I read your Post-office Box with a great deal of interest every
time it comes. I used to live in Kansas, and often saw prairie
fires there, and one nearly burned up my father's hay-stack and
barn. But we fought it, and saved them. My father and mother moved
to these islands from there, and landed here the last day of 1878.
We have Kanaka policemen to guard the streets, and most of the
sidewalks are made of lava sand: some are of broken boards, and
there is a nice stone pavement once in a long distance. So when it
rains the sidewalks are muddy. Most of the yards are very
beautiful. We have a nice band. They are all Kanakas except the
leader, who is a German. They give moonlight concerts free in the
Park several times a month, and every Saturday afternoon at half
past four o'clock. The little Park is very nice, and has plenty of
seats in it. I went to Hilo with my papa, and also to the lava
flow, which is only a mile and a half from that place. It is still
too hot to step on in some places, though the flow stopped on the
9th of last August. When it rained you could trace it a long
distance by the steam. I am nearly eleven years old, and go to
school, and have not been absent or tardy this term.