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 University Library 
 University of California Berkeley 
 
INAUGURATION 
 
 m A R 1) G. B ii C K W 1 1 H , 
 
 * THE OAHU COLLEGE, 
 
 COURT HOU8ET, 
 
 i)NOLU EPTBMBEB i854. 
 
 HONOLU 
 
INAUGURATION 
 
 OF 
 
 EDWARD G. BECKWITH, 
 
 PRESIDENT OF THE OAHU COLLEGE, 
 
 AT THJi 
 
 COURT HOUSE, 
 
 HONOLULU, SEPTEMBER 25, 1854. 
 
 MISSION PRESS, 
 
 HONOLULU 
 
 1854. 
 
f-TRR/ 
 
 ,. 
 
 PROGRAMME 
 
 X 
 
 OF THE 
 
 COMMITTEE OF ARRANGEMENTS. 
 
 I. Prayer, by REV. E. W. CLARK. 
 
 II. Music. 
 
 III. Explanatory Statement, by REV. R. ARMSTRONG, 
 Secretary of the Board of Trustees. 
 
 IV. Pkdge of Fidelity in Office, administered by 
 REV. S. C. DAMON, Vice President of the Board of 
 Trustees. 
 
 V. Response of E. G. BECKWITH, Esq., President 
 Elect. 
 
 VI. Address to the President, by REV. S. C. DAMON. 
 
 VII. Inaugural Address, by E. G. BECKWITH, Esq. 
 
 VIII. Music. 
 
 IX. Benediction, by REV. L. SMITH. 
 
EXPLANATORY ADDRESS, 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. R. ARMSTRONG. 
 
 I am requested, as a member of the board of Trus 
 tees of the institution whose interests have called us 
 together, to make a few explanatory remarks in re 
 gard to it ; in order that the exercises which are to 
 follow may be listened to with a more full under 
 standing of the causes which have operated to bring 
 it to its present condition. 
 
 The Punahou School had its origin in the wants of 
 the children connected with the families of the Ameri 
 can Mission on these islands. Those wants began to 
 to be felt and even to press heavily on the minds of 
 parents at a veiy early period of their residence here. 
 Burdened as they were with care and labor for the 
 people, it was impossible for them to devote that at 
 tention to their own children which was necessary to 
 lit them for the duties of life without serious detri 
 ment to the great work in which they v\ere engaged. 
 To send them far off, to the land of their fathers for 
 education, at a tender age, when they were old 
 enough to require regular instruction, was both un 
 natural and inexpressibly paimul ; yet, for many 
 years, it was endured, rather than see their children 
 grow up around them uneducated, anJ perhaps little 
 elevated above the natives ihey ca ne to teach. 
 
 The necessity pressed more and more heavily from 
 1* 
 
year to year ; but for want of a suitable teacher and! 
 the means to establish a school, the difficulty was not 
 relieved until after the lapse of more than twenty 
 years from the commencement of the Mission. The 
 Punahou school was begun in the year 1841, under 
 the instruction of the Rev. Mr. Dole, who has con 
 tinued to be its principal until the present time. It has 
 formed a very important part of the missionary estab 
 lishment, and has been the means of incalculable 
 good. Into it have been received from the first, one 
 hundred and twenty-two pupils, some eight or nine 
 of whom have, or are about to enter colleges in the 
 United States ; others are engaged in teaching, and 
 others still are settled in business among us. 
 
 The question may arise in your minds: why change 
 its character ? why attempt to erect it into a college ? 
 We answer, in the opinion of its Board of Trustees, 
 and many of the friends of education, the wants of the 
 community demand an institution of a higher grade 
 than any that now exists, where our youth who de 
 sire it, may acquire a liberal Christian education, and 
 fit themselves to enter upon the study of the learned 
 professions, or the duties of active life, and that Pu 
 nahou is the place for it. The same motives that 
 called it into existence as a primary school thirteen 
 years ago, now demand its expansion into a school of 
 a higher grade ; that on the same principle by \\hich 
 we feel it important to produce our own flour and our 
 own sugar, we should aim to produce our own educa 
 ted men. 
 
 The circumstances and relations, too, of that body 
 for whose benefit that school was originally estab 
 lished, have undergone a material change, and it 
 is natural that their institutions should change with 
 them. They are no longer, as formerly, under the 
 
control of a body of men far off in anothei land, but 
 have become a portion of the fixed population of the 
 country, and have a common interest with the nation, 
 in all that affects its welfare. With the community 
 here they must rise and advance, or sink and retro 
 grade. It is natural, therefore, that their institutions 
 and plans should change also ; and in looking to 
 their own educational wants, they look also to those 
 of the nation of vhich they form a component part, 
 It has been a growing conviction, therefore, in the 
 minds of the Board of Trustees, and friends of this 
 institution, for some years, that a commencement 
 should be made for a college on the Islands, and that 
 no other place affords so many advantages as Puna- 
 hou. The location is confessedly excellent ; build 
 ings sufficient for the present are already erected ; 
 some four hundred acres of land belong to the estab 
 lishment, and lie adjacent to it ; and there are a 
 number of youth among us looking forward to a li 
 beral education. 
 
 Moved by such considerations as these, the Trus 
 tees applied to the Hawaiian Government more than 
 a year ago, for a charter for a college, which was 
 granted on the 23rd of May, 1853, and which I here 
 hold in my hand.* 
 
 The Board of Missions in Boston, not only sympa 
 thize with these vieus, but urge them in the strong 
 est manner. They tell us we must have a College; for 
 until we have this, we have nothing permanent. And 
 if we, here, are zealous and energetic in the w ? ork, 
 they will not be wanting in giving us a helping hand. 
 They even now guarantee, as a pledge of their ear 
 nestness, to pay the salaries of the President and 
 
 * Sec Appendix. 
 
8 
 
 Professor, for the present. During the past year 
 they have sought for a suitable person to become 
 President of the contemplated college, but have fail 
 ed, and hence the Trustees have made choice of the 
 gentleman who is now to be inducted into office, and 
 who will address you this evening. 
 
 The Trustees indulge the hope that these incipient 
 measures to found a college will meet the approbation 
 of the friends of education generally among us ; and 
 that with the blessing of God on our efforts, however 
 humble our beginning, an institution may arise in due 
 time, that will be at once the emblem of our civili 
 zation, the evidence of our progress, and a blessing 
 to future generations. 
 
PLEDGE. 
 
 MB. EDWARD G. BECKWITH : 
 
 Sir, by an unanimous vote of the Board of Trustees 
 of the Oahu College, you have been chosen President 
 of that Institution. You do now publicly, and in the 
 fear of God, assume this high and responsible trust, 
 with the solemn pledge on your part, that to the best 
 of your ability, you will perform the duties devolving 
 upon you, in this capacity, agreeably to the laws and 
 regulations of the Institution. 
 
 RESPONSE. 
 
 Sir: I thank the Board of Trustees for the confi 
 dence which they have reposed in me, and the honor 
 which they have conferred on me in electing me to 
 this office. I enter upon the discharge of its re 
 sponsible duties, Sir, with much distrust of my ability, 
 but with a firm resolution, by the help of God, to dis 
 charge those duties faithfully, to the best of my abili- 
 ty, and according to the laws of the Institution. 
 
ADDRESS, 
 
 REV. S. C. DAMON, 
 
 On behalf of the Board of Trustees, it becomes my 
 duty to declare you as duly inaugurated and invested 
 with this office, in token of which I hereby present 
 you with the keys of the Institution. 
 
