Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, Volume XXIX, Number 52, 27 December 1890 — Our English Column. [ARTICLE]

Our English Column.

"/n Vflu/h rrepare for Manhooā." UNCLE PHIL'S DESK. Uoele Phil i§ glad to hear again from his young friends of the Halawa schooL Peter Kahananui writes again, and tnes hird to correct tbe boy's eomposition on "Government", whieh you all nv jn the "('olumn" for November isth. Peter, you tried too hard to make things plain, by using brackets. It «ndoubtedly needs 4< re< onstructjng'\ »s your teacher told you. Now 1 wish vou to r/7i'ri/e the boy's eomposition, making your rorrections, and without using any brackets at all, to enclose your corTections. An oldj school-teacher ean piek out all your j corrections, without your telling what they are. j Peter also says, his teacher " tells us a hard word, like 'reconstruction,' /cams us how to spell it, then sends us off to the dictionary to findout what it means. Why couldn't he say "it needed making over again" as well as not ? Well, Peter, I will leave some one of your boy> and girls, who gather around the I>esk to answer that question, and if they do not make short work of it I shall have to answer it. There is a word in that last paragraph whieh I have asked the printers to put in itaiia for some good reason, the word is "leam" See if you ean tell me matter with that poor little wanderirg lamb, for it is lost in that row of sheep Here is a short letter from a little pupiL Tnat is tbe may "little birds ake short flight" first, Kamanao. Halawi, Molokai, Nov. 25, 1890. 1 )«ii l"nr]r l'hil. Hawaii. I am twelvc years olel, and am going to thc Halawa Knßli«>h School. I ani sru'lying Reailinj{, Writing, Dict.ition, Speiling. Arithmctic, ("»eoj;r«phy, Singing, an<l Map <lra\»ing. 1 am thc thir«l c lass in Mr. Henry s room, and try to get my lcssons evcry <layI rcmain Your Young Fricnd. Kamanao. How many pupils are there in your class, Kamanao, according to your letter? Halawa. Molokai, Nov. 25th 1890. ! >e*i L'nele I'hil, Hilo, Hawaii. Wc read your storics in the "Kuokoa,'" cvery hn>lay tnMea*l of the rea<ling hook, antl I ihink •hev are very niee, but hard words snm«-titnew eome that make me trouble. I am ia third ela«;«t ili Mr. Van Oicson's KKim, an«l try to lcarn my lessons every day. We haw a p!easant school room with px iures on thc walls. The girls take turr s an<l bnn£ flowers every morning for the «eacher\ :ahle. We have a cabinet where we »hclls, an<l curKHb thingc, and we have three )»r.K in it tot>. I woul<l like vcry mueh if yon coul<l eome an<l «.ee us some days, and I am surr o\ir ;cachcr vrould like to have a visit from yon. I remain. Your Young Friend, Kaleialoha Kekahuna.

I am glad to sec that your teacher is sh« wing how to use your eyes and hands out »1 school hours, in gathering together Vurious things' in a cabinet. Vour schooling, boys and girls oi the third class, is not only inside of the school-house, in the school hours, but it is everywhere around you, and above you, and under your feet. Yes, Unele Phil, would like to see Halawa ooc« more; but his traveling days are over, and he now tries to do what he ean, seated in his eaj»y-chair, at the 1 )esk, to amuse and instruct you. Halawa, Molokai, Nov. 26. lBqo. Pemr Unele Phil, Hilo, Hawaii. La«t Mimmcr a mu<l wa«p ma<le her ne*t on the wall in our schoo>-room. Our teacher let i? l»c, and we usc<t to the waap eome every <iay with a liule hit of mud to make it targe. Somet>me<t the mu<l wou)d fall down on the dcsk« it wa> soft and wet. I think it eanie frotn thc >ulc of thc ditch, or taro paieh. After a while the wasp did not eome any mote; thcn our tcacher took it down carefully aml >«hewcd it to us. It was full of little, roaivl l<jng holes whieh were full of spi<iers. Te«cher prickcd one witha pin, and it moved. Some of the chil<!ren thoiiqht it was a spider's ncst. Thc spiders werc not dead, only th« wasp had put them t« slcep. Our teacher said lhat when thc little mud house was ilone, the wasp laid an in it, then filled it full of spiders, m> that its littlc baby would have something to cat until it got large enough to go and fin<l mwk »pklcrs for jtself. I think thc wasp was very wise and patient. I remain, Your Young Friend. Rosa Kahnneli. Yoar letter ts an interesting one to Unele Phil, Rosa, because, in reading it, I get a good view of the ways your teacher takes to interest his boys and giTls in things worth knowing. Now if you had told me that your schoolroom ceiling was co7ered with mud wasp nests, I would have not thought moeh about it, except that he did not care enough for the discomfort of dirt to renaove the nests. But your teacher seems to have left that one nest, for the purpose of instructing you, whieh be did very nicely according to your letter. The phrase, round long holes," might have bm wntten, "little cells". Uoele Phil thinks the Halawa boys woā firis are pretty well taken care of ĪB *iooi.