is prepared fioin the rubbed
leaves of the tree irnm which the patient
stole; so that he cannot be saved without
confessing to the kahuku the person whom
he wronged. In tho experience of iny in
formant, almost no tipu had been put in
use, except the two described; he had thus
no opportunity to le.irn the nature and op
eration nf tbe others; and, as the art of
making them was jealously guarded among
the old men, he believed tile mystery would
soon die out. I should add that he was no
Marquesan, but a Chinaman, a resident in
the group from boyhood, and a revent be
liever in the spells which he described.
White men, among whom Ah Fno included
himself, were exempt, but he bad a talc ot a
Tahitian woman, who had come to the Mar
quesas, eaten Upu fish, and, although unin
formed of her offense and danger, had been
afflicted and cured exactly like a native.
We lead in Dr. Campbell's Poenamo of a
New Zealand girl, who was foolishly told
that she had eaten a tapu yam, aud who in
stantly sickened and died in the two days uf
simple terror. How singular to consider'that
a superstition of sncli sway is possibly a
manufactured article; and that, even if it
were not originally iu vented, its details have
plainly been arranged by the authorities of
some Polynesian Scotland Yard. Fitly
enough, the belief is to-day and was proba
bly always lar Irom universal. Hell at
home is a strong deterrent with some; a
passing thought, with others; with others,
again, a theme of public mockery, not al
ways well assured; and so. in the Marquesas,
with the tapn. Mr. P.egler has seen the two
extremes of skepticism and implicit fear,
In the tapn grove he found oue fellow
stealing breadfruit; and it was only on a
menace of exposure that be .showed himself
the least .discountenanced. The other case
was opposed in every point. Mr. Kegler
asked a native to accompany him upon a
voyage; tbe man went gladly enough, but
suddenly perceiving a dead tapu fish in the
bottom of the boat, leaped back with a
scream; nor could the promise of a dollar
prevail upon him to advance.
J&bebt Louis Stevejjscn.
LONDON SHOP GIRLS.
They Get Better Salaries Than Their
Sisters in America,
RUT HAVEN'T SO MUCH FREEDOM.
Always Neat and Polite and the
Dressed in All England.
Best
TUE STORE OF A GENERAL PROVIDER
rcoitr.EsroxDENCE or the dispatcit.i
London. Jan. 28. Two young women
stood behind tbe woolen goods counter at
Whiteley's the other afternoon discussing
whether they should drink wine or beer
with their dinner. Both of them were well
dressed, of comely appearance and engaging
manners. Their neat suits of black fitted
them to perfection, and their white collars
and cuffs added considerably to the charm
of their makeup.
In fact, they were typical London shop
girls an interesting class, worthy of care
ful study and description. One was red
headed and the other had an equally at
tractive suit of dark brown hair, very be
comingly arranged. And there were 1,000
more of their kind In the same establish
ment. They appeared cheerful and happy,
wearing none of that faded and tired ap
pearance so often seen among women of
their degree and effort in the great stores of
the United States. Besides being neatly
dressed, they looked well fed and seemed to
go about their work with spirit and interest.
"Whiteley presides over a great store
stocked with everything to eat, drink and to
wear that the human imagination can con
ceive. There it not a known commodity
that enters into the household eoonomy that
is not found there in abundance and perfec
tion. He has a meat market and a bank, a
green grocery and a life and fire insurance
company, a theatrical ticket office, livery
stable, undertaker shop, brass band, singers,
actors, chiropodists, barbers, and, in fact,
every sort of thing needful to the human
family. He prides himseli that no customer
can send an order to him for anything in
the world that he will not furnish him, even
to a wife. 3
All Neat and Polite.
One thing was always notieable in this
great shop and that was the neatness in
dress and the good manners and politeness
of the attendants. In most instances this
was in marked contrast to the half petulant
manner in which shop girls are apt to wait
upon customers in the United States. Then
the uniformity in dress among the women
clerks is very attractive. The saleswomen
in the dress and cloak department of the
great establishments like "Whiteley's or the
swcller shops in .Regent or Bond streets are
the best dressed women iu England, save
those who dress for show in the afternoon
and evening with plenty of means to in
dulge their tastes for handsome garments.
They wear tight-fitting black silk gowns of
rich pattern, with demi-trains. They are
usually tall, fine looking women, 'and as
they go about tbeir business they are a very
interesting contrast to the regular female
customer who has run out in her morning
gown to do a little shopping. Nearly all
the stores where women are employed board
their help both male and female. Booms
are fitted up for their accommodations in the
upper stories and they are obliged to accept
the conditions thcniercbant imposes unless
they happen to be- married. Then they are
permitted to sleep at home with an extra
allowance for room rent.
