ats

The sight that amazed us the most was the church located in a clearing in the
center of the village. The pastor had built it and it was undoubtedly the most beau-
tiful study in simple church architecture I have ever seen. It was on the order of
our small community churches--all white cement with multi-colored stained glass win-
dows. Inside we found about ten piles of grass mats which they spread out and sit
on during the service. There was an altar with a Bible and Hymn book both printed in
the native tongue. They have church service every Sunday and are a deeply religious
people. The schoolhouse, another cement structure was nearby. It was an old build-
ing with just openings for windows and no furniture in evidence. The pastor (as
every one called him) was also the teacher of the school, but at this time the school
was in recess until after the Christmas holidays. He teaches the little English
that he knows, mathematics, reading and writing and the Samoan language, as he went
to college in Samoa--a London Seminary College.

Frank introduced us to the Pastor, whose name in the native language I did not
get, but in English it is Samuel after the orophet of that name. When I told him I
was the son of a Pastor in the states, he grinned broadly and insisted that we three
come back at 6 o'clock to eat supper and stay all night in his large thatched house
called a "folly".

We continued our tour and were followed constantly by 20 to 30 children of all
ages, who kept asking, "You my friend?"~--and when we replied in the affirmative they
would ask us for chewing gum. They also remarked at intervals, "American--very good"
and to our surprise they broke out singing in perfect English, "You are my sunshine,
my only sunshine" and on key too, although most of them do not speak English. We
learned that the Marines a year or so ago had taught them to sing this song. One or
two even sang "Shoo-shoo Baby", The small ones up to % or 4 wore nothing while the
others were dressed as their fathers, in a wrap around cloth called a "lava -lava".
The girls reach the age of 12-14 before they start wearing dresses like their moth-
ers. They were well disciplined and we enjoyed having them around. They don't have
any toys but learn eerly to carry things for their parents.

In the village proper the "follys" were thatched huts with the family living
and sleeping on grass (thick) mats. An occasional chair was seen and a cot now and
then in the "follys" of the prominent famlies. One family had acquired a large tent
and had built a wooden floor. This was Frank (the interpreter) family and he was
very proud when he showed us his tent. At one place we saw a half-caste mother hold-
ing a baby that was nearly white (most of the people are dark brown). Frank ex-
plained in a deeply regretful tone of voice that a marine or two had broken the laws
of their people but added with a smile that the Marine Commanding Officer had put
them in the grig for their misconduct. There is very little of this happening among
these people as they are fairly well educated and are strictly disciplined by their
native government. Many of the natives are comparatively light through generations
of half castes.

At what we iknow as 6 o'clock by our watches we went to the Pastor's "folly" but
found that their time was just five o'clock and we sat dow on the only bench to
wait for the Pastor to return from his bath. His family consisted of 5 small boys,
the oldest about 12, his wife, a large woman upward of 200 pounds, who didn't speak
English but was a congenial hostess, and two older daughters who did the cooking.

In our first meeting the Pastor wore the customary "lava-lava" or loin cloth--the
brighter the color the more admired it is by the natives. After his bath the Pastor
appeared in a neatly pressed white shirt and a pure white "lava-lava" wrapped around
his waist and trailing near his ankles. Immediately we slipped down off the bench
and sat on the floor mats with our legs crossed and settled down to a nice chat--
depending on the few words of English the Pastor spoke. We tried at all times to do
things as they did so they would accept us a bit more than if acted distinctly state-
side, (American) in their presence.

The Pastor was a large dark ruddy complexioned man--always smiling. He hed a
large abdominal protrusion which was much in evidence and like the traditional Santa
Claus it "shook like a bowl of jelly", when he laughed and that was quite frequent.
We had talked only a few minutes when his wife handed him 5 necklaces of mixed shells
which the Pastor thatnked them profusely but later found that this was not the last
of the gifts that the Pastor's wife would be responsible for giving before we left

the village.

From this time on they surprised us with one thing after another. Next, he
asked us if we would like to eat. We were hungry and were willing to try anything,
but it turned out to be a supper beyond our expectations. The two daughters and the
oldest son scurried around with the Pastor to fix us a meal. I even suspected dur-
ing his absence at intervals that he was going around to his neighbors borrowing
food. They cooked with an instrument something like 4 blow torch, in one corner of
the room away from the wind. By this time it was dark and the table was brought in
--a nice table cloth cover--some beautiful thin china tea cups and saucers and
plates, and even one chair was found to give us another seat besides the lone bench.
This of course had us flabbergasted to see these fineries of civilization on a na-
tive island in the far Pacific, but it seemed that nothing was too good for their
American friends--although they themselves ate afterwards on the grass mats oa the
floor.