The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1891-08-11

of the large, influential church Of
Kawalahao. The coral stone build
ing had reached in its erection only
tier or two above the cornerstone
which work had been under the in
ception and superintendent of Rev
Hiram Bingham, the first pastor
The completion Of the great struc
ture, its furnishing and dedication,
was under the pastoral care of Rev
and Mrs. h. Armstrong. Mrs. A
with zeal for souls traversed the
town, and rallies in house-to-house
visitation, and holding meetings for
prayers and instruction; almost all
these journeys were done on foot
The day Of carriages had not arrived
in Honolulu, and riding horse was
the exception.
When Richard Armstrong was
called to the important post in gov
eminent of Minister of Public In
struction, she did not resign her
labor of love for Hawaiian women.
The weekly prayer-meeting on Fri
day afternoons was under her guild
ance for many subsequent years.
During these years her public
spirited soul, with its keen love for
nature and passion for cultivating
trees and flowers, compassionated
the barren, unsightly grounds of
Kawaiahao Church and graveyard.
At that time the old, crumbling stone
walls were repaired THE present
stone walls are a later erection of
Hon. Charles Kanaina, the father of
King Lunalilo] and the whole en-
closure was planted with algeroba
trees and sodded with grass, 80 that
the park-like appearance of the pres
ent day is due to Mrs. Armstrong.
None but an eye witness who
watched her unremittlng labors day
by day for months can have con-
ception of the work she performed
in this "arbor-day" campaign. She
created the enthusiasm among the
natives, especially among the women
who attended the prayer meeting.
Sitting or standing under an UNI
brella, in the broiling sun, for hours,
often taking her lunch on the
ground, did she direct and oversee
till it was often remarked: "Mrs.
Armstrong is planting her own
monument" Already scores of those
fine large trees have been cut down
on account of accident from storms,
or to clear the grounds, but the loss
is little missed. The precious little
Goods acre." under the shadow of
the old church, where her husband
and children and grandchildren
sleep, was tended and planted with
rarer trees. Fondly had we hoped
that her own place of rest might be
there also; but the Lord had made
her willing to resign even this strong
wish of her heart, and a year ago, in
visiting the Mountain View Gene
terry in Oakland, she resignedly con-
templated the spot near the resting
place of a beloved son-in-law "as her
place to be buried"
The last year has been one Of
severe discipline to her. While par
ticipating with keen intellectual en-
joyment in the summer convention
at Ocean Grove, CAL, she met with
an accident stepping into carriage.
From the effects of this she never
recovered. Intense pain and nervous
prostration gradually wore out her
magnificent constitution. At the
last, she was removed from San Jose
to San Francisco to a private hospi-
tai, where with every alienation of
medical skill and assiduous nursing,
surrounded by her devoted children,
she seemed to return to her child
hood days and memories. AS one OF
her daughters expressed it: She Is
becoming like little child,as Father
Coan once said, Learning the
alphabet of Immortality -"
One of her very latest remarks was
when about to be lifted to relieve
her WEAKNESS, wont some one lift
me into the arms of God"
Gently, sweetly, was she thus
lifted in the early morning OF July
20, 1891.
Her funeral was attended on
July Oath in the church which
she had joined in San Francisco,
First Congregational, and among
the numerous floral offerings Law
ished by friends were tributes from
the Chinese scholars she had taught
in the Mission Sunday school there,
as well as one from Hon. MIR. Samuel
Parker in the name OF the Ha-
waiians. The benediction at the
grave was pronounced over her IN
the Hawaiian. language by hev.
James NJ. Alexander, OF Berkeley,
son of her old associate Rev. MI.