A Hawaiian Expedient [pp. 10-18]

Overland Monthly
repair since the poet left it. The vines
that once climbed over the windows and
let in a green and leafy light upon his
well-beloved books have been torn awav.
The house blazons in new paint and fresh
shingles, and the shrubbery about it has all
been trimmed. Flocks of senseless hens
now wander under the oaks where of yore
used to assemble of a Sunday afternoon a
group of friends whom the long climb
could not frighten. The little stream that
once ran past the door has been piped de
corously to the barn-yard, and the great
willows and water-weeds that kept their
greenery along its banks look sere and
feeble. There is a cow-pen where a tangle
of scrubl)-oak once grew, and a vegetablegarden flourishes where the poet used to
love to watch the blooming of the first wild
poppies of springtime. In a word, the
place in under cultivation. Some one is
making two blades of grass grow where
before was only one; the man with a hoe
has been there.
A HAWAIIAN EXPEDIENT
BY JESSIE KAUFMAN
" l[ T HEIAT Negano want, Tulu?"
V V a.sked Mrs. Sterling, lazily
turning in her hammock, as she
heard her maid's soft footfall in the lanai.
"Negano want one cup milk; he go
make cake."
"You give him?"
"Yes; he take now."
MArs. Sterling's eyes followed Negano as
he sauntered past her lanai and across the
vacant lot to the next house, with the borrowed cup of milk.
"Please give mie that blue book on table,
TuLlu,-all same this, only more big.
You see? Yes, that's right," she said settling herself more comfortably and opening her book. "And Tulu, please burn
some mosquito-powder in my room. Mos quito come inside my net; plenty bite last
night."
All light," replied Tulu, as she noiselesslv moved about with her duster.
But MArs. Sterling's mind was not quite
at ease. There was a new man-of-war in
port. Some of the officers were sure to
call, and she could not see them in her
holokul. That was the worst about new
men; they had to be initiated before they
could forget the ATother Hubbard and remember that the hololcu held a distinction,
if not a difference. Well, she could not
help it; she was not going to dress for all
the officers in the navy.
l Finished, ended.
"Tulu! "
" I come," called Tulu, who had gradu ally reached an adjoining room. In a
moment the little blue-kimonoed form
returned.
"Tulu," began her mistress, "by'n'by
man-of-war gentleman come see me. You
say I go down town."
"All light," replied the imperturbable
Tulu. "Negano come," she added. "He
plenty want to-day. He come all time."
"What you come get, Negano?" asked
Mrs. Sterling, raising her voice as he approached.
Negano bowed to the ground. "We go
makle cake," he said. "Eggs all pau.1
You got some eggs? By'n'by, Misy Al'n go
down town - slhe buly. She say she bling
you all same."'
"Answer telephone, Tulu," said Mrs.
Sterling, as the bell rang.
"Go kitchen, Negano," she added.
Cook give you eggs."
"MAisy Al'n want you come speak," said
Tulu, turning from the telephone.
"0 dear!" sighed Mrs. Sterling, as she
slowly got out of her hammock. "Hello t
Is that you, Kukulani?" she began. "0,
yes; I gave Negano the eggs.... Of
course, I could spare them.... Yes;
the recipe says four eggs and about three
cups of flour-three, T-H-R-E-E-Can't
you hear?'... Central, I can't make
Io0