s from the mission. Over these entertainments Mrs. Stevenson
presided--a gracious and beautiful hostess. Once when her grandson,
Austin Strong, came home for a holiday from school, she gave a ball in
his honour. There were torches all along the road to light the way up,
boys in uniform to receive and take care of the guests and their
horses, and a band to play for dancing. For weeks beforehand the
dressmakers of Apia had to work overtime. But it is not to be supposed
that this comfortable state was brought about without great efforts on
the part of the whole family. Mrs. Strong took over the housekeeping,
management of supplies and training of servants, leaving her mother
free to devote her energies to the outdoor work she loved best.
Writing to Miss Jane Balfour, Mrs. Stevenson says: "Never were people
so full of affairs. We have to start a plantation in the solid bush,
manage all our complicated business, receive furniture and guests--and
all the while trying madly to get the house in order and feed our
family. We must have horses to ride or we can go nowhere. The land
must be cleared and grass to feed horses and cows must be planted. Men
have to be taught, also, how to take care of the animals and must be
watched every moment. I am glad to say that the gossip among the
natives is that I have eyes all around my head and am in fifty places
at once, and that I am a person to be feared and obeyed."

The fertile soil and kindly climate of the island encouraged her to
experiment, not only with the plants native to the place, but also
with exotics brought from other lands. In importing these foreign
plants she exercised the greatest care not to introduce any pest, for
she knew that when the lantana was taken to Hawaii and the sweetbrier
to New Zealand these foreigners showed such a destructive fondness for
their adopted homes that they came near choking out everything else.
Before introducing any plant she consulted the heads of the botanical
gardens at Kew and Colombo and the grass expert at Washington, D. C.
She even had the soil that came around her plants burned, for fear it
might bring in insects or disease. The lawn was an accomplishment in
itself, for after she had had the soil sifted to a depth of eighteen
inches to clear it of roots and stones, she levelled it herself by the
simple means of a spirit-level and a string.

It is not to be supposed that all these things grew without immense
difficulty. As an instance,