She was away when I came, but some days
afterwards rode up on horseback, in a large drawn silk bonnet, which
she rarely lays aside, as light in her figure and step as a young
girl, looking as if she had walked out of an old picture, or one of
Dean Ramsay's books.
Then there are her eldest son, a bachelor, two widowed daughters
with six children between them, three of whom are grown up young
men, and a tutor, a young Prussian officer, who was on Maximilian's
staff up to the time of the Queretaro disaster, and is still
suffering from Mexican barbarities. The remaining daughter is
married to a Norwegian gentleman, who owns and resides on the next
property. So the family is together, and the property is large
enough to give scope to the grandchildren as they require it.
They are thoroughly Hawaiianised. The young people all speak
Hawaiian as easily as English, and the three young men, who are
superb young fellows, about six feet high, not only emulate the
natives in feats of horsemanship, such as throwing the lasso, and
picking up a coin while going at full gallop, but are surf-board
riders, an art which it has been said to be impossible for
foreigners to acquire.
The natives on Niihau and in this part of Kauai, call Mrs.
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