p. 11 | EASTWARD BOUND by W. C. White

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 25, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 12.

EASTWARD BOUND.

By W. C. White

[The article below is a continuation of the account of Elder W. C. White's journey from Australasia to the General Conference, at Lincoln, Neb. The first article appeared in the SIGNS of February 11. The arduous duties of General Conference and preparatory meetings prevented Brother White from writing sooner. But even at this late date the account will be appreciated by our readers.—ED.]

Our voyage from Samoa was uneventful. The heat was intense, and all who could do so spent their time on deck. We avoided going below, as much as possible, and often lunched on deck, from the fruits and biscuits that we had brought with us, thus shunning the heat of the dining saloon and the monotonous round of the ship's fare. For ten days I slept on deck. Some nights it was windy, and often it was wet, for this was an unusually rainy passage, and tho my rugs and clothing were wet, and sometimes the rugs would not dry out during the day, I slept well, and did not take cold.

We entered Honolulu harbor about noon, Thursday, January 7. Numerous ships were in the harbor, and we had to wait for a big Japan steamer to get out of the way, before the Monowai could come to dock. Soon Dr. P. S. Kellogg, of the Honolulu Sanitarium, came on board, and took us ashore in a rowboat. On the wharf we were met by Brethren Brand, Covell, and Burgess, and after arranging how we would spend the seven hours we were to have on shore, we went to the sanitarium for dinner.

The Honolulu Sanitarium, which is located about two miles from the docks and the center of the city, was reached by street-car. It is on one of the main thoroughfares, and as we pass the palaces, government buildings, and palatial residences, with their ample lawns and tropical trees and shrubbery, we wished that time would permit us to walk, that we could longer enjoy the beauties of the place. We found the sanitarium to be a fourteen-roomed house, with broad verandas, situated in the center of an acre lot. The lawns, the shade, and the surroundings give the place a restful appearance. The plan of the house was well suited to its present use, and everything about the place was clean, orderly, and wholesome.

The patronage of the place has been good from the beginning, and is steadily growing. Dr. Kellogg is assisted by four trained nurses. They are all kept busy, and their faithful work is making many friends for the institution among the business people of Honolulu.

In the afternoon we visited the home of Brother H. H. Brand, where a school for Chinese is conducted forenoons and evenings. The school is conducted in a large quadrangular tent, built for the purpose, and simply, but comfortably, furnished with chairs, tables, an organ, blackboards, and other school appliances. At the time of our visit, 108 were in attendance daily. Something about this school, its teachers, and its methods, seems to have taken a deep hold of the hearts of influential Chinese in Honolulu, and they urge that the school be enlarged and put upon a broader and more permanent basis. Some are offering to assist financially if immediate steps are taken to enlarge the accommodations and the scope of the school.

The importance of Honolulu as a center for missionary and educational work was deeply impressed upon my mind. Here are thousands of Chinamen, progressive in spirit, representing all degrees of refinement and financial prosperity. Their separation from the home influences of China, and their contact with peoples of other nations, tend to make them liberal in thought. Some of them wish their children to study the Christian religion, and they prefer to have it taught in the simplest way, from the Bible itself, rather than from what theologians say about the Bible. Shall we overlook this open door, and send missionaries to China, to find an opening?

The Hawaiian Islands are rapidly filling up with Japanese. There are 30,000 of them there already, and we have every reason to believe that schools opened for them would meet with hearty response and support. The Japanese are the most progressive of the nations of the east. Why may we not open schools for them in the Hawaiian Islands.

After our visit with Brother and Sister Brand, and a brief interview with some influential Chinese gentlemen about school work, I made short visits to several old friends in Honolulu, and then hurried over to the sanitarium for a short talk with the workers there. Time for leaving came too soon, and we were pleasantly surprised on reaching the steamer, to find a score of our friends there, and that the delays occasioned by the loading of some thousands of bunches of bananas gave us two more hours for visiting.

And here the question comes forward, Why are we making no effort to help the Hawaiians? Through the wealth getting and the political maneuverings of the sons and grandsons of the missionaries and their associates, the natives have lost their former confidence, and many are drifting. Can not we do something to restore their confidence in the Word of God, by teaching it in its simplicity?

It is to be regretted that in our Polynesian work we have left these islands to one side, unvisited, and unthought of, for so long a time. Will it not be vastly more practical for us to devote our missionary energies of the Polynesian Mission, during 1897, to the establishment of missionary training schools in Apia, Tahiti, and Honolulu, than to place lone white missionaries on distant islands, to work amid overwhelming disadvantages?

At these training centers, natives can be instructed and prepared to do good work among their fellows, and a score of these native workers, with the assistance of a few white missionaries, can do as much to spread the Gospel as the same number of white men. Educate! educate! is to be our motto. Let us establish schools without delay. W. C. WHITE.