Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880 — John Shaqi
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880Various
History
Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880
Various
Literature, Modern -- 19th century -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
The routine of the school-room from nine to twelve in the forenoon and
from one till four in the afternoon was that of any ordinary school,
except that the girls who prepared the meals were excused earlier than
the others. One day in the week was devoted to washing and ironing down
on the river-bank and in the shade of the tamarind trees.
The girls had to be taught many things besides the lessons in their
books. At home they slept on mats on the floor, ate poi out of
calabashes with their fingers and wore only the holoku. Here they were
required to eat at table with knife and fork and spoon, to sleep in beds
and to adopt the manners and customs of civilization. Now and then, as a
special privilege, they asked to be allowed to eat "native fashion," and
great was their rejoicing and merrymaking as they sat, crowned with
flowers, on the veranda-floor and ate poi and raw fish with their
fingers, and talked Hawaiian. They were required to talk English usually
until the four-o'clock bell sounded in the afternoon. From that until
supper-time they were allowed to talk native, and their tongues ran
fast.
On Wednesday afternoons the girls went to bathe in the river, and on
Saturday afternoons to bathe in the sea. It usually fell to my lot to
accompany them. The river, back of the house a few rods, had steep banks
ten or fifteen feet high and a deep, still current. The girls would
start to run as soon as they left the house, race with each other all
the way and leap from the bank into the river below. Presently their
heads would appear above water, and, laughing and blowing and shaking
the drops from their brown faces, they would swim across the river. The
older girls could dive and swim under water for some distance. They had
learned to swim as soon as they had learned to walk. They sometimes
brought up fish in their hands, and one girl told me that her father
could dive and bring up a fish in each hand and one in his mouth. The
little silver-fish caught in their dress-skirts they ate raw. The girls
were always glad when the time came to go swimming in the sea, for they
were very fond of a green moss which grew on the reef, and the whole
crowd would sit on rocks picking and eating it while the spray dashed
over them.
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