When the American missionaries came to the Sandwich Islands,
they struck off the shackles from the whole race, breaking the
power of the kings and chiefs. They set the common man free,
elevated his wife to a position of equality with him, and gave a
piece of land to each to hold forever. They set up schools and
churches, and imbued the people with the spirit of the Christian
religion. If they had had the power to augment the capacities of
the people, they could have made them perfect; and they would
have done it, no doubt.
The missionaries taught the whole nation to read and write,
with facility, in the native tongue. I don’t suppose there is
to-day a single uneducated person above eight years of age
in the Sandwich Islands! It is the best educated country in
the world, I believe. That has been all done by the American
missionaries. And in a large degree it was paid for by the
American Sunday-school children with their pennies. I know that
I contributed.--SAMUEL L. CLEMENS.
(2048)