Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-06-13

GIRL TELLS OF
Town OF HILO


The folioring essay iras crit
ten By Hiss Ida Deshd, mem
Der Of the 1913 graduating class
Iof the Kamehdmeha Schools,
and read at the commencement
|erercises held IL the Bishop Ne
mortal Chapel June O.:
To a girl born in the district Of
Hilo. its situation on the little cres
cent shaped harbor Is charming; shell
tered as II is from the high winds,
but cooled at night by gentle
breeze from Mauna Kea, its climate
| is delightful; its fertile soil and Copi-
Gus rainfall are sources OF industrial
prosperity. in which all Its dwellers
share; its rich yerdure. running
streams and deep seaward opening
gulches delight the eye.
1t is quite true that the name The
Rainy City" is justly applied to the
town of Hilo for on q clear sunny day.
when the sky is dome Of azure blue,
one must carry an umbrella for as
sure as the stars are in the sky. he
will be caught in the, rain which falls
at unexpected times; but because OF
this heavy rainfall, the district has
dense forests which unlike the for
ests of America have no wild or dan
gerous animals roaming In them.
All these gifts OF nature this land
has had from the beginning and early
| in the history of the islands these adj
vantages were recognized
Sugarcane and grapes have always
thrived and Chinese. Portuguese and
Hawaiians alike raised them long ago
] in small quantities. The skillful Por-
tuguese made the grapes into wine
right there, but at first there we're no
mills to grind the cane and It had TO
he sent to Honolulu. Now the mills
at Wainaku. at Papaikou and ct Wal
akearUka grind the cane and the SUI
gar Is then sent to the Hilo wharf
where 1t is shipped to the Pacific
Coast sand New York.
The people who are doing this work
today are Japanese, Chinese. Kore-
ans, Spanish, Filipinos. Portuguese.
English, Greeks, Americans, Scotch
and Hawaiians. Among Us exist many
similar customs and habits. We each
speak our own language, but most Of
us speak English also. Although we
have some different customs and hab-
its we do not interfere with each.
others rights and duties.
Four years ago I taught school
about five miles from HilO for q lit:
& tie while where there were hun
4 dred children, chiefly Japanese and
Portuguese and only two teachers to-
manage them. Some Of the pupils
were grown up boys and they were
Of great help to Us. There were two
rooms and four grades. We had
wooden benches and tables. and in
the drawers Of the tables the chill
dren kept their books We had books
of music. reading and geography, but
no notebooks or tablets. The rooms
had blackboards and sand table
The children were quite bright and
whenever school came to close, they
would linger about the schoolhouse
and ask questions about other schools.
AS we passed their homes on our way
home, we would see these children
working In the fields with their
mothers while their fathers were at
work In the distant canefields.
1t was evident that the school In
terested the community, for during
the term the parents sent garden
tools to the school for us to teach
the children gardening, and when the
flowers and vegetables grew each
pupil had some to show to his home
| people, and on the last day Of school
many parents appeared to see their
children take part in our last day
exercises. The thing the school need
ed most was books, but we. did our
best in telling them stories Of differ
ent great men, and fairy stories and
taught them school songs which they
enjoyed.
The children loved to be out of
doors and in their recess time they
ran up and down the hill many times
but they knew few games so we taught
them some games.
Below the schoolhouse Is the only
church in this community no larger
than one of the houses and without
minister then There were no
chairs within the church building but
each one who came brought box
to sit upon. One day my uncle went
to speak at the church. The chill
dren came bringing their mothers and
sisters
Most of the immigrants here were
at first employed on the sugar plan
tations, but now some are carpenters.
some manage stores, while others are
market gardeners and peddle their
own wares. Those who work on the
plantations live in groups of houses
called camps.
/ have been in one of these camp
houses occupied by Portuguese fam
lily. This house had one bedroom and
dining room and under the house
was. the bathroom. The cooking was
done out Of doors except in rainy
weather, when it was done under the
house. This house was kept neatly.
There were few pictures on the
wall, one of which was a madonna L
think most of the other houses were
squalid within. for they were squalid
without One Chinese home that 7 know