 Having now invested you with the insignia of your 
 official station, at the head of the Oahu College I can 
 not refrain from offering a few brief remarks, naturally 
 suggested by this occasion. It is to be presumed, 
 Mr. President, that you have carefully considered the 
 responsibilities, and weighed the duties of that post 
 of trust, honor and dignity, which you now occupy. 
 It is to be presumed that your mind, by anticipation, 
 has already become somewhat familiarized with the 
 trials and difficulties, which must necessarily attend 
 the building up of an institution worthy of the name 
 of a college ; and which ere long, it is to be hoped, 
 will favorably compare with the noble colleges and 
 Universities of our father-land and of Europe. Those 
 fountains of learning, literature, science and piety, 
 were once as humble as that over which you now 
 preside. An historical comparison with some of 
 those time-honored and renowned seminaries, show 
 that the Oahu College is ushered into being under 
 the most favorable auspices. There is, allow me to 
 
11 
 
 assure you, a bright as well as a dark side to the pic 
 ture. There is much to inspire you and your associ 
 ate with hope and encouragement. As instructors 
 of youth, your profession is honored and respected in 
 this community. Public sentiment will not oppose, 
 but cheer you forward. The foreign community in 
 these islands is not large, but it embraces talented 
 and educated men, who can appreciate good scholar 
 ship and sound learning. 4 . r y 
 
 This was recently a land of darkness, but into the 
 very midst thereof the school-master pushed his \vay, 
 holding up the lamp of learning, lighted at the altar 
 of Christianity. Darkness made visible is now pass 
 ing away, while civilization, commerce and Christi 
 anity are struggling and combining their forces to 
 gather upon Hawaiian shores the elements of true 
 national prosperity. There are opposing influences, 
 but it needs no prophet's ken to foresee which shall 
 triumph. We have hitherto had our common schools 
 among natives and foreigners. At Lahainaluna there 
 has been established for the education of the former, 
 a higher s.eminary of learning a college, if you 
 please to dignify it with that name. But the time has 
 come when a higher seminary of learning is demanded 
 among foreigners. We have had our lesser lights of 
 learning, but now we desire a greater. The site 
 selected fur the Oahu College is, unquestionably, the 
 most favorable of any upon the Islands. A good be 
 ginning has already been made. For many years a 
 prosperous school has been there sustained. The 
 graduates of the Punahou School, scattered over 
 these Islanils and studying in the colleges of the 
 United States, by the high stand which they have 
 taken for scholarship, reflect much credit upon their 
 respective teachers, and the moral training of the In- 
 
12 
 
 stitution. Your associate has labored there long and 
 faithfully. His instruction commenced thirteen years 
 ago, when the school was established. His acknow 
 ledged classical attainments, eminently qualify him 
 for that professorship of languages, to which he 
 has been invited in the Institution. Both of you 
 enter upon your respective offices, enjoying the 
 confidence of the Trustees and this community. 
 Ere long, I trust, others will be called to share 
 with you the responsibility of instructors in the 
 College. 
 
 Under such auspices, and with an humble but firm 
 reliance upon Divine assistance, I look forward with 
 fond and pleasing anticipations. I do anticipate for 
 the Oahu College a long and bright career of useful 
 ness. I entertain ho manner of doubt that ere long, 
 classes of well-trained and highly educated young 
 men will annually go forth prepared to enter success 
 fully upon the duties of professional life, and will, by 
 their attainments in literature and science, reflect 
 honor upon their Alma Mater. 
 
 Respected Sir, allow me to pledge you and your 
 associate the cordial sympathy and support of the 
 Board of Trustees ; I feel assured that I may also 
 pledge you the fostering care of the Missionary Board, 
 which now generously appropriates funds for the 
 support of the Institution. The presence of this in 
 telligent audience inspires me with confidence that 
 you will have the sympathy of the foreign commu 
 nity. I close by expressing my earnest desire that 
 the Oahu College may never want able instructors, 
 studious pupils, wise trustees and generous friends. 
 
INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 
 
 BY 
 
 ~ 
 
 THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 It would be appropriate to an occasion like this, to 
 select some subject for discussion, aside from the or 
 dinary questions of every day life ; and, were I speak 
 ing under the inspiration of classic scenes, it might 
 be expected that I should confine myself to the con 
 sideration of classic themes. But no such inspiration 
 moves us here, and if we depart a little from the or 
 dinary routine of literary topics, no venerable halls 
 will blush at the desecration ; no august body of titled 
 dignitaries will frown upon our want of literary taste. 
 
 The enterprise which has called us together, is new. 
 We are laying the foundations of what we hope may 
 hereafter be a symmetrical structure. This, then, is 
 no time for speculative discussions ; it is, rather, a 
 time for determining our necessities, calculating our 
 power, and resolving our purposes. It is a time for 
 planning and building, not for admiring. A little 
 plain talk about our present and prospective wants 
 will be more to our purpose than any attempt at a 
 learned or literary prelection. As, in the erection of 
 the most gorgeous cathedral, there must be a time 
 for its rough work as well as for its finish, so, in this 
 beginning of our enterprise, we may properly, even 
 in our discussion, begin with the hammer and the 
 2 
 
14 
 
 trowel > the tools of the Common workman, and wait 
 till the stones are laid and the dome completed, be 
 fore we attempt to fresco its walls and tesselate its 
 pavements. 
 
 This is emphatically a business community ; you 
 are business men, and have a right to demand of him 
 who ventures to address you, a practical exposition of 
 the grounds upon which this enterprise is begun. 
 You have no time to be pleased with beautiful theories 
 and rhetorical flourishes. Omitting all these, then, 
 and passing by all those topics connected with the 
 general subject of education, which under the circum 
 stances would be peculiarly appropriate to an occa 
 sion like this, I shall proceed, at once, to the discus 
 sion of the practical question, Is a College needed at 
 these Islands ? 
 
 The education of the young being the end proposed, 
 the question before us is simply this, How can this 
 end be best accomplished? The employment of pri 
 vate tutors, in a community like this, is entirely im 
 practicable, to say nothing of the inefficiency of such 
 a mode of instruction. But two methods, then, have 
 any claim upon our consideration ; either our child 
 ren must be sent to foreign lands for their collegiate 
 education, or a college must be established and sus 
 tained among us. I propose to discuss these two 
 methods briefly, and, if it shall appear to be the wiser 
 course to transplant our sons to a foreign clime, soon 
 to be retransplanted to their native soil, let us burn 
 our charter and abandon our project, before the world 
 shall have occasion to " mock, saying, These men 
 began to build and were not able to finish ;" but if 
 not, let us gird ourselves for this work with a holy 
 purpose and an unflinching energy. I say energy; 
 for if we accomplish any thing we shall need it. In 
 
I 
 
 such a country and under such circumstances, a col 
 lege cannot spring forth, Minerva-like, panoplied for 
 the intellectual conflict ; it must grow up with the 
 increasing wants of a growing people ; it must be 
 prepared to outlive neglect, and contempt, and open 
 opposition. Obscure and humble in its beginning, it 
 must struggle up through the darkness, into the sun 
 shine of popular favor. 
 
 Let us, then, first consider the advantages of a for 
 eign education. These arise chiefly from the exist 
 ence of well endowed institutions. There the pupil 
 is placed under the ablest instructors, has access to 
 extensive libraries, and all the apparatus for scientific 
 investigation is placed within his reach. That these 
 are advantages in favor of a foreign education, cannot 
 be denied. But let us not over estimate them. Let 
 us see exactly how much each advantage is worth, 
 above what you may have here. They have able in 
 structors. And why may not you ? Is all the supe 
 rior talent of England and America already cloistered 
 in their colleges and universities ? 
 
 You are, it is true, compelled to begin your enter 
 prise under unfavorable auspices, with an ordinary, 
 unpretending teacher at its head, who can bring to 
 its support, neither the influence of titulary honors, 
 nor long experience, nor literary reputation. But 
 let it once appear that there is a demand for talent 
 here, and a field of usefulness, and you may have men 
 to fill your presidency and professorships of whom the 
 proudest university in the father-land need not be 
 ashamed. Men of ability and reputation will not be 
 wanting, when you have demonstrated the necessity 
 for them. And when you have provided the living 
 instructor a corps of teachers of extensive acpuire- 
 
 ments and possessing the true teacher's spirit you 
 
 -- ^ i; - : 
 
16 
 
 have prepared the way for overcoming all other ob 
 stacles. Where the real teacher is, there libraries, 
 and philosophical collections, and cabinets will clus 
 ter ; they belong there, and there they will fall as 
 naturally as riches fall into the hands of diligence ; 
 not all at once, but as necessity demands them. 
 
 But, to this end, your teacher must be peculiarly 
 fitted for his work. He must be a man of superior 
 ability, and varied attainments, that he may command 
 respect as well as impart instruction ; he must have 
 quick susceptibilities, to catch the varying shades of 
 thought and feeling in the youthful mind ; he must 
 have a heart in sympathy with the sympathies of 
 youth, that he may win their love : he must have a 
 soul so charged with living energy, as to start every 
 soul with which it communicates, into a new and 
 healthy activity. 
 