Provisions for Pleasurn.
There is usually a large parlor provided
with a piano, a library with books and other
arrangements for the entertainment of the
girls after working hours. Wine or beer is
usually served at dinner and some of the
higher grades of employes have their choice
of beverages. Lectures and smoking con
certs are quite frequent. The doors of these
great lodging houses, as they may properly
be called, are closed at 11 o'clock at night,
and there is noadmission after that hour.
With this exception there are no restric
tions, and the girls are at liberty to come
and go as they please. The moral effect of
this housing of a large number of young
women together may be questioned, but it
does not seem to disturb the average condi
tions of English life.
The care with which a merchant looks
after the physical welfare of his working
people is a very interesting phase of this
inquiry. They claim that girls and women
who live tit home and provide for them-'
selves are apt to keep late hours, have un
comfortable homes to sleep in and often
little or no food to eat. This unfits them
for the duties of the day, while when tho
merchant provides both food and lodging
there is certain to be regularity of habits
and wholesome food to keep the body in
prime condition.
Their Salary I Clear.
Whatever money is paid to working
women or shopgirls in these big stores is so
much over and above their board and lodg
ing. In Whiteley's establishment the
wages run from 20 to 70 a year for the fe
male clerk. Out ot this tbev are only
obliged to provide their clothing; every
thing else is lurnished them. A shopgirl in
New York would think she was doing pretty
well to roceive from $2 to S12 a week over and
above bcr living expenses, even if she bad to
wear black silk dresses everyday when she
reached the 70 grade. The purchasing power
of a dollar, so far as clothing is concerned. Is
double what it is lu our country.
liut l Imagine our independent mcrican
girl would preferto strugslo along with the
meager aaUry most ot them receive with the
power to come and co as tbey please rather
than to live in the cock-loft oyer the store and
hare no caro as to what she shall eat and where
she shall sleep, but be obliged to live up to cer
tain rules and be in tho house every night at II
o'clock. The shops hero do not open before 9
o'clock in the morning and close early in the
evening. Tbns tbe hours are shorter with the
English shopgirl and tbe work, as a . rale,
lighter.
Salary "Without Hoard.
In shops of the lower order.where women are
employed and not boused anil fed by tbe pro
prietor, the rate of wages runs from S3 to S10 a
week, which means dnnhlo that amount of
money in odr land of freedom.
Spiers fc Pond who have all tho railway
stations in ahe United Kingdom kuep some
6,000 employe-. A thousand of these are girls
who wait npon tbe lunch counters as the trains
come in. They have nice rooms for their ac
commodations lltted up over the depot, and
thcr can have whatever to eat or drink that
theypleasi'. Between trains they can read, co
to their rooms and lie down, or do whatever
tbey please if they apportion tbeir work nut
properly among themselves. They are a favor
ite class of employes and receivo !'- S3 a week
over and above their living expenses, to say
nntningofa tip now and thee, which tbey fre
quently get, especially froii American trav
elers who as a rule are rather inclined to be
pleased with the neat appearance and cheerful
ways of the girls behind the bar.
A Darker Picture.
White these higher classes nf female labor
are well paid hero and well cared for, there are
many sad stones of struggle and wrong which
greets you on every hand in an Investigation ot
tbciie phases of English life. Many classes of
working women are not only paid a mere
pittance, but are sadly ill-treated. The women
who do the real drudgery in tbe workrooms of
even tbe Urge stores have long boars and hard
work. "Sweating" Is practiced more freely In
this crowded mart than In any of oar large
cities. Competition here is exacting to the
crnelty point, and the poor who have to labor
suffer in conncquence.
lint this does hot apply In any degree to
that class ol working women who sell goods in
the stores or do higher class of dressmaking
and other work. Their Iive, however, are sad
from our American standpoint. There is no
hope beyond tbe present employment. -Marriage
in their own sphere is hy no means so
easy, and they do not have the Inspiration that
warms the breast of every American girl that,
though she may havo to toil to-day, she may
have ber own home to-morrow.
Frank a. Burnt.
W''f7w ' '''"'i- l 'Jl
A FANTASTIC TALE, INTRODUCING HYPNOTIC THEORIES,
1 TVBITTEX FOB THE DISPATCH
BY F. MARION CRAWFORD,
Author of "Mr. Isaacs," "Dr. Claudius," "A Roman Singer," and
Many Other Stories That Have Taken Bank as
Standard Literature.
SYNOPSIS OF PREVIOUS CHAPTERS.
