The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1889-03-07
A TEACHERS LIFE,
SOME POINTS ABOUT THE HAWAIIAN
SCHOOLS. THICK K-HEADED nut
VERY TRACTABLE Pupils.
KEALtA, KAUAI, II. J.. |
Feb. 10, 1889. I

island life rs it affects school teach
er. ! have thoroughly enjoyed
every day of my life since leaving
San Francisco; had a very pleasant
voyage down on the Planter and
sighted the islands on the fifteenth
day out. repaired on arrival to
the rooms of the Board of Educa-
ticn, found the Secretary most ex-
cellent officer and gentleman. Stay
cd in Honolulu about six weeks be-
fore l was assigned my present loca-
ton. Was on duty rs substitute
for two weeks of the time; the rest |
| occupied in visiting schools and |
seeing the island. Made the &C
quantance Of the public school |
teachers and found them, as rule, |
live, progressive men and women. |
like Honolulu immensely, and made
many pleasant acquaintance while
there. But it is of my school life
and surroundings that l desire to
write. Consider yourself carried by
the little, pinching, rolling concern
called by courtesy a steamer, that
plies weekly between Honolulu and
Kapaa, on the island of Kauai, over
the one hundred miles of ocean that
separates the two points, landed in
the surf boats at the little stone
pier that juts out a few feet into the
surf, and you are at Kapaa.
There is nothing striking, or at
tractive, to catch the fancy Of
stranger. A number of low white
washed houses scattered along the
shore, and along out of sight in
gulch in the mountain side, having
each its own little door-yard, with
perhaps mango or papaia tree
shading the house. A short distance
away the ground rises abruptly, and
stretching away in every direction
arc the endless cane fields of the
plantation. A marrow gauge rail-
road runs from the steamer.Ianding
20 kealia, situated at the farther eud
of the plantation, about two miles
north of Kapaa. Midway, standing
on Il high sea promontory is the
schoelhouse, and near 10y the houses
of the teachers. The schoolhouse is
by the ocean side, and on either
side of the building the surf thun-
ders on the beach. At the rear Of
the house it is less than thirty feet
TO the cliff, at the foot of which the
breakers fling themselves with q
deafcning roar.
Oh, but it is a glorious place foI a
, schooIhouse-noisy, l grant, but
grand in its beauty, with the spark
, ling deep blue of the ocean mingling
with the different shades of green,
as the water shoals at the reef OF
along the white sandy beach on the
Kealia side. SO near is it that | can
,, sit at my desk and watch the fish
play about the coral rocks in the
water below me. And then the eli
mate! | am Californian, proud o.
my State, and have written columns
of boom matters for newspapers re
!, lative to our ''glorious climate, "anc
= firmly believed that nowhere elst
could be found so many advantage!
= VI CllllldlC uS - lOtlNi III N/illlOl
y But there is no comparison betweel
" the climate of these islands anC
). California. | have been here twt
J months and have not seen one dis
! agreeable day. The near proXimit,
y of the ocean and the never-failln!
~ trade winds render the climate per
% feet. The nights are cool, and on
" can sleep like top" 1t is strang
10 to me that so few people have an
= idea of the paradise that lies OF
~ here in the middle Of the Pacific
- where December is as pleasant .
Tt May, where there are no storms, n
- scorching heat, no snow or froS
% but where one continual bright sun
II mer reigns. At Kealia is situate
the mill, the plantation, store, hot
and the homes of the white en-
ployGs of the plantation. Former
Lo there were two schools, but the
no are now united in one. We have tv
nc buildings and four rooms. The
IS are now but two teachers of u
~ My assistant is native girl. The
mr. are tDOuu OIC GU
= this district, of whom about sevent
~ five attend school. OF these latt
ut one-half are natives, three-eightl
90 Portuguese, and the remainder Ge
10. mans, Chinese and Japanese. No
of the American families send the
children to the public school. Th,
n are either educated at home or sc
o' to the Coast. Most Of the schoC
have houses built for their teacher
and are generally comfortable, !
| am only here temporarily, | ha
T.. boarded at the hotel. Living is mo
'"' expensive than on the Coast, unlc
III one chooses to live kanaka fashi
on poi and raw fish. Ii is better
be married man, and have yo
wife along, than single, for eltll
ok sex. 1t is better for male than
~ male teachers. A man can "rou
OF it, better, can live alone, and fOI
acquaintances on the plantatiC
that would he out of the question
a woman. The wives Of those
ees authority have very exclusive hubi
L, VISIT very little, and have no idea
no what we of the smaller CalifOrI