The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1896-10-06

Yesterday ! found myself at meet
ing that represented the Kindergarten
interest in the Islands. | do not know
why it should have been meeting
largely of women. Membership in the
Association merely requires a gift OF
three dollars each year, and l under
stand that men form a good proportion
of givers. Perhaps they are willing TO
confine their active duties to contrib
uting. 1t may be that they are salts
fed TO leave the care of ali children to
women. Certain it is that women are
by nature fitted for the care OF chill
dren in the family, and the Free Kin
dergarten Association seems to be ably
caring for the children OF the state,
the larger family.
My chief impression as | sat there
was that the Kindergarten is good
investment. II must be popular
charity, for many and wide are the
sources of its money-rills. II must be
a pet philanthropy, it receives such
excellent care II must be doing well,
judging by its treasureT's report. The
bold plans for its enlargement are
pretty fair evidence that il is generally
commended. and that the Kindergarten
is an accepted factor in Hawaiian con-
ditions.
Three appeals that were carefully
tucked away in my memory stay by
NE. OF course the first was for more
money 1t always is, the same old
appeal, a necessary evil till it is done
away with by extreme measures, get
ting permanent fund at one blow, or
becoming a professional heir to every
moneyed person. l doubt not the As
sociation is ready for either, though l
did not hear it in so many words. The
pressure of personal influence was rec
commended, and the pairing of every
annual fee with a new twin fee is
good enough suggestion. A quick and
effective canvass of all possible giVers
is also necessary. Undoubtedly this
philanthropy should be put on a sound
mOney-basis. The prospect of raising
four or five thousand dollars every
year is future perspective that the
treasurer and financial secretary can
hardly face with equanimity. Far bet
ter it is to strain every nerve Gf need
bel, once for all to raise a permanent
endowment fund which already has a
nucleus of $4,000 or which amounts
TO the same thing, to have each Kin
dergarten endowed as the Hawaiian
kindergarten is. Let the many give as
before, for giving begets enthusiasm
but let all giving be for the permanent
fund so that there may be little chance
of the work ever being suddenly Grip
pied.
The children are looking to us for
help In our own crowded city, in the
streets, on the slopes of Punchbowl
up the length of Nuuanu and the
breadth of Palama, along the shores of
Waikiki and in the hooks OF Punahou
and Manoa Everywhere there are
little children ready for the blessing of
the Kindergarten. In all these places
money should be spent at once in fenc-
ing in sunny gardens for the waiting
children.
They must wait till there is money
Another class of children need not
wait, for there can easily be Kinder
gartens made for them with no ones
feeling the loss of dollar. l refer
to the second appeal l have stored
away in my memory, the effort to es-
tablish Kindergartens on every planta-
ton in the Islands. l burn for elo
quence on this theme, but l am only
11o
you ever seen the little groups of la
borers' children playing near the rows
of tiny white-washed houses-children
whose ears have never known the
sweet sounds of Mr. Berger's band
children whose busy fingers never
knew the delight of stringing cylin-
ders or weaving gay paper, whose
nimble feet were trained in running
away from profane lunas rather than
in marching and skipping and dan
cling? Their parents have little time
TO pet them, indeed they never had any
happy childhood themselves, but knew
only work and neglect, punishment and
fear. Their nests among the prickly
pears" figure perfectly their spiritual
advantages What kind of men do
these neglected children make? And
women? Will the State hear from them
later in the police courts or on the
reef?
The method of establishing and
maintaining plantation Kindergartens
is quickly told-each plantation records
the expenses of its one or two Kinder
gartens in the same book with the
wages of its lunas, its sugar-boilers
and its manager One wise stockhold-
er who has used his influence for this
end, says it pays in dollars and cents
to have church and kindergarten
for the laborers. see rosy penumbra
of a certain coming event, the speedy
opening of kindergarten on a large
plantation. Good. The time now is
when neglect of the laborers who serve
society is branded moral obliquity, and
let every man see to it that his own
hands are free from the stain of sell
fishness, neglect and gross money-get-
ting. Let us in Hawaii establish at