Tbe entire action occurs in a little over four weeks, and in tbe city ot Prague, Bohemia. The
story opens in the Teyn Cbnrcb, crowded with people. The hero, the Wanderer. Is there search
ing for his love, Beatrice. Seven years hororo they had fallen In love, bnt her father fo'rbade a
marriage and took his daughter away on endless travels to euro her of ber affection. For seven
lng years tbe Wanderer has searched for her. On this day be sees ber in a distant part ot tho
church. He attempts to reach ber, bit tbe crowd is too great. Finally, in tbe darkuess, he fol
lowed a figure he thinks i3 that of Beatrice to the home of Unorna, tho Witch ot Prague. The
Utter calls tbe girl be has followed and convinces him of his mistake. Unorna falls in love with
tbe Wanderer and finds sbe can hypnotize him. He tells her bis story and she offers to help him
find Beatrice. Feartnl ot her hypnotic powers, tbe Wanderer concludes to search Prague him
self first, and, failing, then to seek the Witch's aid. He searches and falls. About to return to
the Witch, he meets Keyork Arabian, an old friend, to whom he tells the storv. The latter ad
vises the Wanderer to go to the Witch. Meantime. Israel Kafka vl3its the Witch. Tbey bad
been lovers, but now the Witch finds herself madly in love with tbe Wanderer. Sbe tries in vara
to put Kafka off, and then hypnotizes bim and commands him not to love ber longer. Unorna,
ana Keyork Arabian. he with hypnotism and be with medicine, have been attempting to causa
an old giant to live forever. While under Cnorna's spell this man has the gilt of prophetic
vision. Now she is overcome with the desire to know if the Wanderer "hall be bers. Sbe wakes
tbe sleeping giant, is given hope by his answers, but is interrupted by Keyork Arabian, who up
braids ber for endangering tbeir great experiment. Finally he tells her if a young person's
blood could be gotten into the old man's veins they might make bim young again. Unorna at
once suggests Kafka, who is in a hypnotic sleep In an adjoining room, to furnish tha blood.
CHAPTER VIL
HE Wanderer,when Key
ork Arabian had left bim,
had inteneded to revisit
Unorna without delay,but
he had not proceeded far
Jtiaiffl
in the direction of her
ouse when be turned out
of bis way and entered a deserted street
which led toward the river. He walked
slowly, drawing his furs closely abont bim,
for it was very cold. He found himself in
one of those moments of life in which the
presentiment of evil almost paralyzes the
mind's power of making any decision.
His heart was filled with forebodings
which his wisdom hade him treat with in
difference, while his passion gave them new
weight and new horror with every minute
that passed. He had seen with his eyes and
heard with his ears. Beatrice had been
before him, and ber voice had reached him
among the voices of thousands, but now,
since the hours had passed, and he had not
found ber, it was as though he had been
near her in a dream, and the strong certainty
took hold of him that she was dead, and that
he bad looked upon her wraith in the
shadowv church.
Two common, reasonable possibilities lay j
before him, and two only. He had either
seen Beatrice, or be bad not. If she had
really been in the Teyne Kirche, she was in
the city and not far from him. If she had
not been there, lie had been deceived by an
accidentil but extraordinary likeness.
Within tbe logical concatenation of cause
and effect, there was no room for any other
supposition, and it followed that his course
was perfectly clear. He must continue his
search until be should find the person be
bad seen, and the result would be conclu
sive, lor he would again see the same face ,
and hear tbe same voice. Iteason told him
that he bad in all likelihood been mistaken
after all. Reason reminded him that the
church, had been dark, the multitude of
worshipers closely crowded together, the
voices that sang almost innumerable, and
wholly undistinguishablefrom each other.
He reached the end of tbe street, but he
felt a reluctance to leave it, and turned back
again, walking still more slowly and heavily
than before. So fur as any outward object
or circumstance could be Said to be in har
mony with his mood, the dismal lane, the
failing light, the bitter air, wer at that mo
ment sympathetic to him. The tomb itself
is not more sepulchral than certain streets
She Calls You. Come!
and places in Prague on n dark winter's
afternoon. Cold and dim and sad the an
cient citr had seemed before, but it was a
tbnnsaud-fold more mcl tncholy now, more
black, more saturated with the gloom ot
age. From time to time tbe Wanderer
raised bis heavy lids, scarcely seeing what
was before him, conscious of nothing but
the horror which had so suddenly embraced
his whole existence. Then, all at on;e, he
was fce to fare with some one. A woman
stood still in the way, a woman wrapped iu
rich furs, her leatures covered by a dark
veil, which could not hide the unrqual fire
nf the unlike eyes so keenly fix d on his.
