THE BUILDING OF THE HOUSE.
AND now he is a big boy, ten years old, and can do so many things to
help his parents. He has not always lived in the home where he was
born. Last summer a whirlwind destroyed that one, but he helped his
father build another just like the first, and he showed himself a very
clever worker.
He searched through the forest for bamboos of the right size; he did
his share in cutting them down and splitting them for the walls of the
hut. When they were ready, he worked each morning in thatching the roof
until it grew too warm. Then came dinner and a nap under the trees
until the late afternoon, when work began again.
In a few days a new home was ready and the terrible hurricane forgotten
by the carefree, happy little boy.
Can you guess what part of the hut took the largest share of Alila's
time and attention? It must have been the window-panes, for he was
anxious to get the most beautiful mother-of-pearl he could find. He had
to take a trip to the seashore ten miles away, and then he spent many
hours finding such oyster shells as had a very delicate lining.
"The two windows must be beauties," said the boy to himself, "for that
will please my mother so much."
No carpenter's shop nor store was visited during the whole time. It
was not needful, for the forest near by stretched its arms toward
the workers, as much as to say: "Come to me; I will gladly give you
everything you can possibly wish."
"How about nails," you ask, "and stout cord with which to fasten all
the parts together?"
Nails, and a bolt in the door? Why, what could be better than a stick
of rattan, cut and whittled into shape? Cord? That was obtained very
easily, too, from a bushrope-tree growing near Alila's home. It is so
stout and strong it is not an easy thing to break it.
When the house was finished, it looked like a great beehive. There was
only one room, but what of that? If people are perfectly comfortable
they can be as happy in a one-roomed hut as though they lived in a
palace.
Alila has so many good times you would almost envy him. In the first
place, it takes him only a minute to dress in the morning. A pair of
thin trousers and a shirt hanging down outside instead of being tucked
in at the waist, and his toilet is made.
When he goes out into the sunlight, he wears an odd-looking hat of
rattan. It is made in the shape of a cone, and shields his eyes nicely
from the sunshine. He goes to no school, so he does not know how to
write to his new American brothers, but that doesn't trouble him in the
least.
He always has enough to eat, and is satisfied with a dinner of rice
and fish any day. Besides, there is always a bunch of bananas hanging
inside the house, and he has sugar-cane in abundance.
He is hardly ever punished and is allowed to do very much as he
pleases. It is fortunate that he pleases to do right nearly all the
time.
He swims every day in the river; he fishes from his bamboo raft; he
hunts in the forest with his father. His chief duty on the sugar
plantation is to keep the monkeys out of the cane. It was not long ago
that he shot two of the mischievous little fellows with his bow and
arrow and hung the poor things on poles like scarecrows to frighten
others away.