in them. Where does it all come from? And why
isn't it better done--or worse done? I suppose we might call it 'near
literature.' Sometimes, indeed, it is very near. I suppose it is the
public school system that is accountable. Well, I never believed in
general education, and here's a justification of my attitude."

When one casts a backward glance over the life of Fanny Van de Grift
Stevenson, it cannot be said that she knew much of that for which she
had always longed--peace. Her girlhood was cut short by a too early
marriage. Her first romance was soon wrecked, and her second was
constantly overshadowed by fear for the loved one. Storm and stress,
varied by some peaceful intervals, filled the larger portion of her
days, and at their end it was in storm and flood that her spirit took
its flight. But it was a full, rich life, and had she had the
choosing, I believe she would have elected no other.

* * * * *

After something more than a year had elapsed from the time of her
death, Mrs. Stevenson's daughter, who had now become the wife of Mr.
Field, sailed with her husband in the spring of 1915 for Samoa,
bearing with them the sacred ashes to be placed within the tomb on
Mount Vaea.

Early in the war the New Zealand Expeditionary Forces had taken
possession of German Samoa, so that when Mr. and Mrs. Field arrived
they found the Union Jack flying over Vailima, now used as Government
House by the Administrator, Colonel Logan, and his staff. The natives,
interested spectators of these stirring events, remarked among
themselves that Tusitala, not going back to his own country, had drawn
his country out to him.

Two friends of the old Vailima days were a great help in making the
arrangements for the funeral--Amatua, often referred to in the
Stevenson letters as Sitione, now a serious elderly chief, and Laulii,
a charming Samoan lady of rank, and a warm and attached friend of the
Stevenson family. Of the Vailima household time and wars had
eliminated all but the youngest--Mitaele, who looked much the same in
spite of grey hair and a family of nine children.

It was Amatua who saw to it that those who remained of the builders of
the "Road of the Loving Hearts" and the chiefs who had cut the path up
the mountain for Tusitala's funeral were included in the list of
guests, and it was he who took personal charge of all the arrangements
for the native ceremonies, which were conducted in the elab