Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1884-03-22

IN the roll Of 1872 there appeared in the
Golden Era, Of san Francisco. q pleasing en-.
craving Of a school building just erected, and
an accompanying article on The Home. The
School, and The Church, as foundation insti-
buttons in Christian society and government.
The article was, in fact, a prospectus OF
training school which an enthusiast on the
subject was endcavoring to establish in
suburban town near San Francisco. It read
well. 1t urged strongly the importance for
the education Of youth, Of boarding schools
tia. should be not only intellectual g,mnasia.
bui that should give equal attention. al least,
go he education of the moral and spiritual
faculties, and that, Tor this purpose home
should be provided for youth in connection
with the school, superintendent by conscienti.
Gus and loving hearts. and a chapel, under the
charge Of clergyman OF culture and expert
cnce, who should I've the chaplain of the
school, and responsible for the moral training
81 the scholars.
"Thc idea was well advocated and the
theory plausible its practcabity, amid the
many opposing difficulties on this coast was
the only drawback to it, as one felt after the
perusaL but time has passed, and what was
then in a measure theory has now become a
reality. Those who saw the small beginnings
Of st. Matthews Hall, San Matco, tthe in
stitution referred toy, and have watched its
growth and Development and seen its practical
results, must agree with US, that the heart, the
head, and the soul, have there been so con
sidered and provided for in the training of
youth as to justify the claim of its founder that
so only can the highest results lie attained in
preparing young mon FOR practical work in life
I" Since this institution began its quie, work.
sixteen years ago, many pupils have gone
from its fostering care to business, in the
varied walks Of life, and few schools can point
with more satisfaction to the stable and honor
able character Of its graduates, proving by
results that such an education is practicable
and effective They have borne such good
testimony 10 its training, with aifcctionate
recollcctons Of their alma mater, that steady
flow of applicants for the same training,
through their example and influence, has been
for some time the result, making it now diff
cult to obtain entrance to the school without
early application.
SO wrote lin ISSo) one who was at once a
he wrote about. To the truth of what he then
wrote the writer bears willing witness. He
was for two years under the tuition of Rev
Alfred Lee Brewer, member of the first class
formed.
II has been his loss that those two years
might not be supplemented by others like
them, under the same methods Of tuition and
the same homelike roof. He has seen the
school grow from beginning of six pupils in
1866 to over one hundred and twenty in 1884
Beginning with single teacher, it has now
fourteen instructors Beginning in a single
room, it now occupies five buildings.
Perhaps the surroundings OF St. Matthew s
Hail have had something to do with its
success. Rev. Alexander Niackintosh-w who
was there last summer-knows how lovely a
place the vicinage of San Mateo is. The
town proper has much Of the hard unloveliness
Of most towns. 1t has its bar.rooms and its
Chinese wash-houses, its shanties and its un.
kempt building lots. But due west of the
town the westernmost wall of the Coast Range
begins to climb skyward TO its forested turrets,
and due east the broad bay Of Saint Francis
shimmers under the FURNISHED sky of late
spring and summer and carly autumn, and
! takes on a deeper beryl under the clouds of
the rain months. Due east the mighty crest
Of Monte Diablo, the most conspicuous land
mark in all California, rises above the dimpled
shoulders of the Alameda Hills. The lad who
spends his schooldays and early manhood in
San Mateo ought to grow up poet.
The last catalogue Of the school to which
the writer has had access gives the name Of
only one island pupil-Mastcr Thomas Spencer,
Hilo, Hawaii. II pupils are to be sent away
from these islands, their parents or guardians
owe it TO them to make careful inquiry and
in that inquiry the claims of St. Matthews
Hall, San Mateo, ought not to be ignored.
I