Litchfield enquirer., 1874-12-24
TWO SANDWICH ISLANDERS,

The visit of the King of the Sandwich Islands to thls country, attended with all the parade of royalty, recalls another vis- it to this country and this city by @ fel- low-native of King Kalakaua, some seven- ty years ago.
 The Sandwich Islands, after their dis covery by Cook and King in 1778, soon became, on account of their position, a favorite stopping place for ships engaged in commerce on the Pacific. Among others came vessel from New York in 1908, on
 sealing voyage. As the ship lay in har Dor at Owhyhee, there came on board a little native boy, who wanted to be taken to America. His parents had been cruel ly butchered before his eyes in the civil wars by which Kamehameha had won his way to the sovereignty of the Islands. He was discontented with his present life, and sighed for the strange countries he had heard of far to the East. After some negotiations with the lads relatives, he was allowed to depart with the ship, and, in 1900, Henry Oboekiah landed in New York ~..- s.. ........ ......
 The captain was one of those remarka- ble New Haven sailors who, during the latter part of last century and the first of this, carried the fame of ''Long Wharf, throughout the length and breadth of the globe. To New Haven returned the skip per, bringing with him Obookiah and an- other native boy whom he had picked up at the islands. The two little heathen probably furnished unlimited amusement to the Long Wharf merchants and their families, and were shown about much as curious and rare pair of beasts would have been. But soon Obookiah began to take strange interest ill his new sur roundings. He tried to learn the language and seemed to feel a wish for the religion of his new friends. Says a biogrrpher: "He visited the house of God on the Sabbath. and fingered about the college trying to catch something that would gratify the thirst of his mind for knowl- edge. And when he found that he could understand little or nothing, being igno- rant of the language, and that the treas ures of knowledge which were open to others were locked up to him, he sat down and wept on the threshold of one of the college buildings"
 But he was not destined to remain in this ignorant and unhappy state. A num- Der of the students and college families became interested in him; he was taken into the family of President Dwight and taught various rudimentary knowledge, which he acquired with great ease. After time he removed from this city and re- yer and afterward at Litchfield. Here he was taken in charge by the North consoci- ation of the county and furnished with the means of acquiring a good common school education. About this time he became strongly impressed with religious truth and united with the Congregational church in Torringfold.
 The gratifying results of the labors ex pended on Obookiah aroused a general interests in the other youths from the Sandwich Islands, who were scattered through the country. Some were given instruction by various philanthropic per- sons, and in 1879 a successful attempt was made to raise funds for the establishment of a Foreign Mission School for the pur- pose of assembling those scattered youths in one place, and giving them thorough mental and moral training. The scheme was greatly furthered by the cooperation of Obookiah. In 1918, this seminary was inaugurated at Cornwall, in this state, but before that day, Obookiah was but 8 memory and a silent influence among men. On the 17th of February, 1918, he had died. in the twenty sixth year of his age, of typhus fever. ---.. .
 His death, so unexpected and apparent ly so premature, was greatly mourned. Dr. Lyman Beecher preached at the fu- neral 9 most eloquent discourse. "By means of his conversion y he said, ''num- bers of his brethren, wandering like lost theep in our land, have been brought to the knowledge of the truth, and by the remote instrumentality of the same event this institution (the Mission SchooD, the hope of Owhyhee and other heathen lands has been established. Nor are we com pelled to believe that his usefulness will terminate with his life. His death will give notoriety to this institution, will awaken tender sympathy for Owhyhee, and give it an interest in the prayers and charities of thousands who otherwise had not heard of this establishment or been interested in it's prosperity" The hopeful prophecy of Dr. Beecher was, as we know fulfilled. In two years more the American Board established it's fiIst mission station at the Sandwich Islands. The missionaries came just as the islanders had burned their idols in disgust, and were wondering what they should do to fill the vacant place. With eager hearts they welcomed the new reli- zion, and since that eventful day the his. tory of the Sandwich Islanes has been one of the marvels in a marvellous century. As we compare the present visit of the 1 King Kalakaua with that of the orphan and vagrant boy Obookiah, we wonder which will be productive of the greater results. PollGdiuns.
 '
 Singular to relate, an old sausage grind CT. a pair of hinges, cracked gridiron, l and a half dozen pieces of serap-iron were are supposed to have accidentally drop. ed out of the vest-pocket of some darkey