The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1909-12-10

been with that 1O1okDOWte08l
which recognized the good to com<
with the white mans civilization. Con.
ing upon the stage OF human Interests
at the very hour when tho consolidation
Of the empire would most simplify the
work Of the missionary, he was almost
another voice crying out In the wilder
ness and he surely made the paths both
easier and straight Yet on his death
bed he called his to him and
councilled him to hold fast to the faith
of their pagan fathers. Cnce moro II
was manifest that
".There'sa divinity that shapes oul
ends
Rough hew them how we may"
In all ages OF the world men when
put to the test haye proved that
they are indeed made in the image OF
God. Fear of death and dread Of
death are born in the heart II man
when he is born. and yet in all the
years men have sacrificed life. faced
death, and even courted death, rath'
er than surrend-r their convictions
of right. And so it came to pass in
Hawaii Kapiolani a daughter of q
chief reared in the faith of her pagan
fathers was taught to read by the
missionaries and through them also
she learned of Isreai and the prophets
Of Isreal. She renowned her pagan
faith and denounced the false gods
under whose sanction and in whose
names the people were 30 sOrely per-
secuted. One of the most popular
legends in their mythology was the
story of Pele, the patron goddess OF
the volcano Kilenea. This vo,cano
is one of the senic wonders Of the
world The trade winds blow stead
lily from the northeast 30 that you
active crater upon its windward side
and watch the boiling caudron at
close range. The ne often lake is pre-
haps a Thousand feet across and it's
fierv surface rises from eight hundred
feet to within two hundred feet of
the top of its lava banks. It boils and
sputters and lashes it's sides in waves
of red and melted rock, dashing into
a thousand drops and ever into spray,
just as the breakers do upon the sea
shore. 1t is the most magnificent,
the most awe-inspiring, as it is the
most frightful spectacle I have ever
witnessed here, and I hope most
earnestly never to witness its like
hereafter. This young princess, Kap-
iolani, over the protest of her father
and and in violation of the tabu of
the gods decended five hundred feet
to the Black Ledge inside the crater
and there she defied the terrible Pele,
ate the sacred berries and hurled
rocks into the crater calling upon the
God of Israel the while az did the
prophets of old.
Jehovah is my God, He kindled
these fires. I fear not Pele. II I
perish by her anger then you may
lear Pele but if 1 trust in Jehovah and
he preserves me when breaking her
,abus then you must fear and serve
Him alone.'
These were her words to the aston
ished and terrified natives who stood
transfxed throughout the ordeal. Her
name is enshrined in the literature Of
her people and I believe they are
justified in their claim that this is
lone of the greatest acts of moral
courage ever performed"
With such an impetus to their cause
the missionaries succeeded beyond
their hopes and within a few years
the heisus of the pagan gods had been
converted into temples of Christian
worship, and Pele and the kindred
dietits tool their places in the folk
lore of the people as did Wooden and
Athene who had gone that way be-
fore them on the other side of the
| world.
What they spoke was nothing more
than an unordered dialect of Poly
nesia and the missionaries began at
once to reduce it to a written lam
guage. Having accomplished this
they induced the king to require the
chiefs and principal personages
throughout the kingdom to learn to
read and write and then to teach
their tenants. In q few years schools
were established in every part of the
kingdom and within twenty years
from this good beginning education
was made compulsory. How many
you may be surprised by this state
ment l can only conjecture bat 1t wa
to me almost unbelievable. I could
not associate the South Sea Savage
and the idea of cmpulsory education
So we'll did these Plus emmisaries dc
their work. so firm did they lay their
foundations that in 1871 the legisls-
ture passed q law forbidding any per'
son, male or female, to marry who
could not read and write. I can not
say which fact surprised me most
that the law was passed. or that there
was a legislature to paes any law.
InsDircd bV their successes they