The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-04-03


him and counseled him TO hold fast TO
the faith Of their pagan fathers. Once
more il was manifest that
- There $ divinity that shapes our
ends.
Rough h"w them how we may
..ln all ages Of the world men. when
put TO the test. have proved that they
are indeed made in the image of God.
Fear Of death and dread of death are
born in the heart Of man when he is
! born. and vet. in all the wears. men
/ have sacrificed life, faced death. and
even courted death. rather than sur
, render their convictions Of right. And
| 50 it came to pass in Hawaii. kapIo-
. lani. daughter Of a chief. reared IN
! the faith Of her pagan fathers, was
! Taught to read by the missionaries and
! through them also she learned of Israel
! and the prophets of Israel. She re
| nounred her pagan faith and denounced
! the false gods under whose sanction
j and in whose names the people were
+ so sorelv prosecuted. One of the most
/ popular legends in their mythology was
! the story Of pele. the patron goddess
of the Volcano kilauea. TINS VoIraro
is one of the scenic wonders Of the
world The trade winds blow stead
! ilv from the northeast So that YOU may
stand on the very edge of It's active
crater upon It's windward side and
watch the boiling cauldr0n at close
range The molten lake is perhaps a
thousand feet across and its fiery sur
face rises from eight hundred feet to
within two hundred feet of the top
Of It's lava banks. 1t bols and sputters
and lasheS its sides in waves of red
and melted rock, dashing into a thou
sand drops and even into spray. Just
| as the breakers do upon the sea shore.
| It is the most magnificent, the most
awe inspiring, as it is the most fright
full spectacle | have ever witnessed
here. and | hope most earnestly never
10 witness its like hereafter This
Young princess. Kapolani, over the pro
test of her father and in violation
Of the tahu Of the gods, descended FIVE
hundred feet to the black ledge inside
the crater and there she defed the ter
rible Pele. ate the sacred berries and
| hurled rocks into the crater calling
! upou the God of Israel the while as did
the prophets of old.
- Jehovah is my God He kinndled
these fires. 7 fear not Pele. If
perish by her anger then You may fear
Pele but if I trust in Jehovah and He
| preserves me when breaking her tabus
then You must fear and serve Him
| alone.
''These were her words to the aston
lshed and terrified natives who stood
transiXed throughout the ordeal. Her
name Is enshrined in the literature of
her people and 7 believe they are Just
/ fled IN their claim that this is zone 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 wears the
heIaus Of the pagan gods had been
converted into temples of Christian
worship, and Pele and the kindred
deItles took their places in the folk
| lore of the people as did Wooden and
| theme who had gone that way be
I for" them on the other side of the
world,
What they spoke was nothing more
! than an unordered dialect of Poly
Mesa and the missionaries began at
"ncC to reduce it to a written Ian
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 a
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 Of you may be surprised by the
. statement ! can only conjecture. but
II was to me almost unbelievable. /