My Diamond Necklace Has Passed Away
("Kuu Lei Daimana Ua Hala", Nupepa Kuokoa, August 11, 1916)
Mr. Editor of the Kuokoa:—Please provide space on the ship deck of the beloved one1 for my sorrowful message above, so that you may transmit it like a bolt of lightning and inform those living from where the sun rises at Haehae2 to the hidden spring with paoo fish at the seabed under Lehua island.3
Miss Lopine Kala, my beloved diamond necklace never to be forgotten, disappeared and passed on to sleep on the other side of the black river of death on July 23 after just a few days of chills. How I am filled with sorrow and undying love for you!
However, as the Good Book says, “Man that is born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble.”4 She was born June 24, 1915, here at Nuu from our loins and breathed the fragile air of this earthly realm for 1 year and some days. Blessed be the God Jehovah, for He gave, and He hath taken away.5
A memorial service was held at the home of her parents. When the service was over, her body was carried to the grave by her eight sisters, accompanied by 40 family members. This procession was led by the Kainehe Club.6 Among the members of this club is Leonard Kahua, a deft strummer of the six strings of the guitar. How beautiful and sonorous the instruments were, like a bird chirping on a lehua bud calling the child to her warm breast.
As the procession continued along, the instruments stopped and the procession sang, “They are coming, Jesus".7 It was like the voices of angels calling the child to the breast of the Heavenly Father, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Matthew 10:14.
When the procession reached the grave, “Heaven Is My Home”8 was sung, and a prayer of dedication was given by L. M. Kala, Jr.
We offer our thanks to those who carried her body and casket to the grave. May God bless you all.
Mournfully.
MR. AND MRS. L. M. KALA, JR.9
Nuu, Kaupo, July 31, 1916.
- The newspaper.
- An area in eastern Hawaii Island.
- In other words, the western end of the island chain.
- Job 14:1.
- Job 1:21.
- Kainehe here is a reference to a poetic name for Nuu. (Kai nehe i ka iliiili, “Where the sea rustles the pebbles.”)
- A line from the Hawaiian hymn, “Eia no Makou e Iesu” (We Are Coming, Blessed Saviour).
- The Hawaiian version of the hymn “The Angel’s Welcome”.
- Leonard Manoualani Kala and Rose Kalaeohia Kala (see also the obituary for Leonard Kala’s infant child Annie Kala in 1899 from a previous wife).
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