Polynesian. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu], Hawaii) 1844-1864, 1851-02-01
No. 8.

My DEAR YOUNG FRIENDS:-l owe vol
an apology for my long silence. More thar
year has elapsed since have said wore
to you. Not because l have had nothing tC
say, nor because have not valued the privi
lege kindly afforded me by the Editor to ad
dress you occasionally, but simply because
my time has been fully occupied. / am re-
solved, however, to practice, if possible, q
little higher economy in the management O
the precious commodity, that may give you
now and then, scrap-not Of time, for this
is an article which no man can secure for hi:
neighbor-but scrap of paper in the shape
of intelligence, or advice, or encouragement
To use a fgure;I mean to seize the wings oi
Old Time as he fits past me and pluck away
something for you. A feather it may be-ol
perhaps a quill. In word, little corner
of day now and then, mean to occupy for
you-for the special benefit of my youthful
readers.
Need tell you, my young friends, that we
have fallen upon times of unexampled enter
prise' speak particularly ofthe Hawaiian
Islands For many years after my arrival
here, everything moved with sloth's pace.
Business seemed smitten with the blight of
dIsease-not to say of death. This state of
things-the slugsishness of commerce-the
torpor Of agriculture and the arts, and the
palsy which had its hand on the heart of en-
terprise-I repeat, this state Of things NAV
have been the cause why so many youth
have left the islands for the United States.-
Parents have seemed to feel that :ney could
not keep their children at their island home,
because they Gould Gnd nothing for them to
do. So fsr as education was concerned there
was no insuperable difficulty. Children
could be taught literature and the sciences
could make as rapid advances in the knowl-
edge of books as in any other country. But
the question has been, what could they do
as educated men and women at the islands?
To what use could they apply their knowl-
edge? Now and then one could find a place
in a counting room, or "a store. One or two
might learn the printers trade, or the book
binders. A small field might open for sur
veyor; and perhaps another might study the
medical profession, or qualify himself for a
teacher of youth. l fear few parents have
taken into consideration the business of farm
ing as means Of affording their sons prof
liable and useful employment hope none
of them would be ashamed to see their child
rem following the plow or digging in the field.
But even farming has hitherto been of little
Importance, there having been
so few calls for the products of the soil. So
that for the greater part there has seemed to
be no field for exertion--no sphere for use
ful and honorable employment. Such has
been the plea of those parents who have been
sending their children away from them, and
away from the land ftheir birth, to complete
their education in the land Of their fathers
to them foreign land and to engage in such
|abors as the Providence of God should point
put. This reasoning has hitherto had no lit
lie force. Indeed for long time there
seemed to be no other course left, and every
body, so to speak, acquiesced in the neces-
,ity and propriety of sundering the tie which
binds together parents and children-of ex-
,atriating nearly all who had the misfortune
IF being born Of foreign parents on the Ha-
waiian islands to the great detriment of all
Who remain. ! need not specify the number
If children who have thus been sent away
rom their parents and from their own homes
You can easily recall their names. You
lnow the number.
But this necessity Of sending children to
he u. S. seems, in great measure, to have
ceased. Things no longer move at a sloth's
,ace. There is a waking up Of enterprise
lmong us. Business seems to have shaken
IF the blight Of disease. Commerce is no
onger the sluggish thing she has all along
,een. She is spreading her canvas, and
our seas. And agriculture is
hrowing off the torpor which like an incubus
las SO long kept her from rising. There is,
or once, a loud demand for labor, skillful
abor. He who can bring to the mart clear
,ead and dexterous hand, will secure