The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1886-12-21
Jht d1ailn 8nlletin
TUESDAY. DEC. 2l, 1886.
VACATION DAYS IN THE TROPICS.
BY REV. T. R. G. PECK.
No. Ill.

The Rev. Mr.. Oggle, formerly of
Chicago, breaches in Bethel Union
to excellent congregations, and
there is an Episcopal, Roman Catho-
lie, Chinese and several native
churches. All are doing their work
in their own way, and feelings of
most tolerant and kindly nature, l
am happy to say, seem to prevail
among them.
OF that glorious old missionary
band who came to this land some
fifty years ago, only three or four
survive. There is old Father Castle
(for they all call them fathers here),
far up in the seventies, still hale and
hearty, and rich in the blessed
"reminiscences of the olden time;
and there is Father Lowell Smith,
weak in body, though strong in
soul, and longing for the Masters
call as they that watch for the
morning. And | must not forget
Father Dimond and the sanity old
missionary mothers, around whose
silvered heads hang halos of radiant
saintliness more bright and beauti-
full than ever adorned the richest
Madonna of old. God bless them
all Z! Their seats will be among the
angels, for "'these are they that
came out of great tribulation," men
and women who toiled and endured
in the heat of the day, and then
went up to receive their well-de-
served encomium of ''good and
faithful servants"
After service one morning in the
Fort street church Prof. Merritt took
me out to the Oahu College, which
has become one of the sights of
Honolulu. On each side of the
road Us we drove along there was
that same luXuriance of tropical
vegetation that l have before de-
scribed, bursting out into fruit and
flower of every kind, while the deep
blue sea beyond sent up its voice
like the plaintive meanings of a
child. 1t was ride long to be re-
membered. Finally taking turn
in the road, the college buildings
broke upon us with their spacious
lawn in front and the great noun
tains sheltering them in the rear.
Almost every one of these noun
tains holds the crater of an extinct
volcano, but now their SCARED and
scoriated sides are covered with the
verdure of Paradise. What q place
for the study of that best of all
books, next to the Word of God,
the great book of nature! Looking
out upon these everlasting hills,
drinking in the blue of that great
broad sea, revealing in the luXuriant
wealth of field and grove and valley
blazing with flowers and hung with
golden fruit, the students of these
college halls should receive an in
spiration which would lift them up
to the very bosom of the Eternal.
Through the broad veranda we
passed into the spacious hall, and
thence to the adjoining rooms with
their lofty ceilings and their floors
covered with the whitest of mating.
An air of GOODNESS pervaded every
thing. The walls are hung with
prints of some of the finest paintings
in Europe: a grand piano stands il
one corner to furnish instruction to
the pupils or mingle its sweet notes
with the balmy airs of evening, and
all the furnishings and surroundings
suggested q culture, taste and refine.
ment which i little expected to find
in a land so recently civilized. The
warm and hearty greetings of the
large company of teachers and pro
fessors left nothing to be desired
Prof. Merritt has q corps of eight OF
ten assistants who are devoted tt
; their work and thoroughly compe
tent for it. Three of them, young
ladies, came out on the steamer will
me, together with young gentle
man, Prof. Severance, who had beef
pursuing his studies at the Univer
sity of Bonn in Germany. All wer'
busy preparing for the new tern
which opens just week from to
morrow. l could not help thinkin.
what an influence these teachers will
exert upon the opening faculties o
J this young nation, just budding int
life. Nothing would do but l mus
see the Library, the Hall of Science
the meteorological collection, tn
cabinet of antiquities, the labora
atory, the telescope and all tn
other paraphernalia of this youn
University, for such it is. Prof
Merritt led the way, first into tn
Library with its three or four thou
sand volumes, many of them pickle
books and all of the highest merit
then we went over to the Hall O
b Science, built at an expense of som
fifteen thousand dollars, the gift c
Mr.. Bishop, wealthy banker of thi
q place. Here is rs fine chemic;
4 laboratory and lecture room as yo
5, can find in many of our norther
colleges. Adjoining is the cabine
of mineralogy, particularly rich i
specimens of volcanic ordel
!, Thence TO the telescope and readin
room (where copies of the Observe
are on file); thence again throug
the class rooms up to the sleepin
q apartments for teachers and pupils