Categories

May 15, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Mahiole Pōheoheo

“In every day life the ancient Hawaiian trusted to the protection of his thick, coarse hair and wore no hat. When the conch-shell trumpet called to battle, however, the chiefs donned a head-covering both ornamental and useful.”

“While it was firm and thick enough to resist a severe blow, it was remarkable for beauty of form. … It was a custom to cut the hair close at the sides of the head leaving a ridge of stiff, erect hair, like a mane on the top of the scalp), and this mane-like ridge was called mahiole, the same name that was given to a helmet.”

“Originally this personal decoration was a mark of rank, but like all such exclusive tokens was in course of time seized by the aspiring democracy.”

“At the period when feather helmets were in vogue the mahiole was a token of chieftainship, and it covered by any cap, the latter would repeat the token. Hence the skullcap was supplemented by a ridge which often … became an imposing crest.” (Brigham)

The mahiole represented the political status of male chiefs who had various authority.

Mahiole were constructed of the aerial roots of the ʻieʻie vine, woven into a basketry frame. They were perfectly fitted to an individual, and protected the most sacred part of the body, the head.

A net of olonā fibers was laid over the framework, and feathers attached in bundles in the same way as for the cloaks. The featherwork starts from the bottom, so each new row conceals the quills of the feathers below. (Museum of New Zealand)

“It was probably the cherished armor of a king as noble as any of the Hawaiian line. and yet it is not all yellow, as one or two authors claim that the helmet of a king should always be: it is of red, as are the most of those which retain any of their original feathers, and not a single one of all is exclusively yellow.”

“It may seem strange that articles so highly valued should have so little history connected with them … it would add greatly to the interest which must ever attach to these beautiful examples of patient and long-continued work by a primitive people if we knew …”

“… what chief first ordered the construction, how long the hunters collected, how many years the deft fingers of the high chiefesses plaited the precious feathers into the network, what rejoicings at the completion of the long task, in what battle it first was worn, and then the changing ownership when murder, fraud, or theft transferred the garment …” (Brigham)

There are many different kinds of mahiole that can be seen today found in museums around the world from the mahiole haka (short crested helmet,) mahiole pōheoheo (knobbed helmet,) mahiole haka kahakaha (striped short crest helmet,) spoked crescent helmet and others.

The mahiole pōheoheo has mushroom-like ornaments on top, or which were decorated with human hair, were worn by warriors or lesser chiefs. (National Museum of Australia)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Mahiole Pohoehoe-Arago_–_Guerrier_des_Iles_Sandwich-1817

May 14, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sanitary Instructions

The word “Sewer” is derived from the term “seaward” in Old English, as in ditches and ravines slightly sloped to run waste water from land to sea.

From an 1857 story in the Commercial Pacific Advertiser it appears that the first sewer facility to be constructed on Oʻahu was a storm drain located at Queen Street at the foot of Kaʻahumanu Street opposite Pier 11. (ASCE)

What about before that?

“The kapus which were established by the priests for the disposal of body wastes had a double concern: the protection of the mana, the spiritual power, of the person from whom the wastes were derived; and respect for the mana of all of the gods …”

“Out of respect for the gods, the Hawaiian refrained from polluting their abodes. Out of fear for himself, he was most careful to keep his body’s parts, or its wastes, and his personal possessions from falling into the hands of the dreaded sorcerer, the kahuna ana‘ana, or into the keeping of an enemy who would give them to the sorcerer to use in his fell ritual.”

“When a man needed to relieve himself he went off into the bush or into the wasteland, apart from the others of his household or village; and there, as a Jew was enjoined to do by the Mosaic Laws …”

“… he dug a hole and buried in it the portions of himself that were so indubitably his, together with the leaves or small stones or wisps of grass with which he cleaned himself when he was done.”

“(H)e carefully covered the cat-hole he had dug and all traces of his visit, in order to hide its secrets from the searching eyes of the kahuna ana‘ana.”

