NOTES FROM THE ANGLO-CHINESE ACADEMY OF HONOLULU
By William E. Howell
Two or three weeks ago, a number of the home boys who were interested in having more practice in the use of English, formed themselves into a band for the purpose of laying restrictions upon their use of Chinese. The plan was to appoint monitors to report those overstepping the restrictions, and a judge to assign offenders to work in the school yard for a certain length of time. The boys showed their confidence in Ah Charm by selecting him for their first judge. He was willing to act in that capacity, until the next day, when he said that he did not wish to act as judge any longer. Being asked why, he replied, “The Bible says, ‘Judge not.’” I gave him the chapter in “Mount of Blessing” on judging, to read, and the objection was removed from his mind. One almost envies the experience of a soul in its first love. Ah Charm is fearless in letting others know where he stands. He talks the truth to the other boys, and even writes it to friends away from the school. He is awaiting baptism, and has attended, but not participated in, one quarterly service. With proper training, there is no reason why he should not make an efficient worker, though he is not qualified to do translating, because of a deficient knowledge of written Chinese. But he is making rapid strides in English. The following paper, written in an examination in rhetoric, is in evidence. It is a verbatim copy of the original:— “1. Synonyms are words of like significance in general, and may be used interchangeably sometimes, but each one has its special meaning of its own. “2. Ability and capacity in general has the meaning of power. The special meaning of ability is power to do, and include many kinds of power, while capacity has the meaning of the power to hold. “3. Many inexperienced writers thought that because words are synonyms, they can be used interchangeably freely, but this is a mistake; for in most cases it is found that only one word is best for it. “4. (a) Crime and sin mean offenses in general. Crime has the special meaning of offenses against the laws of the government, while sin means offense against the law of God, and includes wickedness of any kind. “He was arrested for his crime by a policeman. “Jesus died to save us from our sins.” “(b) Strange and curious means something out of its usual order, in general. The special meaning of strange is something new or unfamiliar. The special meaning of curious is something of such a nature as to excite curiosity. “The people thought that the phonograph was a strange thing when it was first invented. “The philosopher found some curious creatures in the river-bed. “(c) Defect and fault means imperfectness in general. The special meaning of defect means something is lacking in the making up, or a faulty interior, while fault means something is wrong with it, while nothing is lacking in its composition. “The defect in this thing causes it to be useless. “It is your fault because you hired the man to murder him. “(d) Apparent and evident in general means clear, plain. Apparent means what appears clear to our mind as soon as attention is called to something, in its special meaning. Evident means what makes our minds sure by some proofs, in its special meaning. “It is apparent that he is sick, because he didn’t come out. “It is evident that he is dead, for the ship is lost at sea, and some one saw her masts. “(e) Truth and veracity means correctness, precision, reality, in the general sense. In the special use, truth is applied chiefly to the quality of a man, or the trueness of a man. “I like to tell the truth. “He is a man of veracity.” The other young man is very promising, although he has not taken so decided a stand as Ah Charm has. He is qualified for translating, and is a little older. He is a cousin to our Chinese brother now studying medicine in San Francisco.