 It is not every learned man who is fit for a profes- 
 sorkhip. A. man may have all. the knowledge of a 
 philosopher, and the wisdom of a sage and the virtue 
 of a saint, and yet be as deaf to the sympathies of 
 youth as the plaster cast that sits above his library. 
 There are some men whose minds seem to have been 
 chiselled after the most perfect model of an intel 
 lectual statue. Virtue, and knowledge, and strength, 
 are blended in their mental organisms, in the most 
 harmonious proportions, but, for any life-giving ener 
 gy, for moulding other minds into the same beautiful 
 symmetry, they are as powerless as the unbreathing 
 marble. They are at home among the stars, or in 
 their laboratories, or among their moth-eaten folios ; 
 but they are utterly ignorant of the way into the 
 labyrinth of the youthful heart. Such men are not fit 
 for teachers. They may read learned lectures, reason 
 logically, and talk profoundly, and wise men may 
 
17 
 
 profit from their wisdom ; but they only darken coun 
 sel in the untutored youthful mind. They have pow 
 er, but it is the power of repulsion, not of attraction. 
 They awaken no dormant energy ; kindle no enthu 
 siasm ; implant no holy purpose. Among the young, 
 ardent, impulsive, changeful, confiding, with feelings 
 so delicately adjusted that the least breath of unkind- 
 ness disturbs their harmony, such a teacher is like a 
 glacier slidden down into the sunny vales of Switzer 
 land. Think, many times, before committing your 
 son to such instruction, lest, in after years, as the re 
 sult of your indiscretion, he may have to struggle 
 against embittered feelings, and a discouraged spirit. 
 
 He, only, is a true teacher, who can awaken in the 
 young mind a consciousness of its own powers, and 
 fasten there an enthusiastic determination to strive to 
 fulfil its high responsibilities. 
 
 Provide an institution with a corps of such teachers, 
 and, if necessity requires it, your library shelves will 
 not long be empty, nor your philosophical collections 
 be limited to a broken electrical battery and a 
 squeaking orrery. 
 
 This first and greatest of all your difficulties, the 
 want of suitable instructors, is, then, it appears to 
 me, .easily surmounted. Demonstrate your necessi 
 ties, demand their services, and your institution may 
 soon be officered with an able and efficient faculty. 
 
 But with all this accomplished, there may be, in 
 your minds, a practical present difficulty. Though 
 it may be true, you say, that all the apparatus of a 
 well endowed institution, will follow in the train of 
 efficient instructors, yet this will require time ; years 
 must elapse before a new institution can gather 
 around it the literary and philosophical collections 
 and the cabinets of older institutions in other lands. 
 5* 
 
18 
 
 How, meanwhile, shall our sons be educated ? This 
 is, certainly, a practical difficulty ; for, if our young 
 men are to be sent abroad till an institution can be 
 established here which shall rival those in foreign 
 lands, we shall begin to build in vain, for these young 
 men are the material upon which we depend for the 
 success of our effort. Let us, then, consider for a 
 moment, the object of a collegiate education, and see 
 whether extensive libraries and cabinets are of such 
 absolute importance, that we cannot even begin our 
 enterprise until the volumes and specimens upon our 
 shelves are reckoned by thousands. 
 
 The object of a collegiate education we believe to 
 be chiefly, mental discipline. The course of study 
 prescribed in all such institutions has a special refer 
 ence to this end. It is not to train men for law, or 
 medicine, or divinity, or natural, science ; but to 
 train mind to exact thought and independent investi 
 gation ; to teach the young man his power, and give 
 him an impulse in *a course of upward and endless 
 progression. The college is not the place for profes 
 sional or scientific study ; it is not the place, even, 
 for the acquisition of knowledge ; if it were, then we 
 should strike out of our catalogues all those severer 
 studies, and set the pupil afloat, at once, upon the 
 boundless ocean of facts and philosophical specula 
 tions. The professions and sciences are the studies 
 of life, for which the mental discipline of the college 
 course is only preparatory. Now, what course of 
 study, Jn the beginning of one's education, will en 
 sure the highest mental development ? Not philoso 
 phical speculations ; not an extensive course of read 
 ing. The young mind is not yet prepared to sift the 
 grains of truth from the pile of chaff which the press 
 of bur day heaps up before it. Study is what it 
 
19 
 
 needs ; close, severe study; and not the study of any 
 subjects, indiscriminately, but of those branches 
 which the experience of centuries has demonstrated 
 to be best adapted to strengthen the mind and de 
 velop thought. For this purpose the young student 
 needs few books. His text books and a few volumes 
 for reference are better than whole libraries besides ; 
 nay, more ; if the presence of a library leads him to 
 neglect these, it were better that it be placed beyond 
 his reach. Anc} this is not mere theory. As a mat 
 ter of fact, college students have little time for gen 
 eral reading. He who masters thoroughly the whole 
 college curriculum, will not be likely to complain of 
 a want of occupation, even though he pays few visits 
 to the college library. There is a class of students 
 denominated great readers, but, generally, they are 
 not the close and accurate scholars Too lazy to 
 grapple with the severer studies, they betake them 
 selves to miscellaneous reading ; but, if you should 
 glance at the titles of the armful of books which they 
 carry from the college library, you would rarely dis 
 cover among them the Organon or the Principia. It 
 follows, then, that extensive libraries are not of such 
 vital importance, to the under -graduates of college, as 
 might at first be supposed. 
 
 The same is true of cabinets of Natural History. 
 No faithful student has leisure even to examine such 
 cabinets minutely, much less to make them his study. 
 This is the work of a lifetime. 
 
 But upon this point let me not be misunderstood. 
 Let it not be supposed that I would underrate the 
 value of libraries and cabinets. Their worth is in 
 calculable, and no institution can long prosper with 
 out them. But I would have their uses understood. 
 They are invaluable for the professors, for authors, 
 
20 
 
 for naturalists, for every class of literary and scienti 
 fic men ; and for these they are intended. The 
 principal advantage, and almost the only one which 
 the young student derives from them, he derives in 
 directly, through the increased facilities of his in 
 structors to prepare for their work. 
 
 Hence, the libraries of a college are no criterion 
 of its scholarship. The number of volumes in Har 
 vard is nearly twice that cf Yale, and more than five 
 times that of Amherst, or Williams , but I have yet 
 to learn that there is any superiority of scholarship 
 in any one of these over the others. 
 
 If a nation must send its sons abroad to be educa 
 ted, till it can rival its sister nations in the magnifi 
 cence of its educational establishments, New England 
 should at once bar the doors of her colleges, and in 
 sist upon a universal exodus of her students to Eng 
 land, France, and Germany. But it remains. to be 
 shown that her sons have not been better educated 
 for the spheres in which they were to move, even in 
 the poorly endowed institutions, of which the learned 
 in the old world might almost say in derision, " Can 
 any good thing come out of Nazareth ?" than they 
 would have been in the more imposing universities of 
 Europe. 
 
 In these remarks, let it be distinctly understood, 
 I do not utter a syllable against libraries. I know 
 their value, and I would that every worthy institution 
 possessed one as large as the famous library of India, 
 which required a thousand camels to transport it, and 
 a hundred Brahmin's for librarians. 
 
 Nor would I say that the well furnished college 
 has no advantages over a poorly endowed institution. 
 I would even maintain that the very presence of libra 
 ries and cabinets, exerts an influence for good. They 
 
21 
 
 t , jt . . r .f t - fjA , ., rf ,v**, * ixttto' f f 
 
 inspire the student's heart with veneration for the 
 past and with hope for the future. The true scholar 
 never wanders through the alcoves and looks at those 
 silent preachers, without feeling anew enthusiasm to 
 reach some of the heights of knowledge which they 
 reveal. I would not undervalue one of these instru 
 mentalities. 
 
 But I have endeavored to show that these advan 
 tages are not of such a nature as' that the want of 
 them in the beginning of an enterprise, will prevent 
 the student from obtaining a thorough and complete 
 collegiate education. When he has finished this pre 
 paratory discipline, and has entered upon a course of 
 professional study or of scientific investigation, then 
 his business will be among libraries and cabinets. 
 
 There are two other arguments in favor of sending 
 our children abroad to be educated. It is said to be 
 cheaper. This point I shall consider in another part 
 of the discussion. Again, it is urged that our child 
 ren will be benefitted by traveling, and hence the^y 
 should be sent to the father-land for their education v 
 This argument, if good for this country, is good for 
 the United States, and England, and France, and Ger 
 many. Nor is it any more applicable here than there 
 because these islands are so small and remote, for in 
 no one place can more phases of human society be 
 founH, than in this little archipelago in the bosom of 
 the wide Pacific. 
 
 The honest, intelligent yeomanry of New England, 
 never dream of sending their sons to the schools of 
 London or Paris, because they can see more of the 
 world there than in their own retired valleys. No ; 
 they build up colleges among their own native moun 
 tains and wall them about with home influences, and 
 shut out, if they can, the wicked world with its ten 
 
22 
 
 thousand temptations, till the minds of their children 
 have grown to the stature of intellectual manhood ; 
 till they can guage the depths of hollow-hearted hy 
 pocrisy, and look beneath the tinsel of fashionable 
 folly, and unravel the subtleties of infidel sophistry, 
 and scorn the sneers of genteel immorality. 
 