“Others of his personal wastes were not casually thrown away; they were buried, as carefully as was his excrement, or they were burned. Nor were they cast into the sea, or into streams, pools, swamps, taro-patches, or other accumulations of fresh water.” (Bushnell)

Following Western contact, “Having no inside lavatories, our ancestors had to contrive acceptable indoor facilities. Bedrooms were equipped with a corner washstand holding soap and water.”

“The toilet problem was solved by the use of a large covered chamber pot that was usually kept under the bed. Most well-to-do homes in the eighteenth century had servants who emptied the chamber pot daily …”

“The formal washstands of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries took several shapes. Some were rectangular but the corner stand was the most popular because it was a space saver”

“A hole was cut in the top of the stand so that a basin could fit into the top, thereby lessening the danger of spilling …” (Kovel; Mission Houses)

“As we know them today, there were no bathrooms in the homes of our forefathers … Some distance beyond the houses (for obvious reasons) were the ‘Necessary Houses’ (or ‘outhouses’), usually secreted behind or enclosed within pleasing plant screening …”

“In the homes of long ago, there were the ‘chamber pots’, so called perhaps because they were located generally in the bedchamber where there was little concern to hide them …” (Wise; Mission Houses) A chamber pot was sometimes referred to as a potty. (Tung)

“’The language of the toilet is indeed an etymologlsts’s nightmare: chamber comes by way of chamber pot to mean the pot itself; the adjective privy (private) comes by way of privy chamber, to mean the chamber or room itself.”

“Closet (small room) comes by way of water closet to mean the apparatus, not the room. Lavatory (washing place) comes to mean the water-closet …” (Wright; Mission Houses)

“Toilet paper was unbleached pearl-colored pure manila hemp paper made in 1857 by Joseph C. Gayetty of New York City, whose name was watermarked on each sheet.”

“It sold at five-hundred sheets for fifty cents and was known as ‘Gayetty’s Medicated Paper – a perfectly pure article for the toilet and for the prevention of piles’.” (Kane; Mission Houses)

In 1879, Walter Murray Gibson, Chair of the Legislature’s Sanitary Committee, wrote Sanitary Instructions for Hawaiians. It is a collation of “a series of sanitary instructions, deemed suitable to the conditions of Hawaiians, and have the compilation translated into the Hawaiian language.” (Gibson)

In part, the Instructions note, “Every Hawaiian, who desires to be regarded as civilized must construct a privy near his dwelling, with a pit underneath it, at least six feet deep.”

They further note, “Every head of a family, and owner, or renter of a lot in Honolulu, or other town, can observe these rules …”

“Rule 1. Fill up at once, without waiting to be commanded by health officers, any privy pit, that has been open and used for a number of years.”

“Rule 2. Dig a new pit adjoining the outer wall of your yard, not less than seven feet deep; and do not wall up its sides with stone, or brick, or plank, or any other material. Let the surrounding soil of the walls of the pit help to absorb and defecate the impurities cast in.”

“Do not dig your pit within 30 feet of any well in use. And do not dig your pit adjoining your neighbor’s house. Be sure and have an air opening at least two feet square in the little house you build over your pit, as well as a door.”

“Rule 3. Provide a barrel, or a box, to stand inside of, or near the little house that covers your pit; and have this barrel or box filled with fresh, dry soil, especially the red, dry, iron tinctured soil from the kula plains …”

“… and have a paddle, or scoop of any kind, – a shingle would answer – to cast, after you use the place, a small quantity of dry earth into the pit. This earth must always be kept dry. All this will require some little labor, and perhaps expense on your part, but a blessing will come with the care and outlay, O, Hawaiian father of a family.”

“Rule 4. Dig a fresh pit at least every year. If your yard is small, you can return to the old places covered up, after a few years, and dig a pit in the same place a second time, without annoyance or injury.”

