trip and a very rough passage."
"How long have you been in Hawaii?"
"Five years. Soon after my examination for military service, from which I was exempted, I came to these islands."
"Did you know your girl in Japan?"
"Yes. She is from the same village although of a different subdivision. In fact we used to be sweethearts. She is three years my junior."
"Well, you are fortunate. You have not the fear that I have. I don't know my wife. She comes from a distance, although she is distantly related. This waiting and suspense are worse than the hour before examinations at school," Seikichi laughed wryly.
"Don't worry. I know it will be all right in your case. In the final analysis, the girls have travelled four thousand miles to come here. Something must be drastically wrong somewhere not to have things go right. Let us go up. If I am not mistaken, we are assigned to adjacent rooms. I shall be seeing you often while we are in Honolulu."
"Mr. Azumi gave us some good advice. I know of a case that was comical and tragic. This man lived on a neighboring plantation on Kauai. Like a fool, he borrowed a younger man's photograph to lure a girl. When he met her at the Immigration Station she was shocked to find that her prospective groom was almost as old as her father. In spite of all the cajoling and comforting talk, she refused to identify him as her man and she elected to be returned to Japan."
"I don't blame her. After all, to start marriage with a lie is not auspicious. We have many marriages that started this way on the Hamakua coast. They end up with the women running away with other men. A few ran off after children were born."
Arata sadly said, "It is also the situation in Kauai. Marriage may be a big gamble after all."
CHAPTER 4
Picture Bride Arrives
THE IMMIGRATION STATION WAS A TWO story frame building. There were several large halls containing rows of three-tiered steel beds. There were no mattresses. Each immigrant had to use his own blanket to soften the impact of the steel springs that sustained his recumbent body. They were forced to stay indoors except for thirty minutes after the noonday meal. Under these most trying circumstances, the women had to wait until their husbands arrived from the plantations to claim them. This picture bride system was similar in many respects to the "Tobacco brides" shipped from England to the Jamestown colony of Virginia in the early colonial days. In this instance, the women were shipped en masse to Virginia and the bachelor settlers took their pick, paying for their wives in tobacco. In a young settlement, the male element predominates. Soon, when toil is rewarded by security, the desire for a family arises. To resort to the most convenient and economical way to get the best possible girl under the circumstances is natural. Such an unusual procedure of human union sprang from necessity, and the results were not as bad as one might fear.
At one o'clock that afternoon, in a separate room, each woman was called in and introduced to her husband-to-be in the presence of the hotel man and immigration officials. Seikichi awaited his turn with a palpitating heart. With even greater curiosity and inward trepidation mixed with bashfulness, Haru, the bride, was undergoing the ordeal with unprecedented fortitude, for there was no mother or friend to lean on on this occasion. She did not have the desire to pace the floor. She merely sat still and waited the inevitable. The minute hands of the big wall clock moved forward agonizingly slow, little heeding her fear and agony. Her mouth parched easily; the salivary glands ceased functioning. It was a wonder that her heart did not stop beating also. The suspense was great.
Finally a matter-of-fact voice announced, "Arata Haru," and she came to herself. With great effort she said hai. Even after several attempts, it was barely audible. She stepped forward and was led to the office. With downcast eyes she entered the room, but she was aware of the presence of her man. By instinct, she knew which one he was as she fearfully raised her eyes to the men in the room.
"This is your husband, Arata Seikichi. Is the identification sufficient? If you are not satisfied, it is your privilege to decline going with him. You may both produce your photographs for comparison," the immigration official said in his routine manner.
"It is not necessary," she said in a voice that she herself was surprised to hear. For to her the striking resemblance he bore to his elder brother was evidence in itself.
"And how is it with you, Mr. Arata?" asked Mr. Azumi.
"It is all right with me," answered Seikichi automatically, marvelling at the clearcut answer the brave girl had made. It made him feel proud of her already, and at the same time he was aware of feeling flattered. She could not have said it so decisively if she did not like him. The first impression is said to be vital in matters of love. It was a good start; an auspicious omen regarding the marital voyage he was embarking upon, with Haru as copilot.
"In that case will you both step forward and sign this register? It will be kept here with the government. It concerns your marriage and entry of Mrs. Arata to the Hawaiian kingdom. You may sign in Japanese."
After signatures were affixed, the three left the office and proceeded to another room for customs inspection. Suitcases and willow trunks were in separate piles and Seikichi helped untie the ropes. As the contents were inspected by the customs official, Mr. Azumi interpreted, and Seikichi discreetly stood in the background. When the inspection was over, they went outside to the waiting hack. The luggage was to be picked up by the transfer man later. Mr. Azumi ordered the driver to go to the hotel, as he had to attend to some other affair at the immigration station.
Seated together and alone for the first time, an awkward silence ensued. Seikichi realized that he had to say something, anything.
"You must be tired after the long trip." She looked up, tried to smile, and shook her head. It did not much succeed. There was no verbal response. He must try another approach.
"The scenery of Honolulu and the customs of Hawaii are so different from our native land. Take this horse-drawn cart for example. In Japan only the elite ride; here it is for everybody who pays the price. See the dark street urchins going about barefooted. Everybody can dispense with footwear without incurring adverse criticism from others. You will find that practically everything is different. It is funny at first, but once you get used to it, it is a pleasant place to live in."
A flush came to her cheeks. Her eyes were shining. She was eagerly imbibing the news and information of this land of which she had been dreaming so long. Seikichi continued, "There are many men and women from Yamaguchi in these islands. Kauai is another island to the north. It is much more beautiful than what you now see." The vehicle was now on River Street and the scenery up towards Nuuanu Valley was very beautiful, but the mud flats of the stream, in full glare of the afternoon sun, were not a spectacle to rave about. The beautification of Hawaii was a project for later generations. Just then the infant community was busy with expansion upon expansion and had no time for the esthetic. They crossed the wooden bridge that spanned the river and were in front of the hotel. Hearing the wheels stop, a maid came out and led the bride upstairs to their bridal suite. It differed in no way from the other rooms: contained a double bed, a bureau, three straight-backed chairs, and a closet. The floor was covered with thin straw mats that were not new and had been burned in different places by cigarettes. The wall was decorated with a single print of an oil painting. It depicted a lake reflecting an imposing snow-capped mountain that abruptly rose from the water's edge. Other than that there was not a single ornament except for an ash tray on a rickety table. But to Haru, this was a release from the regimented life on the ship and at the immigration station. This room with its outlandish furnishings was new to her; it signified Western civilization. It was a symbol, her first contact with that which she had dreamed about in the past seven months. The maid showed her the bathroom and said that she would be back in an hour to escort them to church for the marriage ceremony. Funny to have a religious marriage, she thought, when she was already married for the past seven months. Perhaps it was a strange notion of the Hawaiian people to be married again and again; it was not a bad idea at that. It made the marriage knot tighter and tighter. Even she could recall members of the male sex who were straying rather easily from the marital fold in her native town. To make the occasion solemn