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THE CONGRESS OF WOMEN.

Sunday is a great day for all Samoans. They sing hymns from early morning until late at night, with the exception of short intervals of sleep. Their first service is at 6:30 in the morning, when all go, men, women and children. About half an hour before church they begin their preparations, and if there is not room to dress in the house, the outside will do just as well. Their best things are kept in small chests at one end of the house, or rolled in tappa or mats, and placed on the roof beams of their houses. The men high in rank, as a rule on Sunday, wear clean white lava-lavas and white shirts. They always carry their Bible and prayer-book carefully wrapped in a clean pocket handkerchief. In the case of a chief a boy follows behind, carrying the chief’s Bible. The native pastor marches ahead, always carrying a large umbrella and a lot of books, followed by a crowd of his people. He is usually dressed in a white lava-lava and white coat, bare-footed and bare-headed.

In conclusion I am moved to say of the Samoans, as a people, that so far as I am able to judge their advancement from barbarism to their present comparatively happy condition is due entirely to the missionaries.

As Samoans they are, as I have said, in a physical point of view, good specimens of men and women mentally, while they are probably wanting in ability to expand or grow to any great extent, still there is no stupidity in the Samoan. In other words, as Samoans, they may be said to be a success among the many races. An effort to make them other than as they are, or to advance them on a higher plane, would in my judgment be unsuccessful.

Speaking of Samoa as a race, Sir Robert Stout said: “Their development must be slow; any attempt to force them, or to make them like Europeans, must end in the destruction of the race. * * * Physically they are a magnificent race. No one

can see them walking without being struck with the gracefulness of their carriage It is better than any race I have ever seen, white or colored. In point of intelligence, they are at least equal to the Maoris, and morally their notions and practices are such as would tend to their preservation. They are a kindly and hospitable people, good tempered, not given to quarreling, and pass their lives easily and happily. In my opinion it would be a crime to allow such a race to be destroyed.”