 As to the advantages of traveling in foreign lands, 
 there can be but one opinion. Whether your child 
 ren will enjoy them or not, will generally be only a 
 question of pecuniary ability. Every one of your 
 children, if possible, should see some part of the 
 world besides Hawaii nei. The whole civilized world 
 is astir in this age of steam, and he who would not 
 fall in the rear must be astir with it. Nothing but 
 the want of means, prevents more than one of us from 
 studying nature among the Alps, and art in the cathe 
 drals and galleries of Europe, and men the wide 
 world over. We should rejoice to stand upon the 
 shores of England, and see humble life in her cottage 
 homes, and high life in her ancestral mansions and 
 royal palaces ; to look upon her verdant fields and 
 u scent the hawthorn in its April bloom ;" to study 
 the past on her battle-fields and among her grey old 
 castles ; to divine the future by the blaze of her forge 
 fires, and the rattling of her thousand looms, and the 
 splendor of her crystal palaces. We should love to 
 breathe anew the air of religious freedom among the 
 glens of Scotland, and see the end of feudal pride in 
 the crumbling castles of the Rhine ; to read the ful 
 filment of prophecy among the desolations of Mount 
 Sion, in the buried cities of Chaldea, and among the 
 ruins of Egypt, whose thousand cities are wasted and 
 desolate. 
 
 uch I hope may be the privilege of many of your 
 sons and daughters. But at what age shall your 
 
23 
 
 i ' i * r% f -f i * 
 
 children be thus cast among strangers ? When will 
 they be likely to be profited by seeing the world ? 
 Not while the mind is yet in its boyhood, knowing 
 nothing beforehand of the scenes among which it 
 moves, and too little disciplined to profit by their in 
 structions. 
 
 Do you expect the lad, who can not even tell how 
 the bow is painted " on the bended heavens," to be 
 able to interpret the ten thousand phenomena of the 
 world of nature into which you would send him ? 
 Shall he who has not yet studied the first principles of 
 human government, be expected to form any just es 
 timate of the great principles which control the move 
 ments of civil society ? Can he who hardly under 
 stands the conventionalities of the home circle, be 
 suddenly transferred to the gay world, so full of fash 
 ionable formalities, and form unprejudiced views of 
 social life ? Will he not be likely to be dazzled by 
 the glitter of its outside show> or be repelled by it's 
 hollow heartedness ? It is not strange that so many 
 are lost in the whirlpool of popular pleasure. It is 
 strange that any such escape. Cast out into the 
 world at an age when they have not yet learned the 
 deception of their own hearts nor the motives of their 
 own actions; with little knowledge and less judg 
 ment ; with youthful passions all unsubdued; what 
 but Omnipotence can save them from the paths of the 
 destroyer ? Against such a course, we protest, in the 
 name of these youth for whom we have cherished and 
 still do cherish high hopes for the future. Send them 
 not out to gather wisdom on the battle field of the 
 world with no armor on. Let them not go to be the 
 victims of their own impulses, or the dupes of design 
 ing villains. Keep them, if possible, from all such 
 dangers till reason takes the place of impulse ; till 
 
24 
 
 the mind is disciplined, and the judgment matured, 
 and the heart sanctified; then let them go forth and 
 gather knowledge everywhere, and their minds will 
 grow stronger and their hearts better, by their con 
 flicts with eviL 
 
 Thus far we have considered only the advantages 
 of educating our children abroad, and, if our reason 
 ing is correct, these are, comparatively, unimportant. 
 Let us now consider, for a few moments, the advan 
 tages of educating them here. 
 
 The first and most obvious reason why we should 
 have a school of as high a grade as possible among 
 us, is that it will develop the mental resources of the 
 country. I would erect a college on Oahu for the 
 same reason that I would manufacture sugar on 
 Hawaii, or raise wheat at Makawao. Every consid 
 eration which favors the development of a nation's 
 physical resources, applies with tenfold force to the 
 development of mind. Mental and moral power, 
 and not money, is the real standard of a nation's 
 strength. These, too, are a nation's glory ; they 
 give frfer a name and influence, even alter the fabric 
 of her nationality has gone to decay. Nineveh and 
 Babylon, " the glory of kingdoms," " the pride of 
 the Chaldee's excellency," perished, and left no 
 trace of their former magnificence, but huge piles of 
 mouldering ruins, which the sands of the desert have 
 covered for ages. Greece and Rome perished, but 
 they will outlive the ruins of their material grandeur, 
 in the eloquence of their orators and the epics of 
 their bards. 
 
 Mind controls the agencies of the material world for 
 the progress of human society. Intellect, quickened 
 into action under the guidance of Christianity, has 
 wrought out a civilization for the world. What but 
 
25 
 
 educated mind builds railroads, and telegraphs, and 
 steamships, and fills a land with happy homes ? 
 The surest way to bring wealth into any country, is 
 to enlighten the people. Ignorance cannot develop 
 even the physical resources of a nation ; it has few 
 incentives to effort, nor does it know how to use its 
 advantages. It requires the appliances of science 
 and art to purloin the hidden riches of nature. But, 
 in any country where man can live, intelligence will 
 find sources of wealth. If the land be sterile, it will 
 blast money from the rocks, or fish it from the rivers. 
 
 A high degree of intelligence in any community is 
 a sure index of worldly prosperity. Eut the surest 
 way to develop the mental resources of a country is 
 to bring the means of mental discipline into the. midst 
 of the people. Many will avail themselves of its ad 
 vantages, when brought to their very doors, who 
 would never cross oceans to seek for it. A. few will 
 be educated, at any sacrifice, whether you educate 
 them here or not ; but the many will turn aside in 
 the harvest-time of youth, unless you bring the means 
 of a superior education directly in their way ; nay, 
 more, urge it upon their acceptance. It is not 
 enough that those few be educated. Upon this 
 point I feel that I cannot speak too strongly. I say, 
 it is not enough that those few be educated. Every 
 young man, and every young woman, too, should be 
 educated to the fullest possible extent, limited only 
 by the parent's pecuniary ability. Says the celebra 
 ted John Sergeant, " Every parent who has it in his 
 power, is in duty bound to give his child a collegiate 
 education, unless he can give him a better ." 
 
 " But my son is not to be a minister, nor a doctor, 
 nor a lawyer. " Well ; will you therefore leave his 
 mind in the darkness of ignorance ? Shall he grope 
 3 
 
26 
 
 his way along among the canaille of society, because 
 you have doomed him to a mental blindness? Will 
 you consign your son or daughter to the companion 
 ship of ignorance, when they might rank with the 
 wise and the honored r Because a young man is to 
 be a mechanic must he therefore be a hewer of tim 
 ber and a dauber in mortar, when he might be an 
 architect ? Because your son is to be a tradesman, 
 will you train him to be a petty trafficker in tape and 
 needles, when he might be a prince among the lords 
 of commerce ? 
 
 But it is said that a liberal education unfits a man 
 for business. _ If by this it is meant that your child 
 whom you had selected for some handicraft, but 
 whom God intended for a higher mission, has felt 
 the kindlings of a, higher nature within him, and Is 
 no longer willing to bend to the drudgery of honest 
 but ignorant toil, while there are laurels to be won 
 in the fields of science, or souls to be Won to the do 
 minion of Christ, it is true ; he is unfit for the busi 
 ness for which you intended him, because he has 
 found a capacity within him for a business infinitely 
 above it. But if it is meant that knowledge and 
 mental discipline unfit a man for the duties of life, I 
 say no ! no ! If so, then put out the lamp of science, 
 seal the fountains of knowledge, burn your libraries, 
 disband your schools, put an interdict upon thought, 
 and enthrone ignorance in the citadel of the soul. 
 Again I say no ! Knowledge does not unfit a man 
 for the practical duties of life ; not even to buy, and 
 sell, and get again. If your children are to be mere 
 servants, going and coming at another's bidding, 
 puppets, moved by the strings of another's intellect, 
 let them be ignorant ; nothing could fit them better 
 for such a service. But why should those who are 
 
27 
 
 able to educate their children, covet for them such a 
 life of intellectual servitude ? There are enough to 
 fill those ranks whom absolute necessity compels to 
 a life of comparative ignorance. 
 
