Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1909-04-02
[Continued from last week.

ttAC ChACi9 1h0 LilC Aihe' n ~ 0bCLh Va
taboo safeguarded the power of these;
It was taboo and death for a common
man to let his shadow fall upon
chief, or to stand when the kings
bathing water was carried by, or his
name mentioned in song. 1t was taboo
for a woman to eat with her husband.
1t was taboo and death for a man to
enter his canoe on any day named as
sacred by the priest. So ran the end
less system of expressions, despite
which the race continued hardy and
numerous, and against which the ma
tion arose while the missionary ship
Thaddeus was en- route to the islands.
Ripe for new religion, having
spurned the old, the natives gave eager
welcome to the missionaries. The
king and the chiefs were the first
pupils, reversing the common expert
ence, which is that Christianity works
from the bottom upward. Within
three months the king is said to have
been able to read English. The New
England devotion to education spurred
the missionaries on, so that within
two years the native speech had been
reduced to writing and spelling book
printed in it. Within four years the
chiefs formally agreed to recognize the
Christian Sabbath and to adopt the
Ten Commandments as the basis of
government. They also prohibited the
practice of native women's swimming
out to visit incoming ships for immoral
purposes.
Shaping a Nations Future.
Extraordinary success attended the
efforts of the missionaries. That gen.
GRAFTON of Hawaiians was practically
conquered by them Great revivals
arose all over the group; hundreds
and even thousands were baptised in
day; on one occasion Titus Coan
baptised 1900 natives, sprinkling them
with brush. Not all held out, how
ever. Churches and schools were
established. The first of the former
was a grass building, like the native
hutS. 1t was shortly replaced by an
other Of similar material which seated
1000 persons. When it burned, the
present structure, on plain New Eng
land lines, was built by devoted con-
vertS, who quarried and carried the
volcanic stone and dived into the sea
for the coral with which to make lime.
In this Kawaiahao church, which is
now one Of the sights of the city,
many Hawaiian kings and queens
worshiped.
AS to education, it is enough to say
that all the schools and academies and
colleges on the islands, had their
origin with the churches. Conspicuous
among these is the venerable Oahu
college, which, in it's Bishop museum,
perpetuates the memory of the last
OF the royal line of Kamehamea the
Great. Punahou college enrolls the
students of the best families of Ha-
wall. OF so high a grade were the edu-
cational institutions established by
the missionaries that Californians
used to send their children to Homo
lulu to be educated. English is now
the only language taught to the chill
dren Of this polyglot people; and the
percentage Of illiteracy on the islands
is said to be lower than in some parts
of New England. Nothing is more
marked about the present-day re-
ligious activity of the islands than the
prominence given to education. In.
dustrial schools, kindergartens and
night schools are too common to
enumerate. Seminaries for young
women, theological schools, and what
may be styled academies" as well as
the night schools, are, one or all,
department of the work of almost
every religious agency to be found
here, including the Buddhists. Natur-
ally, the printing press has been used
from the beginning, and the oldest
English periodical west of the Rockies
is The Friend" which is still pub
lished by the Hawaiian board, the
local successor to the American board.
Savaaes Turned Missionaries.
The Kanakas, once missionary OBJ
jects, are now missionary givers. They
support mission work among their own
people, and for AZ years have been
generous givers to missionary work
on the Gilbert islands, and elsewhere
in Polynesia. At least 20 native Ha-
waiians have gone out as missionaries.
There are now rs ordained, native
ministers on the islands. The theo-
logical seminary for natives, the Mid
Pacific institute, is just now expand.
ing, so as to include in one organiZa.
tion the boards three schools, which
begin the new era with an enrolment
of more than 300 students.
The benefits to Hawaii from the
missionary invasion may be summar-
ICED as follows: The naked savage
was clothed. A reign of law and
Justice was established. People ceased
to be mere vassals of king; and the
lands, instead of belonging entirely to
the rulers, were apportioned among
the inhabitants. Self-government was
instituted. The Hawaiian tongue was
reduced to writing, and a system of
education was introduced which to-
day compares favorably with that of
the mainland. The very land itself,
bare of vegetation, was made to bloom
with the verdant beauty which evokes
ordinations of delight from every
traveller. A people without music, of
whom it was said so late as 1841, that
their efforts to sing illustrated piety
rather than melody" have become
famed musicians, with band touring
the large cities of the continent. The
decline of the race has been arrested.
Homes have been evolved where there
was little worthy of that name. The
spirit of chastity has been created
within a race to whom it was not in
stinctive. Seventy thousand natives
have been enrolled in the membership
of Christian churches. A people who,
less than century ago were benight-
ed objects of Christian benevolence,
have themselves freely sent and car
ried the gospel to other islands. In
word, a future state of the American
Union has been made out of the Sand.
IL