“Rule 5. Never permit any ordure to be deposited, or exposed in your yard, or on any pathway by your house, no more than you would permit your own person, or the person of any member of your family to be openly defiled by such impurities …”

“And thus, as you would keep your persons and your premises clean, your lives would be clean, and God, that giveth health, will abide with you, and not turn away.” (Gibson)

In 1897, Rudolph Hering, a New York Sanitary Engineer, designed Honolulu’s sewer system; it was a “separate system” whereby separate networks of conduits would carry sewage and storm waters, a system still used today in Honolulu.

Work on the system began in 1899 and sewer lines were laid out in a gravity flow pattern in a rectangular fashion and ran along Alapaʻi, River and South Streets, past Thomas Square, and ended in the Punahou area.

The sewer outfall to the ocean was built in 1899. The outfall ran some 3,800-feet out to sea at a depth of 40-feet of water, rather than farther out to a 100-foot depth (due to funding constraints.) (Darnell)

In 1900, the Kakaʻako Pumping Station was constructed; with features such as large arched windows, exterior walls of local lava rock, roofs of green tile and a smokestack 76-feet tall.

The use of the Kakaʻako Pumping Station was abandoned by the City and County of Honolulu when it built a new pumping station on the southwest portion of the block, adjacent to the Historic Ala Moana Pumping Station in 1955.

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Bannack-Outhouse-Shaw

May 13, 2018 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

A Statement of Values

“It may very truly be said that the story of the Hawaiian Mission is the ‘old, old story of Jesus and his love.’ Using the words of St. Paul, it may be said that the Love of Christ ‘constrained’ a certain number of men and women in New England and States near by …”

“…to sail for a group of Islands in the far off Pacific whose people were in spiritual darkness. and in bondage to a system of idolatry which in many respects was peculiarly hard.”

“From stories which they had heard the Missionaries expected, as one of them wrote, ‘sacrifice, trials, hardships and dangers.’ It certainly was a great venture of faith to sail away in 1820 on the Brig ‘Thaddeus’ for Islands more distant from the mainland than any other group in the world.”

“But the love of Christ constrained them for service as it constrained those companies of men and women which came around the Horn in 1822, 1827 and so on to the last group in 1848.”

“We do not say that there were no mistakes made, nor that the strict requirements of the Puritan representation of Christianity were not hard on a primitive people, nor that they did not lead to hypocrisy on the part of many, a hiding of their real lives that they might not be turned out of the Church.”

“The missionaries had not only to contend with old superstitions and habits of life but with the licentiousness and intemperance of the men of the whaling fleet, whose ships in these waters often numbered a hundred or more.”

“Then there were the difficulties arising with the representatives of certain powers who accused the missionaries of interfering and who often considered themselves above the native. laws.”

“There was also the hindrance arising from teachers of other religious organizations who entered the field later and who undoubtedly told the Hawaiians that they were being taught falsehood. But still the work went on.”

“One body, whose men go two by two, lived with the Hawaiians, gained their confidence, and took many. White priests of another body devoted in self-sacrificing work, often in lonely places where no one else would live, won hundreds.”

“As to values in character: There were Hawaiians of whom the older missionaries’ children speak in high terms. It is true that workers in the past and present have often been saddened by seeing young people who gave promise in the mission schools tum out indifferent, negligent or bad.”

“The number of schools which are directly as well as indirectly the result of missionary foundation and influence is very great in proportion to the population.”

“These include not only private schools, such as Hilo Boarding School, Lahainaluna, Kawaiaha‘o Seminary, Mills Institute, the Kamehameha Schools, the Punahou Schools, Kohala Seminary, Maunaolu Seminary …”

“… but also all the excellent public schools which were in their inception, the special charge of the mission. And all these schools have behind them records of which they may well be proud.”

“The value of the Hawaiian Mission has been not only in producing strong Christian character in individual cases, but also in the steady improvement in the moral conditions of the Islands despite all drawbacks.”