 It is a very common idea that those who are- in 
 tended for the learned professions, should receive a 
 thorough education, while those in-tended for the 
 more active pursuits do not need it. But why 
 should one rejoice in the joy of expanding faculties, 
 and have a thousand avenues of pleasure opened 
 up to his soul, while the other is doomed tt> a life of 
 comparative mental stupidity, and forced to find en 
 joyment in the paths of sensual pleasure ? .Why this 
 difference ? Is it because the duties of the one re 
 quire so much more mental power than those of the 
 other ? I am not willing to accept the statement 
 thus. It is not a small mind thai can plan and carry 
 out successfully, the details of an extensive manufac 
 turing, or a mercantile, or monetary establishment. 
 It is not ignorance that can trace the intricacies of 
 business, and calculate the probable result of great 
 public or private enterprises. I vv^ulcl do honor to 
 the lords of commerce, and agriculture, and art. 
 They are not to be ranked among mean men. True, 
 many of them have attained distinction without the 
 aid of the specific mental discipline for which we 
 contend, by the native force of their own characters. 
 And so have many in the learned professions risen 
 to eminence by their own unaided efforts ; but thou 
 sands more have attained an equal rank, who would 
 never have risen above the common level, but for 
 this preparatory training. Why would it not be thus 
 in the pursuit of active life ? 
 
 But it is sometimes asked, Why should a young 
 man study those things which he never intends to 
 
28 
 
 use, and which, perhaps, he may forget, the moment 
 he enters upon active life ? For the same reason 
 that a boy takes food, to strengthen and nourish him 
 that he may grow to the stature of a perfect man. 
 Some men who would be shocked at the very iJea of 
 only half feeding their children lest they should grow 
 up with bodies dwarfed or diseased, will starve their 
 minds by withholding from them that knowledge 
 upon which alone their minds can grow. The mind 
 can no more become strong and vigorous without 
 being properly fed, than the body. The man may 
 forget that knowledge which has given him mental 
 vigor, just as he may forget upon what meats he fed; 
 but he will ever be conscious of the power which he 
 derived from it. A man's mental power, other 
 things being equal, will be in the direct ratio of his 
 mental training. The more practical the studies 
 from which he derives the discipline, the better, if 
 the discipline is as good ; but the training he must 
 have from some source, or toddle through life, an in 
 tellectual dwarf. 
 
 If these things are so, those parents pursue a 
 policy fatal to the highest welfare of their children, 
 who take them early from the means of instruction, 
 and put them in the shop, or behind the counter, 
 unless necessity compels them to such a course. 
 By so doing they doom them to a life of mental im 
 becility, and to an unenviable mediocrity in their 
 profession. They never .will, they never can rise 
 above it, unless gifted with that transcendent genius 
 which makes a man superior to circumstances. 
 
 There is another question which is sometimes 
 asked. Parents have sometimes ?aid to me, " Do 
 you think it will pay to educate my son P Isn't he 
 rather dull and unpromising ?" Pay ? Will it pay 
 
29 
 
 to train your son to be a man f Will it pay to fit 
 him to enjoy life's pleasures and endure life's trials ? 
 What do such parents mean ? Because the eyes of 
 their child's mental vision are feeble, will they close 
 them utterly with the weight of ignorance ? Because 
 his mind is weak will they consign it to a hopeless 
 imbecility ? Does a parent ever so deal with his 
 child's physical nature ? Because one son is strong 
 and "another weak, does h@ feed and clothe and dis 
 cipline the strong with all a parent's wisdom and 
 gentleness, and leave the feeble one to pine away in 
 his weakness, or to struggle along under the double 
 weight of disease and neglect ? Does he not rather 
 feel himself under greater obligation to care for the 
 weakly one, sparing no expense to overcome his in 
 firmities and give him a strong and vigorous bodj. 
 Why then should he neglect to educate the mind be 
 cause it is dull or feeble. Is a child's physical 
 nature so far superior to his mental, that the weak 
 ness of the one calls for increased diligence in its 
 development, while the weakness of the other is onlj 
 an occasion for leaving it to grow up in neglect, to 
 struggle as best it can, unaided, against its in 
 firmities ? 
 
 But suppose it were shown that law and divinity 
 require more mental culture than science and art ; 
 it does not therefore follow that the highest possible 
 discipline compatible with necessary duty, should 
 not be given to each. Each profession, and eack 
 department of business requires a specific prepara 
 tion ; but besides all these, and above all these, is 
 that preparation which fits man for life\ for compan 
 ionship with man. Each man has duties to per 
 form as a member of society ; as a parent, * 
 brother, a friend ; to sympathize with suffering ; 
 3* 
 
30 
 
 to relieve distress ; to aid in carrying out these 
 grand schemes of benevolence whose field is the 
 world ; to do battle in the cause of human freedom. 
 These are the duties of life. From these none have 
 a right to excuse themselves. They are higher 
 duties than professions and trades. What else is a 
 man's business for but to enable him better to dis 
 charge these higher duties ? Is it to heap up 
 wealth, to gratify an insatiable thirst for gold ? No; 
 leave that to the miser, wrapped in the rags of his 
 consuming avarice. Men do not live that they may 
 follow their profession ; they follow their professions 
 that they may the better live. 
 
 When a man makes his trade the end of his labors, 
 instead of a means to a higher end, he stoops from 
 the high dignity of his manhood ; he degrades the 
 faculties with which his Maker has endowed him. 
 
 Above manual labor, then, above trades, above 
 professions, is this broad field of mutual relations 
 and mutual obligations, involving the highest in 
 terests of society, and requiring the noblest powers 
 of mind and heart. It is to stand upon this high 
 common ground that I would have all educated. 
 The merchant and the artizan are under the same 
 obligations to fit themselves for the discharge of the 
 duties in these the highest of all relations in life, 
 as the lawyer and the divine. To meet these obli 
 gations requires knowledge, and mental power, and 
 a refined taste ; a cultivated intellect and a cultiva 
 ted heart ; it needs an ' education which reaches 
 farther than the treadmill of one's profession. 
 
 But there is another reason why I would urge 
 every one who has it in his power to give his children 
 a liberal education. Each of those children has a 
 mind capable of unlimited expansion upward towards 
 
31 
 
 the true, the beautiful, the good. But the tendency 
 is downward, towards sensuality, and the forces of 
 evil are ceaselessly active to draw it still lower. The 
 mind itself too, is ceaselessly active, and, if it has 
 no higher incentive*, it will expend its energies upon 
 what is low and degrading. The young man who 
 has not learned to find pleasure in cultivating the 
 higher faculties of his mind, will yield to his lower 
 propensities. 
 
 Every young man has leisure from the cares of 
 business ; times when he seeks companionship as a 
 relief from toil. Then, if he is not prepared by pre 
 vious education for the society of the wise and good, 
 he will be driven, of necessity, to the company of 
 the low and vicious. Every young person finds 
 some time for reading, in this age of books. Now, 
 if the mind has not been trained by severe discip 
 line, to a love for the noble truths of the higher de 
 partments of literature and science, it will gorge 
 itself with the filthy trash of what is popularly term 
 ed light literature. Good men lament this deluge of 
 vile stuff that is sweeping over the civilized world, 
 and they -gravely advise the young man to let it 
 alone. But the young man, and young woman too, 
 will read ; and they will read just that for which 
 their minds are fitted. You might as well advise 
 them to spend an hour after dinner over Greek or 
 Sanscrit, as to ask them to lay aside their novel for a 
 work of literary or scientific merit, when they have 
 had no education which gave them a relish for such 
 pursuits. Would you keep your children from the 
 companionship of the low and vile ? Then fit them 
 for a higher companionship. Would you keep them 
 from inhaling the infection of a diseased literature t 
 Then forestall their minds with something better. 
 
32 
 
 Unseal for them the fountain of knowledge ; let them 
 drink its inspiring waters, and they will rarely thirst 
 for the slimy pool of pollution Open to them the 
 temple of learning ; let them tread its courts and 
 inscribe their names upon its tablets, and they will 
 rarety turn away to the haunts of vice and degrada 
 tion. 
 
 But there is a higher reason than these why your 
 children should be educated. God requires it. He 
 requires that men should love him with all the heart, 
 and with all the soul, and with all the mind; not 
 with a mind that is suffered to run to waste, untaught, 
 undeveloped ; but with a mind trained and fitted for 
 his service. By so much, then, as an educated man 
 can be more efficient in his Master's service, by so 
 much are you under imperative obligations to give 
 your children the best education possible. 
 
