The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1910-02-19
LIFE Of EDWIN
WELLES DWIGHT
Interesting Sketch of Man Who
Found Boy Obookiah on
Yale Steps.

1t was in 1909 that the Hawaiian boy
Henry Ohookiah was found weeping on
the doorstep at Yale college by Rev.
Edwin Welles Dwight, taken in hand
by him as pupil and eventually made
the beginning Of the Sandwich Island
mission
At the anniversary Of the church of
Richmond, on January IS, 1910, paper
on the life of Edwin Welles Dwight
was read by Henry ". Dwight, a grand
son of the Dwight who found Obookiah,
and the following are some extracts
from that paper:
1t is one of the truisms of latter day
history that the flag follows the mis-
sionary, and that commerce follows the
flag. This is particularly true of the
flag of these United States, which stars
and stripes are invariably followed by
Christian civilization, as well as by
commerce. The foregoing truism, as
it applies to the United States, is of
especial interest in connection with
one phase of the subject we have today
under cCusideration-con Amer
lean beginnings throughout the Sand
witch Islands, nowadays officially pro
claimed the Territory of Hawaii.
| have spent certain odd moments
outside my daily business life in look
ing up the career of the third pastor of
this church, namely, my grandfather,
Rev. Edwin Welles Dwight, 17S91S41
n{r>y
who died when but 50 years old, l have
found actually mentioned in so or more
| different books, pamphlets and period
| Gals, most of them now quiet forgotten
and while no account of his earnest,
| simple. wholesome life has ever been
| summarized, or, indeed, searched for
until you asked me two years ago tC
| address YOU in the matter, | have from
| that time "camped on his trail,' SC
| to speak. The blazing of his path il
those long passed-away 60 years has be
come in some spots obscure enough. But
the search has proven itself an enjoy
able one. The task has led my mind
into delightful situations, and made
| for me many pleasant friends. My
research has been with a view of giving
due credit to the memory of a modest
man, whose influence for good I find
! eventually became worldwide in the
Nspread of foreign missions.
Your r-back Richmond pastor
whose eyes We're closed twenty years
ere mine were first opened, was an i'm
portant, though unconscious, agent in
the initial movement of American for
eign missions, as I shall show. [ say
! s hay-;per IN,
an unprecedented. though far-reach
ing, act of his which is to be found I'M
! grudgingly placed to his credit in the
! printed authorities concerning the be
! ginnings Of American missionary work
in the Sandwich Islands
The missionary has gone before tn,
soldier; the Bible has proved more
powerful than the MACHINE gun-com
mercc. geography and civilization alike
owe to the missionary spirit a debt
which can never be repaid, aud YOU
pastor, as | shall show, was, from the
very first, a. most important factor il
! American foreign missions. While 4
| student At Williams college, although
not present on the memorable day wher
the storm drove his associates under tn.
famous Haystack. the history of vii
liams college (lS60) mentions him a;
one in a list of II students who wert
accustomed TO being present at those
meetings held in the grove near the
IIoosac, at which meetings foreign mis-
sions We're uppermost in their prayers
After spending three years at vii
| Hams college. he went to Yale, provi
dcntiallv, we may believe, fer his gr,du
alton wear, where. as we have shown
he befriended the Sandwich Island boy
OboOkiah. which Christian act soon re
suited in the establishment at Cornwall
| Connecticut. of the first foreign mis-
sion school, Of which he was the frs
principal Later he wrote the Me
moirs of Henry Obookiah,' reprinted
| in - editions. Of which | own, aHt
have with me today, seven, and OF
which one edition. although the plates
have been cancelled, is found in a pres
ent-dav catalog. and is still being sold
| Most of these editions are now very
rare: of two editions there are but one
copy of each known. This work, al
most forgotten of late years, but FIRE
duentlv quoted in early publications,
| have found to my surprise to be quite
monumental in its proportions. Ny
search has convinced me that 1t has {
remarkable place in American litera
ture, having been printed in three Ian
| guages, and as nearly as / can estl
mate total of 10000 copies. A Phila
delphia concern alone printed four edl