Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 209, 5 June 1891 — A CHRISTIAN. [ARTICLE]

A CHRISTIAN.

** t_ ~W'e(lnesday *evening the 4 trriter wni, (lutifully to prayer nieeting aml was mueh ihterested bv vvhat tran?pired there. There were reports of the christisn \vork amone; ihe Japanese and Portuguese. We v,ere very pleased to see again our friend Mr. Okobe from Hilo and hear of his good \vork among his < ountrymen in Hawaii. Mr. Okobe is a Japanese gentleman of very Fuperior education and intellectūal attainments, of good birth, a knight in his own country, belonging to the military caste. i'he short £Word, the emblem of his rank, now hangs over his study table in his meagerly furnished quarters at Hilo. Being educated abroad We b?eame ?inbued with Christian doctrines and determined to devote his life t® preaching the gospel to "his countrymen. To do this he gave up all that men are scrambling for here in Hawaii, a good position and the chances of a prosperous career. He has been working down in Hilo under the most dishearteninig circumstances. He may bave saved some souls; but he has saved a good many lives, cared for a good many sick, fed a good many hungry, encouraged a good many dispairing, and has tried to save some from the clutch of Hitcheoek and thc horrors of 11110 Jail. In this he has not succeeded, but he goes cvcry Sunday and/teaches and en<3ourr.ges the numbers of his countrymen confined there. We ■ 3nust not dc Mr. okobe the i nj u ry to create tbe impression that he has ever opposed the government. He inin'us it better to do what good he eaii than to forever destroy all ehanee of doing any good by protesting againpt the outrages eommitted on the Japanese by the Hawaiian (TOvernment. We have ere this taken pains to iinpress on the public ni;ud tliat the JapaneSfe are a veiy superior race quite equal in most things to Europeans, and in honesty and a sense of honor especially. Of course there is the same difference betwcen a Japanese eoolie and a Japanese gentleman that there is between an American gentleman and a plantation negro. But there are strange to tell many educ:.ted intelligent gcntlemen shipped to these plantations. We knew of a geiitlc4nan and a scholar who died. according to the i phycisian of *insufīicient foodVwhich is a inedical term for 'starv(Hl to death. v He was not robust enough to stand the work, lie was fined again and again and he could not eam 8uf r rcient food, and he died/ The Uawaiian Board have discovered one such case and have secured his releasfrom lxmdnge and he is to aFsist iu the charitable work in Hawaii. Cbief Juetice Judd in the meetnig &āked Mr. Okobe to relate the story • of jroung man. It was very good t* seo reallv the first gentleman in thekingdom (notwithstand , ing that ihe father apparent ranks'

above ali My other subjecta) taking a kindly interest in liberating and assie»ting a deserving young man to enahle him to begin a life of usefulness. We knew of several such cases. where mēn in every respect of manhood above their masters, were worked like cattle and treated like dogs ti)l they were driven to death or to the Hilo Jail.—a worse ending. We tried faithfully according to our iight to save certain ones from this unhappy fate. But our effort&- -wei'e frustrated and still worse misfortunes precipitated ypun the already overburdencd laborer by a decision of the Hoi)orable Chief Jugtice. We shall always regret that he felt it his duty to reverse that ariiele of the eonstitution whieh says, " involuntary servitude is forever prohibited." d.l. ji.