 The nature of the mind itself requires it. It was 
 made to know and to take delight in knowing ; to 
 form noble conceptions of God and his works ; to 
 drink in joy from every source of knowledge ; to 
 rise above passion, and impulse, and sensuality ; to 
 make some progress towards that perfection which is 
 its birthright. 
 
 Give your children such an education then, urge it 
 upon their acceptance ; they will bless you for it in 
 after years. It will be a richer and more enduring 
 inheritance than lands, or houses, or gold. Let us 
 bring the means of such an education into our very 
 midst, " that our sons may be as plants grown up in 
 their youth ; that our daughters may be as corner 
 stones, polished after the similitude of a palace." 
 
 I have dwelt long upon the importance of develop 
 ing the mental resources of the country, because I deem 
 it of the first importance in this discussion. I now 
 
33 
 
 proceed to argue that a college is needed here be* 
 cause, for the highest good of a country, its mental re 
 sources must be developed within itself, and, as far us 
 possible, by its own agencies. 
 
 The literary institutions of a country have a 
 greater influence in determining the character of- a 
 people than any other agency, except, perhaps, its 
 religion. To sustain such an institution calls into 
 exercise the best energies of the people. The 
 planter, and the merchant, as well as the man of 
 letters, all feel a personal interest in it, such as they 
 would never feel for a similar institution over the 
 waters ; and they think about it, and labor for it. 
 Thus their own energies are quickened, and new zeal 
 is awakened in the cause of education. Then there 
 will go out from the institution itself an influence to 
 purify and to bless. If it is what it should be, it 
 will give character to the literary taste of the com 
 munity ; it will elevate the standard of intellectual 
 attainment ; it will wake up the minds of the people; 
 and this thought, quickened into action, will give a 
 steady impulse to every enterprise. 
 
 No community can long maintain a high standard of 
 intellectual culture and refinement, while it neglects 
 the means which alone can keep that standard ele 
 vated. Having no fountain of intellectual life within 
 itself, the intellect that is there soon becomes stag 
 nant. It is not enough that a few fresh drops from 
 another land should be scattered into that pool of 
 stagnant thought, for the pool will be stagnant still. 
 No ; there must be a pure, fresh, overflowing foun 
 tain, bubbling up in the very midst of the waters, send 
 ing its thousand little life-giving streams all over the 
 land. It is not enough for a country that there are 
 great minds in it ; they must have been produced 
 
34 
 
 and educated there. The development of great 
 minds requires the operation of innumerable agen 
 cies, without the existence of which, the presence of 
 such minds is of comparatively little value. The 
 Mississippi is a prince among the rivers ; but what 
 would it be worth to that luxuriant valley through 
 which it flows if it were not formed there ? If those 
 countless smaller streams which pour each a tribute 
 into its bosom, thus swelling it to such grand pro 
 portions, were all dried up, turning the fertile valleys 
 into barren wastes, and the smiling praries into 
 deserts, what would it avail if the river could still 
 flow on ? Where would be the cities which are now 
 springing up along its shores ? Where the com 
 merce which now borders its waters? 
 
 Again, in a pecuniary point of view, the establish 
 ment of a college here would be profitable. The 
 reputation of a community abroad will depend upon 
 its character at home, and the reputation of a country 
 like this has much to do with its prosperity. For 
 some time to come, foreign capital must be attracted 
 hither to develop the resources of the country. 
 Now, business men, in choosing a home for their 
 families, are not always guided solely by pecuniary 
 motives. Other things being equal, they prefer a 
 home among a refined and intelligent people, where 
 the facilities for education are provided on a liberal 
 scale. Everything, then, which elevates the stand 
 ard of intelligence among us, will do much towards 
 attracting hither a virtuous and intelligent commu 
 nity, and by so much will enhance the value of each 
 man's property. Permanent institutions give perma 
 nency to society upon which the value of pro 
 perty depends. When, then, it is said to be cheaper 
 to educate our children abroad than at home, I 
 
35 
 
 answer, even if it could be shown, which is doubtful 
 that the present expense is a few dollars less, it is 
 not cheaper in the end ; for, while you send your 
 children abroad, you hinder the establishment of 
 such institutions as give tone to society and perma 
 nency to the value of property. 
 
 Again, an educational establishment of a high 
 order is peculiarly needed here to give tone to society. 
 The elements of which society here is composed are 
 very various. England, and America, and France, 
 and Germany, and China,' and almost all the civilized 
 nations have their representatives in this community. 
 Each brings his national peculiarities. These do 
 not readily coalesse. Hence that want of unity and 
 harmony of feeling and action which so characterizes 
 society, and which is so fatal to the best interests of 
 social life Why, then, should not society here take 
 its tone from its own institutions ? Why should it 
 not have its own nationality, springing from the edu 
 cation of its children within its own borders? 
 Nothing less than this can harmonize the conflicting 
 elements of which society here is composed. 
 
 Many other considerations urge themselves upon 
 our attention, but the limits of our address will not 
 admit of their discussion. There is one point, how 
 ever, which though we have hinted at it before, from 
 its importance, demands a separate consideration. I 
 would have a college here that our sons may be educa 
 ted, as far as possible, under a home influence and a pa 
 rental guidance. Upon this point, 1 am aware that I 
 shall not have the sympathies of all who hear me. It 
 is the fashion of the age to break away early from the 
 restraints of home. The young man of fifteen years 
 who has not the independence to disobey his mother, 
 is laughed at for his effeminacy. In some circles it is 
 
36 
 
 not manly to hear the instruction of a father, and 
 obey the law of a mother. I know how the young 
 man feels. He is impatient of restraint. He longs 
 to be free ; to think for himself ; to act for himself ; 
 to spend money for himself. He feels secure in his 
 own strength. He listens respectfully to your part 
 ing counsel, but his inward thought is, " Just as 
 though t could't take care of myself !" And I know 
 there are those who talk confidently of the fearless 
 ness of the young and manly heart. Set him afloat, 
 they say. Let him pilot his own boat through the 
 channels of life ; let him battle alone with the tem 
 pests of passion, and struggle alone in the mael 
 stroms of temptation ; let the storms of adversity 
 beat upon him, till he has learned how to suffer and 
 be strong. 
 
 But I will venture to suggest, in opposition to 
 such sentiments, that it is better that your children 
 be educated, as far as possible, under a home influ 
 ence. Do not understand me to argue that they 
 should be cloistered in your nurseries, for fear of 
 their coming in contact with the wicked world ; we 
 only ask that they may not be sent out into the world 
 of strangers, away from your influence and guidance, 
 where they can have no counsellor in the time of 
 danger ; no near friend in the time of trouble. 
 
 I know the young man must go forth at some time ; 
 and the question is sometimes asked, "When will 
 he be prepared to leave home, if not when he is 
 fitted for college ?" At exactly what age no 
 fixed rule can determine. Maturity comes earlier to 
 some than to others. But there is a period in the 
 life of almost every young man when, more than at 
 any other time, he needs such restraint and guidance 
 as none but a parent can give. In those few years 
 
37 
 
 between boyhood and manhood, the seal is generally 
 set upon his character. As a general rule, this 
 period includes the few years of college life. There 
 are some whose minds are developed and whose 
 character is determined^ sooner ; but generally this 
 is the most critical portion of a young man's life. 
 Then, above all other times; he needs to be within 
 your reach ; then he needs a father's wise counsel 
 and a mother's gentle admonition. I know the 
 young man does not think so. He feels confi 
 dent in his own strength, and there is his danger. 
 If he felt his weakness you could trust him better. 
 
 Send such a young man into a land of strangers, 
 never, for years, to feel the refining influences of 
 home, of a father's counsel, a mother's love, a sister's 
 caresses, and you stake his future hopes on a fearful 
 risk. He may be ambitious to excel, and your heart 
 may swell with parental pride as you hear of the 
 laurels he has won ; but how will your pride be 
 turned to grief when you see that the brow which 
 wears the laurels is stamped with disease ! He may 
 have a noble, generous, unsuspecting heart. How 
 soon covert temptation will poison the fountains of 
 generous impulses in such a heart ! He may have 
 strong passions. How soon will he be hurried away 
 into the paths of sin ! He goes forth strong in the 
 consciousness of rectitude, but only to return in 
 shame. Oh ! how bitter the mother's tears over her 
 wayward son ! and the father's grief how much too 
 deep for utterance! Your son may have a heart full of 
 gentleness, of delicately strong chords of affection . 
 Will you throw him into the rough world to struggle 
 alone against its heartlessness, till every tender tie is 
 sundered ; every kindly feeling and holy affection 
 smothered ? 
 4 
 
38 
 
 I know there are those who would harden the 
 heart against these delicate affections ; but why will 
 you tear away the only link that binds the soul to 
 heaven ? Why make the heart all gross, and selfish, 
 and earthly ? Why stop the ear to the only harmony 
 that breathes among the discords of life ? 
 
