MEETING WITH “R.L.S.”

Evening Star, Issue 19787, 10 February 1928, Page 5

MEETING WITH “R.L.S.”

A CALL ON THE LAIRD OF VAILH Early in the year 1894 I was at Honolulu, during a prolonged business tour of tne world. Although primarily intent upon my commercial interests, 1 was young enough to bo anxious to see all that I could, and 1 lost no opportunity that came my way of making new friends (writes Sir Charles Wakefield, Bart, in ‘John o’ London’s Weekly’). In those days conditions of travel, if less luxurious, Jed one far more frequently into novel experiences and adventures. Rapid communication has done much to banish romance from j modern wayfaring. i NOVELIST AND POLITICIAN. From Honolulu I took a boat, which put in at Samoa, the island home of Robert Louis Stevenson, who was then at the very height of his lame. Voyagers who were able to bring Samoa within the scope of their journeyings made a point of visiting the beautiful island. Such an opportunity was mine, and it was too good to be missed. At that time interest in Robert Louis Stevenson was intense, because he had recently been prominent in the eyes of the great world, not only as an essayist and novelist, but by reason of his dramatic intervention in Samoan politics. There had been misrule, details of which, at this date, cannot interest us very much, but Stevenson’s I eloquent intervention on behalf of the natives in the British newspapers had been decisive. The chief delinquents had been removed from power, and as a consequence Stevenson was regarded by the natives, whose cause he had championed, almost as a god. I made my way as rapidly as possible in the direction of Vailima, my time being brief. My life up to that time had been almost entirely devoted to business interests, with the exception of a certain enthusiasm for sport and some social work. In Robert Louis Stevenson I met a man who was almost the entire opposite of the people who formed my familiar world. My recollection is still clear of a tall, slender figure, the poetic features illumined by his marvellous eyes, through which every mood and thought seemed to be reflected. Stevenson’s eyes were the whole soul of the man, in which the strength and vitality of his romantic personality seemed to ho concentrated. LAUGHTER AND SUNLIGHT.

I shall never forget his kindness and gentleness of manner. I was a stranger and far from home, and I felt that 1 was coming into contact with a unique and very delightful person. His I conversation was fascinating, although I found afterwards that 1 retained a general impression of a frank and discerning mind rather than a clear recollection of the actual ground our talk covered. In the course of our interview 1 think I must have said something about the narrow interests and materialistic preoccupations of men immersed in business, for 1 know he

referred to the great part played by commerce in the framework of modern civilisation, and stressed the romantic I possibilities of a commercial career. I understood to the full the influence which Stevenson exerted over those who were privileged to call him friend, and indeed for a brief hour or so ho made ms feel that I also enjoyed that privilege. The visit came all too soon to an end. It was necessary for me to return to the steamer and resume the role of a plain man of business. There was, when the time came to bid farewell to Stevenson, that feeling of reaction which one often experiences after an episode of rare delight. L think “R.L.5.,” with his keen perception of the mind of a young man, must have understood the thoughts that were passing through my mind. With the final handshake he said: “Goodbye, Wakefield ;■ remember, fill your life with laughter and sunlight. That is the host kind of success, to radiate

happiness.” Those were his parting words, and I have never forgotten them nor _ the i final impression I had of the gaiety, | courage, and sympathetic insight that I made Robert Louis Stevenson so lovable a human being.