“Education made rapid progress. Immediately after his arrival Mr. Bingham gathered some of the young people into a school. Kaomi Moe, Kapi’o Moe, Ka-uhi-kua, Wahine-ali’i, H ulu-moi, Oliver ‘Abpa, and Maiao were some of the pupils.”
“At the end of a year he held an exhibition at which great progress was shown. Mr. and Mrs. Thurston and many of the other missionaries taught pupils; another foreigner taught the chiefs at Kailua.”
“Liholiho sent his wives and the young chiefs to school. In April or May, 1821, the king and the chiefs gathered in Honolulu and settled teachers to assist Mr. Bingham.”
“Kahuhu, John ‘I’i, Ha’alilio, Prince Kau·i·ke·aouli, were among those who learned English.”
“In April, 1823, there arrived assistants to the first missionaries, and a start was at once made upon adapting Hawaiian speech sounds to the English alphabet …”
“As soon as the chiefs saw what a good thing it was to know how to read and write, each chief took teachers into his home to teach the chiefs of his household.”
“Ka‘ahumanu took Naomi Moe to her home, and when all her household had her learned to read and write, she sent some of them to other islands to teach, and all the other chiefs sent teachers to their lands in other districts to teach the people to read and write.”
“Before the end of the year the old people over eighty and ninety years old were reading the Bible. Ke-kupu-ohi, Ka-‘ele-o-Waipi‘o, Kamakau, and their families all learned to read and write; the household of Hoa-pili used to read the Bible on the Sabbath day.”
“his was why education spread so rapidly. When the missionaries began to settle in the outer districts they found that the people already knew how to read.”
“Reading aloud in unison was the method used.”
“The missionaries were all eager in their work, and the pupils absorbed their spirit. The quickest pupils were advanced, and this made the pupils ambitious to be at the head.”
“The teachers made great strides in their methods of teaching, not only in reading but also in writing. All followed the same method and drilled good behavior into the pupils.”
“They were taught to bow to men and boys when they met and to bend the knee slightly as they bowed to women and young ladies.”
“These things were impressed upon the minds of all.”
“The old Hawaiian ways of salutation were touching noses, bowing the head, greeting with the mouth, weeping, rolling on the ground, or kneeling as a sign of submission.”
“These were the forms taught by early Hawaiian parents. There were other forms required in the households of chiefs, but the country people expressed their affection in these ways.”
“Even when in modern times the old ways have been discountenanced the country people still keep up the ways of their ancestors.”
“The translation of the Bible was a great help in educating the people.”
“It was ten years or more before even portions of the Bible were translated, but after that small portions put into Hawaiian, for instance Matthew, chapters 5 to 7, the first part of Luke, and the first part of the Psalms. The books of Matthew, Mark, and John, as well as other portions translated by the missionaries, Mr. Loomis had printed in America.”
“Thus portions of the Bible were given to the Hawaiians. The chiefesses became more proficient in writing than others because they wrote all the Scripture verses translated by the teachers and used as texts for sermons and in other connections.” (Kamakau, Ruling Chiefs, p 248-249)
Samuel Manaiakalani Kamakau was born on October 29, 1815 at Manua‘ula, Kamananui in Waialua. O‘ahu. At age 17 Kamakau sought Western learning and went to study at the missionary high school at Lāhainaluna. Shorty thereafter he became a teacher’s helper.
At age 26, he began to write articles about Hawaiian culture and history, interviewing kūpuna who were knowledgeable and willing to share their wisdom with him.
As is still common today, kūpuna of Kamakau’s time did not reveal their knowledge to just anyone, especially the Mo‘olelo of the Ali‘i Nui. The kūpuna obviously trusted Kamakau to entrust him with their secrets, probably because he was of some ali‘i lineage. (LK Kame‘eleihiwa; Ruling Chiefs, P v-vi.)
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