--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Middleton, George W. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 31 number: 8 published: 1928-06 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: "George W. Middleton, “A Worldly Paradise,” *Improvement Era* 31, no. 8 (June 1928): 693–695." source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3108unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera3108unse start_page: 693 end_page: 695 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1928-06) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera3108unse publication_year: 1928 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1928, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # A Worldly Paradise A Worldly Paradise [An interesting letter, written by Dr. Geo. W. Middleton, of Salt Lake City, while on his recent visit to the Hawaiian Islands, to Dr. Frederick J. Pack. Department of Geology. University of Utah. — Editors.] Honolulu, Mar. 20, 1928 Dr. F. J. Pack. My Dear Friend: I have had several eventful days since the good ship Malolo came to anchor in this harbor. This is surely the paradise of the Pacific. As you know, from the geologist's viewpoint, the islands are all volcanic. Doctor Gregory of Yale tells me, and I think you told me before, that it is all tertiary and post tertiary. Some of these mountains look very ancient to me, and, of course, some of the stuff is still pour¬ ing from the active craters. I will tell you first of the visit to Kilauea. We left this island in the eve¬ ning for an all-night cruise. In the early morning we found ourselves anchored at Hilo, on the shore of Hawaii, the largest island. In the forenoon they took us through the sugar cane plantations, and in the afternoon we drove up to the Volcano Hotel, on the edge of the crater. A pre¬ liminary trip around the periphery, in the cool of the evening, was very instructive. They showed us tree casts, where the flowing lava streams have surrounded huge forest trees, and solidified and then burned out their wooden core. At the national observatory, they had a picture-slide lec¬ ture, showing many of the different flows in action, and explaining their various phenomena. In the early morning I joined a hiking party, and we went right through the heart of the great crater of Kilauea, three miles in diameter. The trail has been Keanakakoi Crater Volcano, Hawaii 694 IMPROVEMENT ERA well marked with boulders, and our guide had no trouble in finding his way. In 1924 this was a seething, boiling mass, sixty feet deep, of white-hot lava. In every direction were jets of steam and smoke relieving the internal tension. The wandering winds have scattered the seeds of flowers and ferns across the waste, and, wherever a pocket accumulates a bit of soil, plant life begins to show itself. At the end of our three-mile hike, we came to the brink of the inner crater, Hela- maumau, which is 3,500 feet across and 1,200 feet deep, with perpendicular, crumbling walls. In 1924 this whole thing shot out and sent boulders weighing tons to the height of a mile and a half. Once in every while it fills up and overflows its rim, and sends a stream or streams of lava toward the sea. At the present time it smoulders only, but nobody knows when It will burst forth. The principal danger to visitors when it is in eruption is from falling stones, or from being hemmed in between two streams. One visitor, two or three years ago, found himself so hemmed in, and he saved himself by throwing a large kodak to the center of the stream, and making the distance across in two jumps. One man was killed by a falling stone in the great explosive eruption of 1924. We went many hundred] feet through a huge volcanic tube, the nature of which you first explained to me many years ago. Kilauea is on the flank of Mauna Loa. but there appears to be no syncronism in their action. Mauna Loa erupts once about every seven years, but Kilauea every few months. A night cruise brought us back to this most interesting city. The vegetation is varied and ornamental. Nearly all the shrubs and trees bear blossoms of some kind, and the color scheme of nature is most pleasing. The bougainvilea, in its variously brilliant shades, is the most con¬ spicuous. In some respects, nature has reversed the order of things here. For the most part, she hangs her ponderous things on fragile vines, where they develop on the surface of the earth, and where they cannot fall and do damage; but here we see these huge cocoanuts at the top of palms forty or fifty feet high, where they might ripen and fall at any moment. Im¬ agine the ignomy of having your head broken by a falling cocoanut. The huge banyan tree, as you know, is a compound tree. When the branch reaches, in its growth, a certain horizontal distance from the trunk, it drops down a tendril, which takes hold in the soil and rapidly becomes another trunk, rivaling in size the primary one. In this way, one tree spreads over a great space, and maintains itself by the multitude of its trunk roots. Palms of most all kinds grow without effort. The stately royal palm, with its symmetrical, smooth trunk, looks like a Grecian column, and when they have been laid out in a row they look like an ancient colonnade. The cocoa palm and the banana palm are ubiquitous. The most interesting of all things to me are the people. Nine different nationalities are represented. Add to that all the crosses imaginable, and you have some idea of the racial problem. From everywhere these little oogie eyes are looking at you. The islands are prolific in children. At the Aquarium, two kindergarten teachers came in with a group of thirty to forty children. The inquisitive little oogie eyes sparkled with interest. They all looked alike to me. but those teachers could point out, without effort, the differences between the Chinese, the Japanese, the Koreans, the Filipinos, etc. There is no race prejudice, and inter-marriage across racial lines is the common thing. Doctor Gregory tells me that the cross between Chinese and Hawaiian, and probably the cross between Caucasian and Hawaiian bring out the best qualities of both races. It will be an in¬ teresting thing in the decades forward to see what this mongrel race is going to attain. These mongols are patient, industrious, thrifty and clean. The problems of the centuries forward in the history of the United States revolve around these people. When Americans have committed race suicide, and grown too proud and haughty to work, these yellow men may be the A WORLDLY PARADISE 695 Of all things Hawaiian, the people arc the most interesting scourge that awaits them to punish them for their racial sins. The Hawaiian, as a race, is rapidly dying out. Inter-racial marriage and high infantile mortality spell their doom. Of the 24,000 still re¬ maining, more than half of them belong to our Church. The mission seems pros¬ perous, and the name "Mormon” is at a premium among all classes here, Waikiki beach is the playground of the rich from all countries, but principally from the States, It is a beautiful beach, with coral sand and green-blue serf. The water remains the same temperature as the superimposed air, and the people bathe with delight the year round. A young man by the name of Ford Clark was assigned to be my cabin mate on the return trip from the volcano. He has been sociable and courteous. He says, “Tell my friend. Professor Pack, that I am one that never forgets.” My love to you and your family. I will get at those letters about which we talked, but I was seasick on the way, and am just now coming to earth in the midst of this paradise. Sincerely your friend. Geo. W. Middleton Houses They're not just houses in a row. They’re homes where fire-lights softly glow And hearts are tuned with love and joy; A bit of pain to make alloy. With gold and dross in changing gleams; A place of hopes and faith and dreams. Each one a sanctified retreat; A call to tired returning feet; Where wife and child and love abide; A door that shuts the world outside; Sustaining force for worth-while deeds. But quick to serve a neighbor’s needs. The latch-key fits, this one is mine; Behind its walls a peace divine; A light to call when footsteps stray; A memory to guide the day; A tie that binds where e’re I roam — God bless each little house that’s Home. Nepht. Utah Mrs. Merling D. Clyde