Haole Wife by Margaret Drake

Author:Margaret Drake [Drake, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781462074822
Publisher: iUniverse
Published: 2012-01-04T00:00:00+00:00

Our letters fell into a rhythm of one a week, with Burgess’s letter usually arriving on Monday and mine to him were usually sent by Wednesday. I continued to walk them to the post office myself.

Clara treated me more like a sister than an employee. For this I was grateful. We discussed the new fashion described in the Hilo Tribune-Herald about dresses becoming straighter, narrower and shorter. In fact we decided to get such dresses for ourselves made by a tailor. I did not tell her that I would have them sewn by Mrs. Young. She had been so busy bearing two sets of twins here in Hilo that she had not had much opportunity to get to know the town, or the merchants. Aloysius had taken a trip to Honolulu because of some missing construction materials from the last shipment. It seemed that both we women did not particularly miss him. I had no difficulty mailing my letters to Burgess, though I still avoided the mailbox on the road in front of the house, lest the children see the letters. I wrote enough letters to others that I did mail there that there was little suspicion, I thought.

Reed’s Island, Hilo January 29th, 1924

Dear Burgess,

I was so relieved to discover that you do not hold me in disgrace for my earlier error. Your acceptance means a great deal. I wonder if I shall ever be brave enough to tell Leilani that she has an older brother or sister somewhere. They never told me if it was a boy or a girl.

Yes, Clyde was trying to assist a shipwrecked bootlegger when he was swept from the rocks at Laupahoehoe Point. Despite having attended meetings of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union while living in Laupahoehoe, I never felt particularly involved as neither my father nor Clyde had ever been heavy drinkers. I was quite astounded by the stories of some of the other women about their drunken husbands. I was quite swept up in the fervor of these poor women. In retrospect I wonder about the wisdom of Prohibition. Several good restaurants here have closed because they could no longer serve cocktails. The Seaside Club has opened as a different kind of establishment due to Prohibition. And yet, I hear of new speakeasies where bootlegged liquor is readily served to those who wish. I suppose that that is where Mr. Bloven goes as he is frequently under the influence of alcohol.

The main discussions he and I have had lately have been regarding my wish for his older children to be enrolled in the Boy and Girl Scouts. They have wonderfully led troops in Hilo for both boys and girls. I have tried to convince him of the social training they could provide his children as they are so often without the society of other youngsters. So far, he has been unmovable because he fears they will be associating with “other races.” When I become very disturbed by this situation and by his intransigence, I think of applying for the job of house mother at The Kings Daughters boarding home.

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