 I know the young man may meet all these dangers, 
 and yet escape ; but I know, too, that they may pro 
 duce effects upon his character, which, even if not 
 fatal now " will come back in the after years, strong, 
 and steady, and terrible." 
 
 Let him be educated, then, if possible, under pa 
 rental guidance. Let him not be shut out, alto 
 gether from the refining influences of his early home, 
 till the seal of manhood is upon him. 
 
 These are a few of the more obvious reasons why 
 it seems to me expedient to establish a college upon 
 these islands. Intimately connected with this sub 
 ject is another, The kind of a college needed here. 
 Upon this I had intended to offer a few suggestions, 
 this evening, but my remarks have already exceeded 
 the limits assigned them, and I forbear. 
 
 If the thoughts suggested are founded upon truth, 
 let us make them the basis of action. If our necessi 
 ties are such as would appear from these considera 
 tions, let us engage in this enterprise with zeal, 
 trusting in Him who alone can guide us. Let us 
 open in our very midst a fountain of intellectual life, 
 and bring our children to drink of its healing waters. 
 Let us build a temple where learning may be en 
 shrined ; on whose altar art, and literature, and re 
 ligion may lay their holiest offerings. 
 

 APPENDIX. 
 
 TB-HI dfif.liftjg 
 
 .itortuJOani oU -0 
 
 Extracts from the Minutes of the Board of Trus 
 tees, in Relation to the Election of President 
 Beckwith. 
 
 At a meeting of the Trustees, on the 13th August, after 
 the reading of Dr. Anderson's letter of June 13th, 1854, urg 
 ing the importance of a college at Punahou, but stating that a 
 suitable person had not yet been found by the Am. Board 
 to become its President, it was unanimously, 
 
 Resolved, " That the Trustees of the Oahu College, do 
 hereby extend to Edward G. Beckwith, Esq., a cordial invita 
 tion to become President of that institution/' 
 
 It was also voted, that Messrs. Clark, Smith and Damon, 
 be a committee to wait on Mr. Beckwith and communicate 
 to him the above resolution. 
 
 At an adjourned meeting on the 21st of August, the com 
 mittee above named, reported that they had performed their 
 duty, and submitted the following letter, as Mr. Beckwith's 
 reply ; 
 
 Honolulu, Aug. 21st, 1854. 
 
 GENTLEMEN: The resolution of the Trustees of the Oahu 
 College presented to me by you, at a conference held on Sa 
 turday, the 19th inst., extending to me " a cordial invitation to 
 become the President of that institution ," has received a 
 careful and prayerful consideration. I hereby signify my ac 
 ceptance of the same, and my willingness to labor in that capa 
 city so long as the cause of education and religion may be 
 thereby promoted, and until the wants of the institution shall 
 require an abler man at its head ; provided only that inasmuch 
 as the laws and regulations of the institution have not yet been 
 
40 
 
 made, this acceptance is not to be considered as final, until 
 the following conditions are satisfactorily settled : 
 
 1. That the duties and obligations of tke President be 
 specified. 
 
 2. That the terms of admission to the institution be fixed, 
 and the course of study be prescribed. 
 
 3. That specific regulations be made for the government 
 of the institution. 
 
 4. That the salary of the President be determined. 
 
 5. That the Trustees pledge themselves to ask me to resign 
 whenever, in their opinion, the interests of the institution 
 would thereby be promoted. 
 
 6. That it be distinctly understood by the Trustees, that 
 the circumstances under which the enterprise is entered u^c . 
 compel me to regard my efforts for the present, only as u 
 trial ; and if it shall appear that there are elements in the in 
 stitution, which are a hindrance to its success, that I reserve to 
 myself the privilege of resigning, after due notice. 
 
 Your humble servant, 
 
 E. G. BECKWITH. 
 To MESSRS. CLARK, SMITH AND DAMON, 
 
 Committee of Trustees of Oahu College. 
 
 It was voted, That the conditions specified in Mr. Beck- 
 with's letter be complied with ; and that he be requested to 
 commence his labors in the institution as soon as convenient. 
 
 It was also voted, " That a committee be appointed to 
 draw up a set of rules and regulations for the college, to be 
 submitted to an adjourned meeting of the Trustees." 
 
 At an adjourned meeting on the 20th August, the com 
 mittee above named reported a set of "laws and by-laws" 
 which were considered, amended and adopted, and ordered 
 to be printed for private use. 
 
 A committee was also appointed 10 prepare a Prospectus of 
 the institution for publication. 
 
 The President elect was requested to deliver an inaugural 
 address in the court house in Honolulu, and a committee was 
 
41 
 
 appointed to arrange the necessary formalities for his induc 
 tion to office at the same time. 
 
 At a meeting of the Trustees, September 28th, it was 
 voted, " That the iuauguial address of President Beck with, 
 together with the other addresses delivered in connexion 
 therewith, be published in pamphlet form ; also the charter of 
 the college, and the proceedings of the Trustees in relation to 
 the late new arrangements. 
 
 CHARTER OF OAKU COLLEGE. 
 
 Whereas, E. W. CLARK, S. N. CASTLE, A. THURSTON and 
 others, associated under the name of " THE PUNAHOU 
 SCHOOL," on the island of Oahu, ha\e petitioned that said 
 school may be converted into a College, with the customary 
 chartered powers and privileges, for the training of youth in 
 the various branches of a Christian education, teaching them 
 sound and useful knowledge : 
 
 Therefore be it known to all whom it may concern : 
 1. That in accordance with powers vested in me by Section 
 2nd, of the General Provisions of the lirst part of the " Act 
 to Organize the Executive Departments," I have constituted, 
 and "do hereby constitute, E. W. CLARK, S. N. CASTLE, 
 A. THURSTON, S. C. DAMON, L. LYONS, D. BALDWIN, H. R. 
 HITCHCOCK, W. P. ALEXANDER, D. B. LYMAN, L. SMITH, 
 R. ARMSTRONG and G. B. ROWELL, now residents of these 
 Islands, a corporate body by the name of " The Trustees of 
 the Punahou School and Oahu College" and by that name 
 they may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, appear, 
 prosecute and defend to final judgment and execution ; and, 
 in their corporate capacity, they may take, receive, have and 
 hold, lands, tenements, hereditaments, or personal estate, by 
 gift, grant, or otherwise, for the benefit of said Institution, 
 not exceeding the yearly value or income of thirty thousand 
 dollars, and they may also exchange or convey property ; 
 only provided, that all the property aforesaid, with all its pro- 
 4* 
 
42 
 
 ceeds, be faithfully appropriated by the Trustees, to the pur 
 pose and object of the Institution, as set forth in the Pre 
 amble to this instrument, and not otherwise. 
 
 2. Be it hereby further known, that two of the members of 
 this Corporation, successively, shall go out of office every 
 year; eligible, however, to re-appointment, taking their names 
 in the order in which they are recorded in this Charter, and 
 reckoning from the date of the first meeting of the Corpora 
 tion ; and that the Corporation hereby constituted, shall have 
 a perpetual succession of members, to be elected by said 
 Corporation, from time to time, as vacancies may occur, with 
 power to elect a Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer of 
 said Corporation, and any other officers they may deem neces 
 sary, and to declare the tenure of their respective offices ; to 
 remove any Trustee from the Corporation, whom they may 
 find incapable of discharging the duties of his office, or habitu 
 ally negligent of the same ; to elect a President, Professors, 
 and all other officers of instruction and government in said 
 College, and to declare the tenure of their respective offices ; 
 to determine their respective clulies, salaries, emoluments and 
 responsibilities, and to remove them from office at any time r 
 for good and sufficient cause ; to fix the times and places of 
 meeting of said Corporation, and the manner of notifying the 
 same ; to make and ordain such Bye-Laws, as they may deem 
 expedient, for the government and well-being of said Col 
 lege and of said Corporation, not repugnant to the laws of 
 this Kingdom ; to provide and maintain all needful and suitable 
 College buildings ; to determine the course of instruction in 
 said College, superintend the discipline and government there 
 of, and confer the usual collegia te honors arid degrees ; and to 
 have a common seal, and all other powers and attributes usu 
 ally belonging to such institutions. And the President of said 
 College, for the time being, shall, by virtue of his office, be a 
 member of said Corporation and President of the same. 
 