"Have you found her?" asked the soft
voic.
"She is dead," answered the Wanderer,
groxnng very white.
During the short silence which 'ollowed
and while the two were stilt staniling.oppo
site to each other the unhappy man's look
did not change. Unorna saw that be was
sure of what he said, and a thrill of triumph.
rffjt.r arwJi
.. Rr
g
ifiv
,mi(liSBf nil ISUu?
as jubilant as his despair was profound, ran
through her. If she had cared to reason
with herself and to examine into her own
sincerity, she would have seen that nothing
but genuine passion, good or bad, could have
lent the assurance of her rival's death such
power to flood the dark street with sunshine.
But she was already long past doubt upon
that question. The encounter had bound
her heart with his spells at tbe first glance,
and the wild nature was already on fire. For
one instant the light shot from'her eyes, and
then sank again as quickly as it had come.
She had other impulses than those of love,
and subtle giftsof perception that condemned
her to know the trutb. even when the de
lusion was most glorious. He was himself
deceived, and she knew it. Beatrice might,
indeed, have died long ago. She could not
tell. But as sbe sought in the recesses
of bis mind, she saw that he had no cer
tainty of it, she san the black presentiment
between him and the image, for she could
seethe image, too. She saw the rival she
already hated, not receiving a vision of tbe
reality, but perceiving it through his mind,
as it had already appeared to him. For one
moment she hesitated still, and she knew
that her whole life was being weighed in
the trembling balauce of that hesitation.
For one moment her lace became an impen
etrable mask, ber eyes grew dull as uncut
jewels, her breathing ceased, her lipa were
set like cold marble. Then tbe stony mask
took life again, the sight grew keen, and a
gentle sigh stirred the chilly air.
"She is nordead."
"Not dead 1" The Wanderer started, but
BEATEICE 1
fully twr seconds after she had spoken, as a
man struck by a bullet in battle, in whom
the suddenness of the shock has destroyed
the power of instantaneous sensation.
"She is not dead. You have dreamed it,"
said Unorna, looking at him steadily.
He pressed his hand to his forehead and
then moved it, as though brushing away
something that troubled him.
"Not deadl Not deadl" he repeated, ia
changing tones.
"Come with me. I will show her to you."
He gazed at her and his senses reeled.
Her words sounded like rarest music in his
ear, in the darkness of bi3 brain a soft light
began to diffuse itself.
"Is it possible? Have I been mistaken?"
he asked in a low voice, as though speaking
to himself.
"Come," slid Unorna again, very gently.
"Whither? With yon? How can you
bring me to her? What power have you to
lead tbe living to the dead?"
"To the living. Come."
"To the living yes I have dreamed an.
evil dream a dream of death she is not
no I see it now. She is not dead. She is
only very far from me, very, very far. And
yet it was this morning but I was mistaken,
deceived by some faint likeness. Ob, God!
I thought I knew her facet What is it that
you want with me?"
He asked the question as though again
suddenly aware ot Unorna's presence. She
had lilted ber veil, and her eyes drew his
soul into tbeir mysterious depths.
"She calls you. Come."
"She? She 5 not here. What can yon
know of her? Why do yoa look at me so?"
He felt an unaccountable uneasiness under
her gaze, like a warning- of danger not far
off. Tbe memory of his meeting with her
on that same morning was not clear at that
momeat, but be had not forgotten the odd
disturbance of his faculties which bad dis
tressed him at the time. He was inclined
to resist any return of tbe doubtful state and
to oppose Unorna' influence. He felt the
fascination of her glance, and he straight
ened himselt rather proudlyand coldly as
though to withdraw himself from it. It wai
certain that Uoorna, or the surprise of meet
ing her, had momentarily dispelled the
gloomy presentiment which had given him
such terrible pain. And yet, even in bis
disturbed and anxious consciousness, be
found it more'than strange that she should
thus press him to go with Iter, and so boldly
promise to bring him to the object of his
search. He resisted her, and luuod that
resistance was nut easy.
"And yet." she said, droppipg her eyes
and seeming to abandon the attempt, "yoa
said that if you failed to-day you would
come back to me. Have you succeeded, tbat
you need no help?"
"I h ive not succeeded."
"Aud if I had not come to yoa if I bad
nn: met ynu hero, you would have failed for
thi. Kit time. You would hive carried with
von the conviction of her death to the mo
ment of your own."
"It was a hor.-ibte delusion, but since it
was a delusion it would have passed away ia
time."
"With your life, perhaps. Who would
have waked you, if I hadnot?"
, -il..
.. y J "VtrfW.