The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-01-11
FIRST To
SEW HERE
Lessons by Mrs.
Bingham to
Natives.
MOTHERS AND
TEACHERS MEET
Interesting Papers on Carpenterins
and Sewing Before the
Local Club.

duced into the Hawaiian Islands. wa
the subject of an interesting paper oil
the art of sewing read before the Moth
ers' and Teachers Club yesterday af
ternoon at Punahou Preparation,
School. The subject was treated from
an historical point of view, and show.
when the first missionaries began tn,
work of training the Hawaiians. the
first practical instructions being giver
in a building on the site of the present
postoffice structure.
/ Two papers We're read before the
club, one on "Carpentering." by Prof
u. Thompson, of Kamehameha Schools
and the other by Mrs. Isabella Creigh-
ton, of Kaahumanu School, on Sew
ing" There was a pleasant diversion
solo was sung by Mrs. c. II. Atherton,
Mrs. j. t. Mcdonald accompanying her
on the piano.
1t was announced that the club COM
mittee appointed to confer with the
Mckinley fund committees, had been
successful in impressing upon the
members thereof the necessity for Gre
ating public playground for children
| in connection with the proposed Nc
Kinley memorial park. The club com
mittee will meet the Oahu Mckinley
committee in the office of Henry Wa
terhouse next Monday afternoon. and
later have a conference with the Nc
Kinley fund executive committee. 1t
was also stated that there was a prop
osition on foot among the teachers and
pupils of the public schools to give a
union entertainment in the Opera
House, charging 81 a ticket for admis-
sion. the proceeds to go to the McKfn-
ley memorial fund, as the contribution
of the schools.
The paper on carpentering by Profess
sor Thompson, was full of practical
hints for the instruction of the young
boys with carpenter tools. The car
penters and stone workers who repro
duce the lines suggested by the archi-
tect the cabinet makers and wood car
vers, who reproduce the forms suggest
ed by the artists, remain all their lives
untouched by the beautiful |
lines and proportions they spend their |
lives reproducing. 1t is only the artist |
and the sculptor who are benefited |
and elevated by these lines and |
If the boy is me-
inclined. a carpenters bench
and tools may afford pastiihe and a
means of expression for the ideals pre-
sented He did not recommend repair
ing of furniture as a large part of the
boys experience. If it is a fine piece
the boy can't repair it. If it is a
common piece the boy won't care to re-
pair it. He recommends lessons in the
Ise of tools The parents should direct
he boys minds and assist in their
:hoice of ideals in designs
Mrs. Creighton said she laid no claim
o originality, as sewing was no new
hing, but as old as the creation of
nan. In nature one sees the interest
ng work done by-birds, especially the
riole and tailor birds, who sew leaves
ogether to make their nests For a
-reat many years sewing has been
aught in the English schools. and
rhen Princess Kaiulani went to Eng
and to finish her education, one of
he things she learned was plain sew
lg. Before the Hawaiians had become
ivilized they sewed their kappa togeth-
=, using a needle made of bamboo,
nd thread made of wauke, or olonaa
Der. When their sourd calabashes
eeded sewing, the natives used CO.
eanut fiber. and their stitches We're
Ike the modern cat stitch. When the
rst missionaries and their wives ar
we'd here in April, 1920. they were not
lowed to land for twenty-four hours
lille they We're on board the Thad-
Gus, Boki. the governor. and some of
e chiefs, visited the ship. When they
w the missionaries wearing ruffled
irts they knew to what use the cloth
ven them by the early traders was
1t. They brought their material to 81
e wives of the missionaries and ask p1
them to make shirts like those they
ID seen. After the missionaries and
cir wives had landed, some of the
1lte men who had been living here
IRE so pleased to see women of their no
n race. that they offered them their
mes. which We're grass huts built on
e land where the postofice now 4
lnds. Queen Kaahumanu visited S.
csc missionaries and brought with
7 piece of silk which she asked
s. Bingham to make into garment
is was probably the first sewing
ne by women on these Islands, Mrs
lgham opened a school on the pres 4
postoffice site, and her first pupils
re the chiefs. their attendants. and TT
wives and children of early set
RS. 1t was probably in this school
It the Hawaiians We're first taught