“The ideas of women as to sexual morality have changed wonderfully in the past twenty years … As a matter of fact, from a somewhat wide knowledge of three continents I affirm that in this respect these Islands, to say the least, need not fear comparison with most countries of older civilization.”

“One chief reason to my mind is that while now if a girl makes a false step there is a sense of shame on the part of the girl and her relatives, yet she is not treated as an outcast by them and others and usually she settles down later to a decent home life.”

“In manners, courtesy, kindliness and racial comity there is no place which compares with Hawaii. The preponderance of Japanese has lately somewhat disturbed this, but only as affecting them.”

“This brotherliness, this idea of a family whose members are of different ideas and manners but who are relations, has been one remarkable feature of the value of this missionary work which treated all as children of God who had value as individuals.”

“Today when tourists come to the Islands they are told by those ignorant of the facts, that the missionaries were received kindly by the Hawaiians and then took their country away from them and got rich.”

“These tourists do not learn that by the term missionary as used in Hawaii the descendants of the missionaries are not alone meant.”

“The word since the overthrow of the monarchy and to some degree before included all who stood for good government, whether they were Christians or not.”

“As a matter of fact, by far the greater part of the land of the Islands belongs to the government or to estates left and held in trust for Hawaiian families or institutions for the benefit of Hawaiians.”

“The plantations, all except a few small ones, are held by stock companies, in some of which the descendants of the missionaries hold a large interest, but in many of which they have little or none.”

“The missionaries introduced industries in order to give work to their converts who lived in a primitive way. By force of circumstances and their ability some of their children grew wealthy.”

“One value of the Hawaiian Mission is the industries of the group, without which the natives must have remained primitive children of the soil, as they are on many nominally Christianized Islands of the Pacific.”

“This we can say from personal knowledge – that nowhere are employers more interested in the welfare of the employees than in Hawaii. Laborers who came here as coolies make every sacrifice to educate their children, and if they do not stay here, they go away to become leaders of their people.”

“But if the Hawaiians gained from the Americans, the descendants of the missionaries and other white residents gained much from the Hawaiians.”

“They gained a forgiving spirit, a generous way of looking at faults, and a helpfulness to those in need. In no place in the world has there been more done for education, relief of distress and in late years in scientific helpfulness, and if the list of names of those prominent in bringing this about and supporting it, is gone over, the value of the mission will be seen.”

“The story of the Hawaiian Mission has not passed into history – it is going on. It has gone out into the Islands of the Pacific, into countries bordering on that great Ocean, and into other far distant lands …”

“… and the influence of those twelve companies and their children and grand-children is potent not only in Hawaii, but East and West, North and South.” (Restarick, Episcopal Bishop, First American Bishop of Honolulu; he presided over the funeral of Queen Liliuokalani in 1917)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

MISSION-HOUSES-drawing-by-James-P.-Chamberlain-LOC-ca-1860

May 12, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Death of Kekaulike

Maui’s King Kekaulike descended from Pi‘ilani (‘ascent to heaven’). The kings of Maui consolidated their strength, built up their armies and created a nation strong enough to threaten at times even the might of the powerful kings of Hawai‘i.

King Kekaulike and his children built an empire that enjoyed levels of power and prestige greater than any other royal family up until that point.

“Tradition speaks of Kekaulike’s return to Maui after a raid in Kohala, Hawaii, and while in Mokulau, Kaupo, Maui, Kekaulike was preparing for another raid on Waipio and Hāmākua.”

“He was suddenly stricken with fits or huki. Thus was derived the name of the High Chiefess Kamakahukilani. Kahunas or doctors were summoned to attend the sick King. In consultation they decided he could not be cured.”

“On the King learning his case was hopeless he summoned the High Chiefs, Ministers of State, and Counsellors to his presence, and declared his son Kamehamehanui (uncle to Kamehameha I) to be his successor.”

