The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-09-25


little lady of six years, from Korea,
and next to her a bright-f faced child,
half-native, half Chinese, with the beau.
ty of Hawaii heightened and refined
by the old blood of the Middle King
dom, with the uncanny Oriental sharp
ness and intelligence of China modified
and broadened and made seemingly
more sympathetically human by the
Polynesian strain. And there, in the
same room with these brown, yellow,
white and otherwise Completed
youngsters, were children in whose
veins flows the blood of even four or
FIVE different races-children whose ma
tionality can be expressed only in frac-
tions-one-eigh Hawaiian. one-eighth
Portuguese, one-gnarter Chinese and
one-half white. 1t is most confusing
There is another school in Honolulu
boasting pupils of more than twenty
different nationalitiesl We must not
forget that in Hawaii, growing up with
the brown majority of Orientals, there
! is a small but considerable white com.
munity whose parents come from Ger
many, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the
Netherlands, Russia and other Europ-
can countries.
| Thus the education problem is com
| plex in Hawaii Even the simpler prob
lem of school discipline must be a vex-
ing one. Think of the difficulty ex-
perienced by the teachers in dealing
with so many little people of so many
different races, so many differences of
| home training, so many different ideals
of right and wrong, so many irreconcil-
able ideas as to what constitutes sim
pie justicel And if the situation is
| trying and confusing for the teachers.
think of the confusion that must reign
/ in the youthful minds of the Chinese
and japanese pupils; both attend their
! respective native schools as well as the
regular American public schools. Early
in the morning several hundred little
I! Japanese-from four to twelve years
old-fock into the neat, severe class.
rooms of the Hongwanji Buddhist Mis-
sion to study and recite in the Japanese
way with japanese books and teachers.
Then after breakfast all must attend
the mixed schools established by the
United States government, and after
the long, regular sessions, the poor lit
tie Orientals return to finish the day
at the Buddhist Mission-being set free
only at five o clock in the afternoon.
Attendance at the American public
schools is compulsory.
X X X
AS to the mode of living of the peo-
pie, and the physical appearance of the
islands, great change has taken place.
In only one of our walks could | find
one of those grass huts-formerly the
common abodes of the natives-now
seen only in the remote districts of the
other islands, or set up as curiosities in
the parks or private grounds here on
!. the island of Oahu. The frame shack
is now the characteristic native dwell
ling.
At one of these shacks / found a
typical Hawaiian family engaged in the
characteristic task of preparing flowers
for the making of those garlands, call
ed s'leis,' that are used to hang about
! the necks as a farewell or a welcome
= :, to the friends who go away or return,
!. A lei is floral transliteration of the
= word "AlOha,'' which seems to mean
. all that is sweet and sad and loving
"Aloha'; "Love,'' "Greeting,'
Farewell, +" " Remember me-, "Wel'
come home' and ''God be with you
! -" Aloha" means all this and some
thing more.
AS we approached the group one OF
the women hastily rose and crossed to
= the far side of the garden, remaining
there until we were on the point OF
> going. My friend, wishing to be polite
;, turned back to greet her with extended
. hand and a smiling ''Aloha "; she drew
aside as if embarrassed, then put fortl
! her hand, Shook hands and quickly raj
2 into the house. My friend washed hi
. hands in the next pool. He saw, too
:, late, that the woman's hand was al
u most fingerless and of an uncanny color
- The curse of Hawaii-leprosy- up
. on that woman who at our approach
J had glided away from that picturesqu
!. group of lei.makers, but had returne'
y too soon, and in her confusion had be
e trayed herself. The Hawaians do no
fear the dread disease; they aid thei
u stricken friends to conceal the fact o
10 their misfortune; nor did my companio
le appear alarmed, claiming to know tina
10 mere contact, such as the touch of tina
~ withered hand, is not likely to transmi
" the horrible infection.
q Taken as n whole, Hawaii, the idea
y dreamland of the Pacific, has bee
10 transformed by American enterprise in
to a very real and very wholesome Ian
70 of strenuous living. There is no sul
=, gestion of tropic languor about the Ht
10 nolulu of today; for example, one q
O. the shocks that the traveller gets in HI
nolulu, who has not been there fc
~ years, is the trolley cars of the late
lt American form that glide with the Il
miliar clang of gong and clink of col
NJ ductor IS bell as he ring up the familii
fve.cent fares. Honolulu has Il
%, aspect of prosperous New EnglaI
o' town-with a dash of Western freedo
DC and touch of Southern repose.
Is does not impress you at first as pre-
es ty place. Architecturally, the heart
Oh Honolulu is as hideous as the busine
centre of the average American town
~ scrawny business blocks, dumpy Off
sc buildings with utility stamped all ov
nu them. But the residence streets a
rs, rich in beauty, though the vistas a
'se marred by ugly telegraph-poles and
network of wires. But the homes
Honolulu are among the most attra
ses tive in the world-the gardens aroui
10 about them as Edenlike in loveline
eie lovely at every season of the year.