 3. Be it hereby further known, that the number of said 
 Trustees shall never be less than nine, nor more than thir 
 teen, including the President of the College ; a majority of 
 whom, for the time being, shall constitute a quorum lor the 
 transaction of any business. And whenever a vacancy shall 
 
43 
 
 occur in said Corporation, it shall be the duty of che Trustees 
 to fill the same with all reasonable and convenient dispatch. 
 And every new election shall be immediately made known to 
 the Prudential Committee of the American Board of Commis 
 sioners for Foreign Missions, and be subject to their approval 
 or rejection, and this power of revision shall be continued to the 
 American Board, for twenty years from the date of this 
 Charter. 
 
 4. Be it hereby further known, that the Treasurer of said 
 Corporation, shall give bond to the same, with responsible 
 and approved sureties in a sufficient sum, conditioned for the 
 responsible and faithful discharge of his office, and he shall, 
 annually, or oftener, if required, render a full and correct ac 
 count of his doings therein ; and he may be required to give 
 new bonds whenever the Corporation shall deem it expedient, 
 and, at the expiration of his office, shnll deliver over to his 
 successor, or such other person as the Corporation shall ap 
 point, -all the books and papers belonging to his office, and all 
 other property of the Corporation in his hands, or under his 
 control. 
 
 5. Be it hereby further known, that the three Trustees first 
 named, or any two of them, may call the first meeting of the 
 Corporation, by personal notice in writing to each member, at 
 least seven days beforehand, stati; g the time and place of 
 said meeting; at which the Trustees may agree upon, and es 
 tablish the mode of calling future meetings', and may transact 
 any other business deemed necessary to the complete organi 
 zation of said Corporation and the future government of the 
 same. 
 
 6. Be it hereby further known, that, as the object of the 
 Institution is u the training of youth in the various branches 
 of a Christian education" and, as it is reasonable that the 
 Christian education should be in conformity to the general 
 views of the founders and patrons of the Institution, no course 
 of instruction shall be deemed lawful in said Institution, 
 which is not accordant with the principles of Protestant 
 Evangelical Christianity, as held by that body of Protestant 
 Christians, in the Uuited States of America, which originated 
 the Christian Mission to these Islands, and to whose labors 
 
44 
 
 and benevolent contributions, the people of these Islands are so 
 
 greatly indebted. 
 
 C } Given under my hand and the Seal of 
 
 < L. S. > the Interior Department, this twenty-third 
 ( ) day of May, A. D., 1853. 
 
 KEON1 ANA. 
 
 PROSPECTUS OF OAHU COLLEGE. 
 
 More than a year ago, a charter was secured for a college 
 at Punahou. The Trustees have since been seeking for a 
 President to take charge of the institution. They are happy 
 to announce that they have now secured, for this post, the 
 services of Mr. E. G. Beck with', for some time past, Principal 
 of the Royal School. His experience and success as a teacher, 
 and his eminent qualifications for this post, will secure, we 
 have no doubt, the public favor for the institution. 
 
 The President will, for the present, instruct in Mathema 
 tics, the Natural Sciences, English Literature and Intellectual 
 Philosophy. 
 
 Rev. Mr. Dole, Professor of Languages, will instruct in the 
 Ancient and Modern Languages, Geography, History and 
 Moral Philosophy. 
 
 The Trustees deem it proper to state, that they do not 
 hold out before the community the idea of a liberally endowed 
 institution, with a full corps of Professors. The college is 
 now in its infancy, without endowments, having only the 
 pledge of being sustained till enlightened arid Christian people 
 in this and other lands, shall appreciate the necessity of such 
 an institution here, and shall supply its wants, or till time shall 
 demonstrate its inutillity. 
 
 It is probable that for several years the number of students 
 will be small. It is not expected that any class will present 
 themselves for admission to the collegiate department for 
 several months, though arrangements have been made to com 
 mence a class as soon as any are prepared to enter. Mean 
 while, the preparatory department will be organized with spe 
 cial reference to the future wants of the college. 
 
45 
 
 The following Prospectus has been prepared for the infor 
 mation of all who may feel an interest in the institution. 
 
 This institution is located at Punahou, two miles from 
 Honolulu. 
 
 The laws of the institution are intended to accomplish, as 
 far as possible, the following objects : 
 
 1. To enable a student to pursue any single course which 
 may be thought to be for his advantage. 
 
 2. To enable a student to pursue, for a single term, a 
 single year, or any greater length of time, such studies as his 
 parent or guardian, in consultation with the Faculty, may be 
 lieve to be for his advantage. 
 
 3. To allow students who are candidates for degrees, to 
 pursue the studies necessary for a degree, in a longer or 
 shorter time, as their circumstances or ability will permit ; the 
 Faculty, however, having the right so to direct the studies as 
 to prevent idleness or superficial haste. 
 
 PREPARATORY DEPARTMENT. 
 
 For the present the preparatory department is open to any 
 pupils of good, moral character, whether intending to become 
 members of the collegiate department or not, who can sustain 
 an examination satisfactory to the teachers, in Colburn's 
 Mental Arithmetic, the Elementary Principles of English 
 Grammar, Topical Geography, Reading and Spelling. 
 
 The studies pursued in this Department are Mathematics^ 
 including Arithmetic, Algebra and Geometry ; English Lan 
 guage, including Orthography, Etymology, Analytical Gram 
 mar, English Composition and Reading; Belles' Letters, 
 including Oratory and the Analysis and Criticisms of English 
 Poetry ; Geography; History, Sacred and Profane ; Natural 
 Sciences, including the Elementary Principles of Natural 
 Philosophy, Physiology and Astronomy, Vocal Music and the 
 Ancient Languages. 
 
 Instruction will be given in Instrumental Music, Writing 
 and Drawing, at an extra charge, whenever there is a sufficient 
 number of pupils who wish to attend to these branches to 
 make it desirable. 
 
46 
 
 COLLEGIATE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 The degrees conferred by the college, in course, are three? 
 Master of Arts, Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Philosophy. 
 
 Those wishing to enter the institution as candidates for 
 the degrees of A. M., will be examined in English, Latin and 
 Greek Grammar; Arithmetic, Algebra to Ratio; Physiology; 
 Cicero's Select Orations ; Sallust, or its equivalent, and Virgil, 
 and in the Greek Reader, or its equivalent. 
 
 For the degree of A. B., one of the Ancient Languages 
 may be omitted, and for the degree of B. P. neither will be 
 required. 
 
 The degree of A. M. is intended for those who wish to 
 pursue a full course of academic education, as prescribed in 
 the laws of the college, and this course will require four or 
 five years of study. 
 
 The degree of A. B., is designed for those who wish to 
 prepare themselves for the different professions, and yet are 
 not able to pursue a complete course. This course will require 
 three or four years of study, being nearly the same as for the 
 degree of A. M., except one Ancient Language. 
 
 The degree of B. P., is intended for those who wish to 
 prepare for the pursuits of active life. In this course the 
 Ancient Languages may be omitted, but one Modern Lan 
 guage will be required and a complete course in Book- 
 Keeping, accompanied with Lectures upon Commerce and 
 Mercantile Transactions. 
 
 No pupil will be entitled to a degree in course, without 
 having been a member of the college at least two terms, and 
 having passed a thorough examination in the studies pre 
 scribed in the college laws. 
 
 TERMS AND VACATIONS. 
 
 The year will be divided into three terms of twelve weeks 
 each. The first term commences on the first Wednesday in 
 August. 
 
 There will be three vacations during the year, the first of 
 one week, the second of three weeks, and the third of twelve 
 weeks. 
 
 TUITION AND BOARD. 
 
 Twelve dollars per term will be charged for tuition, 
 
47 
 
 making no deduction for parts of a term, except in cases of 
 protracted sickness. 
 
 Students can be boarded at the boarding establishment 
 connected with the institution at five dollars per week, in 
 cluding room-rent, lights and washing ; payment to be made 
 in advance. Students are expected to provide furniture 
 for their own rooms. 
 
 SESSION. 
 
 The preparatory department will be in session from 9 
 o'clock, A. M., till 2 o'clock, P. M. 
 
 TIMES OF ADMISSION. 
 
 The commencement of the academic year is the regular 
 time for the admission of pupils. None will be received at 
 any other time, unless they are prepared to enter some of 
 the existing classes. 
 
 E. W. CLARK, 
 S. N. CASTLE, 
 S. C. DAMON, 
 L. SMITH, 
 R. ARMSTRONG. 
 
 Committee of Trustees. 
 Honolulu, Aug. 28th, 1354,