“The latter, a Prince of the royal house of Maui through his father Kekaulike, and also of the royal house of Hawaii through his mother Kekuiapoiwanui, the daughter of Keaweikekahialiiokamoku, King of Hawaii, and the tabued Queen Kalanikauleleiaiwi.”

“After this declaration, word was brought to the King that Alapainui was in Kohala, Hawaii, preparing to come to war with Maui.
When Kekaulike heard this, he immediately ordered his fleet of war canoes ‘Keakamilo’ and set sail for Wailuku. His wives, his children, high chiefs, ministers of state and counsellors accompanied him.”

“Others of his retinue traveled overland to a place called Kapaahu, where the King’s canoes landed at the cave of Aihakoko in Kula.”

“The chiefs then prepared a manele or palanquin to carry the sick King overland and at a place called Kalekii the King expired, which happened in 1736.”

“The High Chiefs being in fear of Alapainui coming to do battle with them, immediately performed the sacred ceremonies of Waimaihoehoe due their sovereign and decided to take the royal remains to ‘lao.”

“They again embarked, landing at Kapoli in Ma‘alaea, thence to Pu‘uhele, along the route relays of high chiefs bearing the remains of their beloved sovereign to Kihahale …”

“… at Ahuwahine they rested, thence to Loiloa, where the royal remains were placed in Kapela Kapu o Kakae, the sacred sepulchre of the sovereigns and the blue blood of Maui’s nobility. (Lucy Kalanikiekie Henriques)

“‘lao is the famous secret cave of (the island of) Maui. It is at Olopio close to the side of the burial place of Kaka’e and Kalahiki (‘Kalakahi’ in original).”

“The main entrance is said to be under water, the second opening on a steep precipice on the left [hema] side. This was the famous cave in the old days.”

“There were (laid) all the ruling chiefs who had mana and strength, and the kupua, and all those attached to the ruling chiefs who were famous for their marvelous achievements.”

“There were several hundred in all who were buried there. The first of all the well-known chiefs to enter the famous cave of ‘lao was Kapawa, a famous chief of Waialua, O‘ahu, and the last was Kalanikuikahonoikamoku (The-chief-standing-on-the-peak-of-the-island).”

“In the year 1736 the last of them died and no one now alive knows (the entrance to) the secret cave of lao.” (Kamakau; Tengan)

In the late-1780s, into 1790, Kamehameha I conquered the Island of Hawai‘i and was pursuing conquest of Maui and eventually sought conquer the rest of the archipelago.

In the early-1790s, Maui’s King Kahekili (son of Kekaulike) and his eldest son and heir-apparent, Kalanikūpule, were carrying on war and conquered Kahahana, ruler of O‘ahu.

By the time Kamehameha the Great set about unifying the Hawaiian Islands, members of the Kekaulike Dynasty were already ruling Maui, Molokai, Lāna‘i , O‘ahu, Kauai and Ni‘ihau.

In 1790, Kamehameha travelled to Maui. Hearing this, Kahekili sent Kalanikūpule back to Maui with a number of chiefs (Kahekili remained on O‘ahu to maintain order of his newly conquered kingdom.)

Kekaulike’s son, Kamehamehanui lost Hana, which was isolated from the rest of Maui.

Kamehameha then landed at Kahului and marched on to Wailuku, where Kalanikūpule waited for him. This led to the famous battle ‘Kepaniwai’ (the damming of the waters) in ‘Iao Valley (which Kamehameha decisively won.)

Maui Island was conquered by Kamehameha and Maui’s fighting force was destroyed – Kalanikūpule and some other chiefs escaped and made their way to O‘ahu (to later face Kamehameha, again; this time in the Battle of Nu‘uanu in 1795.)

There the war apparently ends with some of Kalanikūpule’s warriors pushed/jumping off the Pali. When the Pali Highway was being built, excavators counted approximately 800-skulls, believed to be the remains of the warriors who were defeated by Kamehameha.

