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I KNEW QUEEN LILIUOKALANI

Bernice Piilani (Cook) Irwin

     My first memories of the Queen date back to when I was a child of eight years.  The Queen was still the Princess, heir apparent to the throne of Hawaii nei; her brother, Kalakaua, was King at the time.

     My mother, Mary Duncan Cook, and the Princess had been friends since early childhood, and had a great aloha for one another.  My mother, a widow, had come to Honolulu from Waiohinu, a village on the island of Hawaii where she had been employed as a teacher in the government school.  My sister and I were then attending Saint Andrew's Priory.  The school adjoined the back yard of Washington Place where the Princess lived with her husband, Governor John Owen Dominis, and her mother-in-law, Mrs. John Dominis, Sr.  We pupils felt it very important to be neighbors of the Princess.  It was a great occasion for my sister and me when my mother took us to call on her.

     Occasionally the Princess would stop at our gate while out driving in her phaeton.  Her arrival always created a stir of great excitement in our household.  Mother would go out to the carriage to chat while we children ran to the windows, peeping out to get a glimpse of the Princess. There we would stay, our noses pasted to the windowpanes, until her carriage drove away.  These were red-letter days for the children of our family, memories to be stored away and treasured all our lives.  For mother, also, these brief visits of the Princess seemed to work a magic spell.

     After my mother's arrival in Honolulu from the island of Hawaii, the first present she gave to her very dear friend, the Princess Liliuokalani, was one of her specialties, a jar of guava jelly.

     Mother always claimed that in order to have clear, light colored jelly, one should not make it in large quantities, but only one cup at a time.  She insisted that only in this way were the best results to be obtained.  Special pains were taken in the preparing of her gift for the Princess.  She wished it to be her very best.

     When the jelly was made to her liking, mother took my sister and me with her to visit the Princess.  We did not go to the main house, but to a little cottage in the yard.  At the time I did not know why mother often met the Princess in this little cottage, but later I learned it was because of Mrs. Dominis Sr., who was most unpleasant to the Princess.

     Mrs. Dominis was a straight-laced New Englander and she badgered the Princess at every turn.  The house, Washington Place, belonged to Mrs. Dominis, and was run strictly on the New England plan.  The table regime followed suit. Mrs. Dominis would not allow any Hawaiian foods to be served; no poi or "evil smelling" fish or any of the Hawaiian delicacies.  The Princess was served baked beans and pie for breakfast!  But Liliuokalani was patient with it all, though sorely tried at times.  Though a princess, hers was not "a bed of roses" while the old lady lived.

     Her Royal Highness had other homes of her own where she could have spent more time as mistress of the house, and been free of the tension which she found at Washington Place, but her husband, Governor Dominis, was the only son and the old lady demanded much of his time.  Liliuokalani knew also that Mrs. Dominis, being old and frail, would need attention from time to time, Therefore she bore the unpleasantness, kept in the background, but was always ready to help when help was needed.

As it was quite within the possibility that the old lady would be uncivil to Liliuokalani's guests, the Princess avoided this unpleasantness by receiving her friends in the little cottage where we then went to carry mother's offering.  Her Highness accepted the small jar of jelly with delight.  She was a true gourmet and knew the contents would be delicious, but, best of all, it had been made by loving hands.

     While the Princess was staying at "Muulaulani," her Palama home, she invited my mother to pour tea at an afternoon affair.  Mother was greatly complimented, but when she arrived at "Muulaulani" a still greater honor was bestowed upon her.  She found herself designated to receive with Her Royal Highness.  Mother was greatly elated.  Little attentions like this endeared the Princess to those around her.

     Liliuokalani never forgot her old friends.  Whether they were rich or poor, high born or lowly, she made no difference in her treatment of them. Once a friend, always a friend.

Six Years Later 

     I remember well calling on the Princess at Washington Place with my mother.  It was in the year 1889, about two years after the Princess had attended the Jubilee of Queen Victoria, as one of the party of Queen Kapiolani, consort of her brother, King Kalakaua.  This was at the time of Mrs. Dominis' last illness, and I remember seeing Princess Liliuokalani giving the old lady all the care and attention that a dutiful daughter would.  When I left for home, my mother remained to see if she could be of any assistance.  Mrs. Dominis died a short time after.  This was an example of the Princess' forgiving disposition, for the old lady had been dictatorial and difficult.

 

I will be xeroxing this book and giving it to a person I just met that is active in the Royal Order.