The Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu (Oahu), Hawaii) 1840-1841, 1840-11-14
COW MUNIC \ II + y.

i Examinations OF schools which took place
in orr village few days since. In the
u,oncluding paragraph you give some of
nsa Good humorcd hint, that we were
rather rcmiss in not giving more general
l notice of these interesting movements be-
orchand. presume the suggestion will
do no harm, and should another occasion
ot similar kind occur it will doubtless
be complied with, SO far as the native
schools are concerned. The reason, and
probaby the only one why previous no.
tee of the native school celebration was
l not given through the Polynesian, was the
| fact that it was ''ncW measure in this
ncighborhood and there was some unccr-
,ainlv as to what it would prove to be; a
y hoax or a hoihe As the thing turned out
v I've should have been glad to have seen all
the friends of education in the Pacific
/ present. both at the Charity School and
the native.
Some further remarks in regard to both
u may not be embarrassing to your readers,
81 especially to those at distance. The
Il public are already acquainted in good
j. measure with the origin and history OF the
pI Oahu Charity School. 1t was establish
k cl some seven years AGO, and has been
FL sustained by the patronage of the foreign
If residents in Honolulu, together with the
st contributions of benevolent visitors at the
s. Iishnds. The school now contains about
ID Ecighty pupils, consisting chiefly of half
= cast children and youth, born on the ISL
y Iands, and being the offspring of foreign
u Fathers. destined to exert Il great influence
lin the Hawaiian nation. Until the cs-
Establishment of this institution, the cduca-
-, ton of this class of children was almost
;sI cntircly neglected. but now they appear
" Ito be in a fair way to become fitted for
sAions of usefulness and responsibility
I'll lin life.
81 The school from its commencement
| has been under the care and instruction
l oI Mr.. and Mrs. tombstone, and doubt
II less owes its present high degree of pros
l lcrltv in a great measure to their skill
and industry, as guardians and teachers
| Of youth.
i At the examination on Oct. p, which
II dS NtH ilS OlncTS NIlIlcSScu Will lllHcn
Satisfaction, the exercises of the pupils
werc in spelling, reading, writing, arth-
mctic, singing, geography, and grammar.
IT is certainly speaking moderately, to say
the evidences of improvement exhibited
on the occasion were very crcditable,
= both to the teachers and the pupils.
Most of the pupils in this school are the
chlldrcn of Hawaiian mothers, and have
been accustomed to speak the Hawaiian
'ongue almost exclusively from their in
lancy. 1t is cmphaticaIIy their mother
tongue. TO teach them the English Ian
Euagc, then, which is one ob jcct of the
school, must be IA work of time, toll and
Patience. 1t is to these children, in fact,
= lorcign language and peculiarly difficult
8ol acquisition from the circumstance that
pnany of the English sounds us well as
VI phe entire idiom, are altogether new and
II strange to Il Hawaiian; quite as much SO
n rs those of the French to IA Dutchman or
II Nm Engllshman. This has been one of
vi alhe most stubborn obstacles Mr.. and Mrs.
n sJohnsone have had to contend with from