The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-12-19
FOUNDERS DAY.

Today is being celebrated at Kameha-
meha schools as Founders Day" AS
years go by, and new people come in
to the Territory it is possible that the
founder might be forgotten in the in
stitution. 1t is a good thing that the
trustees have instituted Founders
Day" to keep green the memory of one
of the very best of the Hawaiian race,
and one of the most dignified and at
the same time the most charming OF
women of any race.
The founder of Kamehameha schools
was the last true representative of a
race of kings. Their area of sovereign
ty was circumscribed by an almost
boundless ocean, but the men who be-
longed to the dynasty were all born
rulers and despite their disadvantages
of education from the European and
American standpoint they always bore
themselves in kingly manner. Ha-
wall may be proud of her Kameha-
mehas though she has risen to a higher
plane in becoming part of the greatest
republic the world has ever seen.
There was a certain inmate grandeur
in the race which led their little nation
towards civilization, and accepted doc
trines of government which We're in ad-
vance of the world fifty or sixty years
ago. The leaders, who could think out
what was put before them, and make
their people adopt their views, were
no common race of men. Given better
opportunities they might have played
greater part in the worlds history, but
their stage was a small one, and out
side the historian they are now little
known.
The race gradually died out, as the
race of the grander Roman Emperors
died out, and it gradually centered in
few, finally in one Bernice Pauahi
Bishop. This lady had the cpportuni-
ty of occupying the throne of Hawaii.
1t was offered to her, but she would
not except. Her ambitions were of a
different character, and she preferred
the less ostentatious, but more kindly
life of a private citizen. The throne
passed to others.
But the love for her people never
left her heart. The wealth which she
bad inherited from a grand line of an
cestors she regarded as a sacred trust
for her fellow countrymen, and on her
death it was found that she had made
a bequest of all her property to futurity.
First for the people of her own race,
and then to benefit all posterity on the
Islands as long as stable government
and respect for property should remain
on the Islands.
Joining with his loved spouse in this
laudable object was her husband
Charles R. Bishop. Not only did he
acquiesce in this disposal of his wifes
but he has added to the be-
quest by erecting additional schools for
younger children than contemplated by
the original intention, and also by
founding the Bernice Pauahi Bishop
Museum, in memory of his departed
wife. 1t is very seldom in this worlds
later history that one finds large funds
like these being diverted in the life
time of the donor to such praisewotthy
objects.
Bernice Pauahi Bishop built an en-
during monument. Charles R. Bishop
has added a noble coping stone to it.
AS long as Kamehameha foundation
lasts, and now that the Hawaiian Isl
ands are an integral part of the United
States, it must last as long as that
great Republic lasts, the good that has
been initiated will continue to flow in
an ever increasing stream of bene-
ficence, upraising those who have the
who have the opportunity to avail
opportunity to avail themselves of the
teaching and the example.
The pupils of the Kamehameha
schools have every reason to honor the
memory of their founder. The friends
who knew that founder feel on every
returning year tender thought for the
yet loving woman who was so
noble in bearing and yet so tender in
feeling. But the rising generation can
not remember that. 1t is we'll for them
to be told of it. But they can realize
the generosity which has given them
opportunities far above what State
or Territory could give them, and they
can put before themselves an ideal
which will ever carry them upward and
For Bernice Pauahi Bishop
was not only chiefess, was not only
a person of wealth, but above all she
was a good woman and pattern TO
her race.