The Kekaulike Dynasty was a powerful line that ruled multiple islands. Although they lost to Kamehameha, it should also be remembered that Kamehameha’s own mother, the Chiefess Keku‘iapoiwa II, was a Maui chiefess, and the Kekaulike lineage continued through the leadership of the future leaders of Hawai‘i.

Kamehameha’s wives of rank were chiefesses of Maui. These were Keōpūolani, Ka‘ahumanu, Kalākua-Kaneiheimālie and Peleuli. Keōpūolani, granddaughter of Kekaulike, was the mother of the Kamehameha II and Kamehameha III.

Others from this Maui lineage include King Kaumuali‘i (of Kauai,) Abner Pākī (father of Bernice Pauahi Bishop,) Kuakini, Keʻeaumoku II and Kalanimōkū. (Art by Brook Parker.)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger

Kekaulike-Brook Parker

Maui Nui

Kaahumanu-(HerbKane)

‘John Adams’ Kuakini, royal governor or the island of Hawai’i, circa 1823

George Cox Kahekili Keʻeaumoku II (1784–1824) served as a military leader, and then became a convert to Christianity and Royal Governor of Maui

Abner Pākī (c. 1808–1855) was a member of Hawaiian nobility. He was a legislator and judge, and the father of Bernice Pauahi Bishop-1855

William Pitt Kalanimoku (c. 1768–1827) was a High Chief who functioned similar to a prime minister of the Hawaiian Kingdom

Mahiole_of_Kaumualii,_1899- Kaumualiʻi (c. 1778 – May 26, 1824) was the last independent Aliʻi Aimoku (King of the islands) of Kauaʻi and Niʻihau

Lydia Namahana Piʻia (c. 1787–1829) was one of the Queen consorts at the founding of the Kingdom of Hawaii. She was sister of Queen Kaahumanu

King_Kahekili_Approaching_Discovery_off_Maui-(HerbKane)

May 11, 2018 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Piece of Pahoehoe

Richard and Clarissa Armstrong were with the Fifth Company of American Protestant missionaries to the Islands (which included the Alexanders, Emersons, Forbes, Hitchcocks, Lymans, Lyons, Stockton and others). They arrived on May 17, 1832.

The Armstrongs had ten children. Son William N Armstrong (King Kalākaua’s Attorney General) accompanied Kalākaua on his tour of the world, one of three white men who accompanied the King as advisers and counsellors (Armstrong, Charles H Judd and a personal attendant/valet.)

Armstrong and Judd were Kalākaua’s schoolmates at the Chiefs’ Children’s School in 1849. (Marumoto) “Thirty years afterward, and after three of our schoolmates had become kings and had died (Kamehameha IV & V and Lunalio) and two of them had become queens (Emma and Liliʻuokalani,) it so happened that Kalākaua ascended the throne, and with his two old schoolmates began his royal tour.” (Armstrong)

Another Armstrong son was Samuel Chapman Armstrong. “More than 100 people from Hawai‘i fought on both sides of the Civil War. Arguably the most famous was the Union general Samuel C Armstrong.” (NY Times)

Armstrong, the son of missionaries, was born January 30, 1839 in Maui, the sixth of ten children. In 1860 his father suddenly died, and Armstrong, at age 21, left Hawai‘i for the United States and attended Williams College in Massachusetts, graduating in 1862.

After graduation, Armstrong volunteered to serve in the Union Army during the American Civil War, and recruited a company near Troy, New York.

Armstrong was among the 12,000-men captured in September 1862 with the surrender of the garrison at Harpers Ferry. After being paroled, he returned to the front lines in Virginia in December; he fought at the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, defending Cemetery Ridge against Pickett’s Charge.

Armstrong subsequently rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, being assigned to the 9th Regiment, United States Colored Troops (USCT) in late 1863, then the 8th US Colored Troops when its previous commander was disabled from wounds. Armstrong’s experiences with these regiments aroused his interest in the welfare of black Americans.

