HAWAII'S QUEEN LILUOKALANI

There is fascinating material in this somewhat fictionized biography of the last Hawaiian Queen, but the style is so colloquial, so slapdash, that it robs the story of its essential drama. The baby -- called ""Lydia"" -- who was to be a queen was -- according to Hawaiian custom, adopted into another family than her own, and brought up as a little princess, foster sister to little Bernice. She grew to be a romantic young girl; she married a white man, General Dominis, who had adopted the islands as his own, she saw the expanding power of the missionaries, of the encroaching American and European businessmen, the coming of new elements in the political climate of a country, elements alien to its customs, its traditions. Then she was chosen as heir by her brother, Kalahaua, elected King, and she succeeded him on his death, became Queen of a kingdom doomed to fall before the expanding colossus to the east. The new Queen went to Washington to plead the cause of her people; while Cleveland was in the White House, the annexation movement was halted; under McKinley, the Hawaiian Islands came under the American flag. With this, a culture suffered slow death. This is a little known facet of our history, and deserves to be told.