transmitted by them to the older girls. While yet ignorant of this
I had noticed the scowls and dark looks, the reluctant obedience and
manifest distrust, of ten or twelve girls from fifteen to eighteen, the
leaders in the school. The younger girls were affectionate and obedient:
they brought flowers from their gardens and wove wreaths for us; they
lomi-lomi-ed our hands and feet when we were sitting at rest; if they
neglected their tasks or broke any of the taboos of the school, it was
through the carelessness of childhood. But it seemed impossible to gain
the confidence of the older girls.

One day Miss P----, the assistant teacher, received word that her father
was quite sick, and immediately set out for Honolulu on horseback. Miss
G----and I carried on the work of the school as well as we could. A day
or two after Miss P---- left a tropical storm burst upon us. It seemed
as if the very heavens were opened. The rain fell in torrents and the
air was filled with the flying branches of trees. This continued a day
and a night. The next day, Sunday, the rain and wind ceased, but sullen
clouds still hung overhead, and there was an oppressive stillness and
languor in the air. Within, there was something of the same atmosphere:
the tropical nature of the girls seemed to be in sympathy with the
stormy elements. They were silent and sullen and brooding. The bridge
over Waialua had been washed away, and we could not go to church. The
oppressive day passed and was succeeded by a similar one. The older
girls cast dark looks upon us as they reluctantly went through the round
of school- and house-work. At night the explosion occurred. All the
girls were at the usual study-hour in the basement dining-room. It was
Miss G----'s turn to sit with them: I was in the sitting-room directly
above. Suddenly I heard a loud yell, a sound as of scuffling and Miss
G----'s quick tones of command. The next moment I was down stairs. There
stood Miss G---- in the middle of the room holding Elizabeth Aukai, one
of the largest and worst girls, by the wrist. The girl's head was bent
and her teeth were buried in Miss G----'s hand. The heathen had burst
forth, the volcanic eruption and earthquake had come. I tried to pull
her off, but she was as strong as an ox. Loosening her hold directly and
hurling us off, she poured forth a flood of abuse in Hawaiian. She
reviled the teachers and all the cursed foreigners who were praying her
people to death. The Haw