Although there were neither napkins nor finger-bowls, and not one of the dogs had ever heard of, much less read, Lord Chesterfield on Politeness, they all behaved with as much decorum as so many boys and girls at a tea party.
"At any rate," said Miss Maria that evening, "Pepper will not lose his manners there, and if he dies we can let the Doctor stuff him."
[THE QUEEN'S REPARATION.]
In 1822, the Society Islands, which had previously been governed by chiefs according to their own pleasure, came under the influence of the Christian religion. One of the first things the islanders did was to assemble and agree upon a code of laws, which were to be equally binding upon the King and his lowest subject.
A few months after the adoption of this code the Queen of Tahiti visited Huahine. Her attendants requiring a piece of timber, she directed them to cut down a bread-fruit-tree which grew in a garden near the place where she was resting with her people.
In the evening, when the owner came home from his work in the fields, he saw what had been done. There lay the branches strewn around. There was the bleeding stump. But the tree, his pride and delight, was gone.
Informed by his neighbors that the Queen's men had cut it down, he went at once to the magistrate and lodged a complaint against her Majesty. The magistrate directed him to appear at sunrise the next morning, and bring witnesses to prove his charge. The Queen also received a summons to attend.
At the appointed hour, Ori, the Judge, was seated on the ground beneath a mighty tree. On a finely woven mat before him reclined the Queen, surrounded by attendants. Beside her stood the peasant, her accuser, and back of them, all a number of men who seemed to be police officers.