y was
intelligent and agreeable. Our party was happy in the anticipation of
seeing dear ones in Honolulu, and in the near realization of what had
been, to some of us, a beautiful dream for years. And were we
disappointed? Oh, no! No picture of our imagination had ever been so
bright, so beautiful as that spread out before us, as our gallant ship
sailed majestically through the coral reef into the beautiful harbor
of Honolulu. It was like entering a new world; everything was bright
with tropical splendor. The mountains, in whose hearts had slumbered
volcanic fires, which, from time to time, had burst forth, lighting up
the great ocean with Tartarean brilliancy, and scattering red-hot lava
far and wide, now stood up in sublime composure, like ramparts of
protection to the lovely island formed by the upheaval.

The tall cocoa-nut palms, crowned with their feathery tufts; the rich
foliage of the various trees; the gorgeous blossoms; the picturesque,
gaily-dressed natives in their arrowy canoes, with luscious fruits, or
specimens of coral, shells, and other treasures of the deep; the
innumerable little bronze figures darting in and out of the water for
bits of coin thrown to them from the deck; and, above all, the dear
ones, with happy faces and eager, outstretched hands, awaiting, with
loving impatience, the moment of our landing, formed a tableau, which,
illumined by the soft, glowing, dreamy atmosphere, made a photograph
in my memory which time nor distance can ever efface. Our ride through
the city, up the Nu-u-an-u valley, was one continued surprise and
wonder, a bright vision, from which we surely must awaken to sober
reality.

We knew that, by the almanac, it was the last day but one of the old
year, midwinter, a time of frost and snow, and surely these brilliant
oleanders, these great scarlet geraniums, these bright hedges of the
many-colored Lantana were but a fairy scene which might vanish any
moment and leave the trees bare and the flowers withered. But when we
entered the charming grounds about our children's home, where we were
to spend some months, resting and gaining health and vigor, we were
fain to believe that it was all real, and that we should sit day after
day on the broad veranda, and look at the royal palms, the graceful
algeroba, the wide-spreading umbrella trees, the truly regal
bougainvillia, with its wealth of purple blossoms, the Mexican vine,
covered with rose-colored sprays, the soft velvet tu