When Armstrong was assigned to command the USCT, training was conducted at Camp Stanton near Benedict, Maryland. While stationed at Stanton, he established a school to educate the black soldiers, most of whom had no education as slaves.

At the end of the war, Armstrong joined the Freedmen’s Bureau. With the help of the American Missionary Association, he established the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute – now known as Hampton University – in Hampton, Virginia in 1868.

The Institute was meant to be a place where black students could receive post-secondary education to become teachers, as well as training in useful job skills while paying for their education through manual labor.

Among the school’s famous alumni is Dr Booker T Washington, who became an educator and later founded Tuskegee Institute. President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was read to local freedmen under the historic “Emancipation Tree,” which is still located on the campus today.

“As an acknowledgment of the origin of Hampton from work done in Hawaii at the entrance of the great assembly hall there is built into the wall a piece of lava rock. This is a token that the foundation of Hampton lay in Hawaii.” (Ford, Pan Pacific Union)

“To anyone going to Hampton that piece of pahoehoe at the entrance to the great hall tells silently to those who can read the inestimable value of the Hawaiian Mission in its world-wide influence.” (Centennial Book)

“‘Education for Life,’ which was the constant theme of Armstrong’s teaching, essential though it be to secure to thousands of young men and women their self-support, is not an end in itself, but a means.” (Peabody) He incorporated the Head, Heart and Hand approach used by the missionaries.

“(Armstrong’s) parting message has become, not alone a precious legacy to Hampton, but a source of strength to great numbers of lives which are trying to go the same way of happy sacrifice.” Portions of his ‘Memoranda’, found after his death, follows …

“A work that requires no sacrifice does not count for much in fulfilling God’s plans. But what is commonly called sacrifice is the best, happiest use of one’s self and one’s resources …”

“…the best investment of time, strength, and means. He who makes no such sacrifice is most to be pitied. He is a heathen because he knows nothing of God.”

“In the school the great thing is not to quarrel; to pull all together; to refrain from hasty, unwise words and actions; to unselfishly and wisely seek the best good of all …”

“… and to get rid of workers whose temperaments are unfortunate – whose heads are not level; no matter how much knowledge or culture they may have. Cantankerousness is worse than heterodoxy.”

“I am most thankful for my parents, my Hawaiian home, for war experiences, and college days at Williams, and for life and work at Hampton.”

“Hampton has blessed me in so many ways; along with it have come the choicest people of the country for my friends and helpers, and then such a grand chance to do something directly for those set free by the war, and indirectly for those who were conquered; and Indian work has been another great privilege.”

“Few men have had the chance that I have had. I never gave up or sacrificed anything in my life – have been, seemingly, guided in everything.”

“Prayer is the greatest power in the world. It keeps us near to God—my own prayer has been most weak, wavering, inconstant; yet has been the best thing I have ever done. I think this is a universal truth—what comfort is there in any but the broadest truths?”

“”Hampton must not go down. See to it, you who are true to the black and red children of the land, and to just ideas of education. The loyalty of my old soldiers and of my students has been an unspeakable comfort.”

“It pays to follow one’s best light—to put God and country first; ourselves afterwards.” (Armstrong; Peabody)

The Islands were at the grave of Armstrong … “At its head was set a huge fragment of volcanic rock, laboriously brought from his island-home in the Pacific, and at its foot a quartz boulder hewn from the Berkshire Hills, where he had been trained.”

“The monument is a witness of the character it commemorates, volcanic in temperament, granitic in persistency; a life of self-destructive energy, like a mountain on fire, but with the steadiness and strength of one who had lifted up his eyes to the hills and found help.”

Samuel Chapman Armstrong died May 11, 1893. “Such was the end of an era in the history of Education for Life.” (Peabody)

Follow Peter T Young on Facebook

Follow Peter T Young on Google+

Follow Peter T Young on LinkedIn

Follow Peter T Young on Blogger