CHAPTER IX. REMINISCENCES OF LAHAINALUNA, AND SKETCHES OF THE FIRST HAWAIIAN COLLEGE. Suave, mari magno turbantibus æquora ventis, LUCRETIUS. Sweet, from a post of safety, to review the labors and virtues of other men beyond the seas. We recross the Molokai channel by canoe-Sketch of an Hawaiian College-Internal economy and discipline-Origin and history-Faculty and course of study-Intention of the founders--Ability and usefulness of the first graduates-Laws ahead of morals-Wisdom not always married to the wise-Prudence not limited to the prudential- A revolution in progress--Signs of the times-Entente cordiale-Natural differences of opinion among missionaries-A pastor's expedient to sound the knowledge of his flock-Great difficulty of being simple enough in the exhibition of truth -Remarkable answers of natives-Heathen destitution of common ideas-Consequent inappreciation of Scripture-Similar experience of missionaries in the eastRemarkable cases in proof-Fruits of the great revival-Reasonings of practical men -Sources of correct information-How to find the meridian of truth-Illustration from the working of longitude by lunars. Ir is one of the most grateful recollections of the tour we have been making through the Hawaiian Heart of the Pacific, that a providential passage across the rude channel between the islands of Maui and Molokai, consigned me over to the very cordial hospitalities of Lahainaluna. The location there of the Mission Seminary, containing one hundred and thirty or forty lads and young men, the college-like aspect of the main building, and frequent sounds of the bell, summoning PANORAMA FROM THE COLLEGE HILL. 199 to some exercise, all invest the place with a literary air that is not to be found elsewhere at the Sandwich Islands. Persons connected with the Seminary, and the families of the teachers, are the sole residents. It is far enough removed from Lahaina to be retired, while the town and shipping are all in sight two miles below. The panorama it commands of sky, ocean, and island, with their overhanging clouds, especially from a point still higher up the mountain, where Mr. Dibble himself built a house, is very extensive and grand. Four different islands and the magnificent expanse of the Pacific are always there, and sometimes, on a clear day, you can discern Oahu, seventy miles off to the northwest, and Hawaii, still further to the south. There are three dwelling-houses for teachers, besides a commodious stone printing-house, and the College edifice, which, including its wings, is one hundred and forty feet front, and between thirty and forty feet deep, of two stories high, with attic and cupola. The students' quarters are two ranges of adobe and grasshouses, a little to the south of the College. A brook is always flowing in front, lining itself with verdure, and a row of thrifty trees more than repays, with grateful shade and green, the pains bestowed upon them. The internal conduct and discipline of the Institution is much after the form of Colleges in America. The students study at their rooms, and recite by divisions. Afternoons, from two to supper-time, are devoted to cultivating food, and other labor, for which they are compensated in clothing, at fixed rates. Meals are at a common table. The expense of food is about two cents a day for one person, or seven dollars and thirty cents per year. Clothing, including mats and sleeping kapas, amounts to nearly the same. Books, stationery, and other incidentals, make up the whole to about twenty dollars per year, for which sum, given by any Church or Sundayschool, constituting a scholarship, the faculty will educate a man for the ministry. The faculty officiate by turns at morning and evening prayers. A church is constituted within the institution, of which Mr. Dibble, during his life, was pastor. Twenty-five of the students were members. They have frequent religious meetings by themselves, and worship in a body in the chapel on the Sabbath. The departments of instruction and executive administration are three. Rev. Mr. Alexander had the department of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Astronomy, and the immediate oversight and discipline of the students. Rev. Mr. Dibble had the department of Mental and Moral Science, Theology, and History. Rev. Mr. Emerson that of Languages, Geography, Composition, and Oratory, and the management of the manual labor department. He was also pastor of a church at Kaanapali, twelve miles distant, numbering one hundred and thirty-one members. They have had to prepare their text-books in each department, a work which, from the outset, has been one of no small magnitude. SIGNAL USEFULNESS OF EARLY GRADUATES. 201 This institution has now been in existence twenty years. It was commenced in 1831, under the care of Rev. Lorrin Andrews, and had to wade along several years through a dismal swamp of embarrassments, accidents, and contracted means. The Res angustæ domi, so often the lot of literary Men, is generally, too, the portion of Literary Institutions, during the period of their infancy. This was eminently true of the early days of the High School, as it was then called. But the sons it reared in those days, like the offspring of honest poverty, have turned out practical and robust men, the main stay of Common Schools, many of them apt to teach, industrious, and faithful. Of one hundred and fifty-eight graduates, living in 1842, eleven only were reported as not usefully employed, or immoral. Seventy-three were church members, and nine officers in the church. Up to the year 1849, the Seminary, with all its permanent dwelling-houses and appurtenances, cost the American Board about seventy-seven thousand dollars, and it is now adopted by, and given over to, the Hawaiian Government, and is to be sustained hereafter by Government funds alone, but on essentially the same plan as heretofore. Up to the present time of its being made over to the Government, it has sent forth two hundred and forty-one graduates, and it now has one hundred and fifty-six under-graduates, as shown by the last catalogue. It is a good investment for the church, at compound interest; and the day, I trust, is not far distant when it will be rendering a dividend of well-educated assistant missionaries and medical practitioners for Hawaii-nei, and all the other islands of Polynesia, who will not need an annual shipment from foreign lands to supply their wants; who will be of common kith and kin, and habits with the people to be instructed, and by whom their languages may be easily acquired, being, like their own, dialects of the one great language that is spoken throughout Polynesia. But in order to this, it must be more liberally endowed and better furnished, and the range of study must be more extensive and thorough. The plan of study, and the length of the course, have been somewhat modified in order to meet the increasing necessity for the acquisition of English. It has been determined that scholars of very little promise be dismissed from the Seminary at an early date; and that at the close of the first three years, all who do not give special promise of future usefulness be dismissed: That the English language be not taught in the Seminary till the close of the three first years of the course, when all the members of the class, who shall not be dismissed, are expected to enter upon the study of the English, as a prominent branch; and that the whole course, including the study of Theology, be extended from eight to twelve years: That to teach successfully the English language, is a work that will require the time and strength of one teacher. We e are well persuaded that this is not all that will be necessary in order to secure an available knowledge of English, which is becoming so much an object of |