The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-11-22

were consumed in the burning of the
hotel where he resided. Mrs. Bishop
had the pen of a ready writer, as the
letters which were fortunately preserv-
ed and are included in this volume
plainly show. She possessed keen
powers of perception and was peculiar
~ happy in narrating her observations
of people and events-all the incidents
of the varied and picturesque life that
went on about her. She was exceed
ingly frank and open, and her letters
reflected her all-abounding sympathy
and affection, strong essentials of her
charaeter-in an unusual degree. The
one aim, constantly in view, through
out these memoirs, has been to let that
character speak for itself. To this
end, letters, or extracts from letters,
have been utilized that might seem,
otherwise, unimportant. The record
in it's entirety, is that of a strong and
noble personality; the unfagging and
faithful devotion of an ali to her
friends, her family, to her people, and
the land she so l0ved-Hawaii-ne -
In the use of the materials she
found, Miss Krout has revealed, quite
an unexpected element of
the debt Hawaii owes Hon. Gorham D.
Gilman. In the years that he spent
here he seems to have been indefatiga-
bic in keeping a journal of his observa-
tiOns and experiences, and this now
proves a storehouse of information re-
garding the people and the conditions
of those years. From this source Miss
Krout has drawn largely but with dis,
elimination. Other sources from
which she has caught and transferred
to these pages glimpses of the life
into which Mrs Bishop was born, in
which she lived, and which she in
fluenced in such salutarv manner,
are, among published works, Mrs.
Laura Fish Judd s "Sketches of Life
in the Hawaiian islands, and among
writings the letters of
Mrs. Juliette NJ. Cooke. who with her
husband Amos Cooke were at the head
of the Royal School from its founda-
ton until it became a part of the pub
lie school system of the Kingdom.
Queen Liliuokalani also, in her book,
Hawaii s Story by Hawaii 9 Queen
has given many picture of the life
at the Royal School which has been
utilized by Miss Krout to the manifest
advantage of the book
The personal recollections of people
vet living who knew Mrs. Bishop init |
nately and well have been put at Miss |
Krout s service. Among these, those |
Of Mother Rice, as she has long been |
known, are intensely in
reresting, because her memory goes
back to the girlhood of Mrs. Bishop.
But more important than these are
Mrs. Bishops own letters. In these !
are revealed the woman and the char |
lcter Miss Krout has described in the |
very beginning of the book. Mrs. !
Bishop displays herself, in these init |
nate communications. woman of well |
informed and cultivated mind, of keen |
observation, not merely of the exterior
# things. but of motives and quail
les, with a sense of humor and
ouch of that lightness of spirit which |
$ a characteristic of her people. and |
vithal power of description and apt
less of phrase and a permeating
sincerity that make her letters admir-
lble. The series of letters which are
iven, which were written during her |
rip to Europe in 1875 and 1876, surpass
] interest scores of volumes of publish
d letters of travel which are them
elves above the general ruck of such
lings
The Kamehameha lineage of Mrs
Bishop is given briefly and suecinctIv
I the first chapter of the book. In
he second chapter an interesting ac-