The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-03-06
10 unite and it will unite them I'M
til annexation is achieved.
A GRAND OPPORTUNITY.

AaANSAA ~
subject is one which deserves the
earnest attention of all our readers
Few persons have any adequate
realization of the great Importance
of this work. 1t is not merely a
local specific for q local disease
not a mere educational improve
ment, to be classed with hundreds
of others. 1t stands for a radically
different conception Of social du-
ties and needs. 1t is the entering
wedge of social revolution.
The nineteenth century is CEN
fury of transition, and like all such
periods it is one of great unrest.
The rising tide of democracy is
fast covering the world. Nothing
can stay this rising tide, which, as
it rises, threatens to engulf the
most ancient institutions. The
people do not care for institutions :;
what they want is more rights
the right to breathe, to expand, to
I'D themselves, in some measure at
least, OF the burden of misery, and
enjoy in some measure those COM
forts and delights Of knowledge
and culture which the arrange
ments of society in all ages have
confined chiefly to the rich. The
poor, The fourth estate" are not
wise in their way ofseeking for these
things. They are deplorably stu
pid, deplorably ignorant, but they
are dangerously in earnest, and the
murmur of their just complaints
grows louder, more imperious and
threatening with every generation.
1t is the one danger which threat
ems TO swallow up modern civiliza-
ton.
1t is in reference to the presence
Of an immense social problem like
this, that the great importance of
the free kindergarten work be-
comes apparent. That work
springs from a two-fold source
from the recognition of the fact
that the society which assumes to
punish the criminal has a respon-
sibility for the making of GRIM
inals. That is one fact. The
other is that character is made in
the tender first years, when the
human soul is as soft as clay in
the hands of the potter, and as
easy TO be moulded into virtue or
into crime. as the clay of the pot
ter into vessels of honor or dis
honor.
It's preposterous for society to
iisclaim responsibility for the
hundreds of thousands of children
growing up neglected in the
midst of filth, ignorance and vice.
The time is coming when the So
cial responsibility for these waits,
will be as directly recognized as is
the duty of a father to his child.
Pending the time when the
State shall rise to its responsible
ties. private individuals are step
ping in with the free kindergarten,
taking children out of the street,
from degraded and drunken homes,
bringing to them cleanliness and
fresh air, and giving them
taste of beauty and joy. 1t
is hardly possible to estimate
too highly the value Of this work.
1t cuts under every other. 1t su-
percedes prison reform by stopping
the making Of criminals. It lays
anew the foundation of the social
structure. 1t builds liberty, and
and social aims, upon the
trained and developed capacities
and virtues Of the individual.
While most of US have been
the beginnings of the kin
iergarten work have been made in
Honolulu, humbly, but well, and
most encouragingly. Two years
have seen the establishment and
growth of five kindergartens. But
more are needed, and those that
now are, are sadly Strengthened for
funds, funds for more teaching,