Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-08-23

be any fine and permanent p-buildng.
Morality and industry generally goI
together. Especially in the weak trop
ical races, idleness, like ignorance,
breeds vice The best OF sermons and
schools amount to little when hearers
and pupils are thriftless, live from
hand to mouth, and are packed at
night either in savage huts or in dirty
tenement houses. Morality, though
founded in spiritual life, depends very
much upon outward and social condi-
tons and, if man is to work out his
own salvation, he must learn how to
work. Granted that character in its
highest sense is the objective point
then mission work evidently
should be organized with reference to
supplying the conditions under which
morality and the creation of character
are feasible Practical men, il posi-
bic, should go with preachers to study,
and in some measure to develop, local
resources Of labor, OF land, or Of pro
duction, thus creating industries, occu-
patton, and the conditions Of Christian
living. The right men can do much
in this way with little capital other than
their own brains The man is half the
battle " Progress through selfhclp,'
is the motto OF our best missionaries
to-day but ability to carry out the
principle is rare What is impossible
with one is possible to another. Seldom
will man OF mere theoretical cduca-
ton appreciate the power of seemingly
destitute savage people to help them
selves. They can do more than he
thinks. The reaction of sclfhelp upon
character is the best result OF it The
English missionaries in Madagascar
seem to have worked on the right prin
ciple, leading those people primarily in
their industrial life. Labor as a moral
force, is not yet fully recognized in the
missionary field.
Where the work is PARENTAL as
among the childish Polynesians, Afri-
cans, ard Indians, as distinct from
dtRiyO9ersiai among Mohammedans and
Chinese, the people accept mission
aries as superior beings and become
even more religious than those who
inherit Christian ideas, in SO far rs reli-
gion consists in the outward expression
of rites and ceremonies Their Ian
guage is rich in words OF reverence
and alteration it makes prayer easy
and, on the spiritual side, their lives
flower out without effort and with a
grace and beauty wholly their own
Mentally, too, they are far from stag
nant. But of true morality they have
little or none, because they do not
possess its conditions, which requnc
selfcontrol rather Than pure devotional
life In our own highest civilization
morality is common, but spiritually is
rare.
But the Hawaiian missionary was
sent to proclaim the gospel, to convert
the heather. Conversion is, indeed,
the starting-point Of a better life it is
to character what the seed is to the
ripe fruit The choice of Gods
service is the initial step the goal
is the rounded, perfect, Christian
life. TO take the step requires
the decision, possibly, OF moment
to reach the goal is the struggle of a
lifetime. Viewed thus, one under
stands that it is not the planting of the
seed that costs, but the wise and vigi
liant care of the growing crop. Much
of the missionary work Of the worlo
has been patient, unselhsh sowing o,
seed, which, taking root at first, has in
its early irail growth been choked by
the vicious weeds about it
The Hawaiians, who stand as type
soon learned to read the Bible and to
pray to God ; yet in two entire genera
tons they have not escaped from the
surroundings and the habits that make
virtue impossible. That in the SECOND
stage of work on the islands, certain
mistakes we're made, seems evident
For example, until the year 1855 tn,
native girls were comparatively neg
lected. The few boarding schools es
tablished for them amounted to little
The sexes were not educated together
on moral grounds.
On this point the testimony from
Northern teachers of the negro rae,
has direct bearing. Contrary to tn
strongest convictions in the South
Northern teachers have been able, il
the leading institutions for those witt
, lately were slaves (whose weakness i
, on the moral side), to bring the sexe
} together most successfully during TIL
! past fifteen years. The plan is equall
good with Indians, and l believe 70
T all people in the early, il not in ever.
stage, of progress The way t.
, strengthen the weak is constantly t.
, test them under favorable conditions
To change low ideas Of their mutual re
lations into higher ones they must b.
trained, not in the abstract, but in tn,
concrete. Separation will not teacl
practical wisdom in future intercourse
! any more than by being kept out OF tn
, water can boy be taught to swim.
it be granted that the sexes of a rae,
I cannot on moral grounds, with gooC
management, be educated together
) then that race had better be given up
, it is doomed to immortality. When
, was in the Hawaiian Islands, in 1886,
found no one who believed in sucl
co-education, though the other plan wa
} failure on the side of mortality. To
! pay there is hardly ray Of hope 10
, the Hawaiian women. In spite o
| African degradation and the loos,
/ morals Of slave life, many Of tn
colored girls Of the Southern States
trained by the side of their blacl
, brothers, have in and after school mad
record of noble steadfastness. Sepa
rate schooling would believe hav
lett them far weaker, and less able I,
protect themselves. Stronger teacher
and more expensive buildings are re
, quired for mixed schools ; but If rae
, | =. l.. =. Z. L.. - IL