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rity. I imagine that he failed as an actor because his effects, carefully studied, were neither bold nor broad enough to get across the footlights. I was entertained by the proprietary, yet ironical air with which he showed me the city. He thought in his heart that there was none in the United States to equal it, but he saw quite clearly that his attitude was comic. He drove me round to the various buildings and swelled with satisfaction when I expressed a proper admiration for their architecture. He showed me the houses of rich men. "That's the Stubbs' house," he said. "It cost a hundred thousand dollars to build. The Stubbs are one of our best families. Old man Stubbs came here as a missionary more than seventy years ago." He hesitated a little and looked at me with twinkling eyes through his big round spectacles. "All our best families are missionary families," he said. "You're not very much in Honolulu unless your father or your grandfather converted the heathen." "Is that so?" "Do you know your Bible?" "Fairly," I answered. "There is a text which says: The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. I guess it runs differently in Honolulu. The fathers brought Christianity to the Kanaka and the children jumped his land." "Heaven helps those who help themselves," I murmured. "It surely does. By the time the natives of this island had embraced Christianity they had nothing else they could afford to embrace. The kings gave the missionaries land as a mark of esteem, and the missionaries bought land by way of laying up treasure in heaven. It surely was a good investment. One missionary left the business--I think one may call it a business without offence--and became a land agent, but that is an exception. Mostly it was their sons who looked after the commercial side of the concern. Oh, it's a fine thing to have a father who came here fifty years ago to spread the faith." But he looked at his watch. "Gee, it's stopped. That means it's time to have a cocktail." We sped along an excellent road, bordered with red hibiscus, and came back into the town. "Have you been to the Union Saloon?" "Not yet." "We'll go there." I knew it was the most famous spot in Honolulu and I entered it with a lively curiosity. You get to it by a narrow passage from King Street, and in the passage are offices, so that thirsty souls may be supposed bound for one of these just as we
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