Lake Forest College - Forester Yearbook (Lake Forest, IL)

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Multum in Parvo Cane growing is the chief industry of the Hawaiian islands, the annual output of sugar being valued at 530,000,000 The present advanced state of civilization, the commerce, and most other industries here are more or less dependent upon this industry. But all unawares, a terrible plague came upon the sugar plantations in l902, in the form of a tiny insect which appeared in such numbers that in many plantations there were literally thousands of them to each stalk of cane. They belong to a group of insects called leaf-hoppersn and live on the cane by piercing the leaves and stalks, and sucking the sap, causing the cane to be checked in growth, and even killed. They further damage the cane by depositing numerous eggs within its tissues. The rate of increase of the pests was so rapid that in l903 whole fields were being killed by them, in l904 the cane of one plantation of l0,000 acres was totally destroyed and the annual loss had reached 53,000,- 000. The situation became so alarming that a staff of entomologists was secured to in- vestigate the pest, and to devise means of stamping it out. lnvestigation showed that the pest had been introduced by means of its eggs in cane imported from Australia for planting. Two entomologists at once went to Australia, to search in the cane fields for the natural enemies of the pest. Many kinds of these were found and attempts made at importing them alive to Hawaii. After many failures some of these beneficial insects were established in Hawaii. The most valuable of these were parasites within the eggs of the pest. These tiny insects are about one thirty-second inch in length, and each one gets its entire growth within an egg of the leaf-hopper. Like the leaf- hoppers themselves, these egg-parasites make up in prolificness what they lack in size. They increased so rapidly, that within two years from the time they were introduced, they were destroying so many leaf-hopper eggs, that the pest ceased to give cause for alarm: and within three years it was effectually checked and the plantations had gained again their normal productivity. Engaged in the introduction of these tiny parasites, rearing them in specially devised cages and then distributing them to the 50 odd sugar plantations, there has been a staff of six trained entomologists, your humble servant being one of the number. Investigations are being carried on similarly in connection with other insect pests of considerable importance. Department of Entomology, OTTO H SWEZEY, '96, Honolulu, H. I. School Life in Laos Our Presbyterian Mission has established boys' and girls' boarding schools in Chieng Mai, Lakon and Nan. The other stations have good day schools. Primary schools are held in many out villages a few months each year also, so that some of our boys and girls read a little when they come to us, but that is the extent of their knowledge. In the Chieng Mai Girls' School we have ninety pupils, of whom fifty-four are boarders. They sleep in one large dormitory on mattresses spread on the floor. At day- break the bell soundsg all arise, roll up their beds, and go to their various tasks, for all the work of the school, except the cutting of wood and part of the cooking is done by the pupils. Before eight o'clock the dormitory, school rooms, porches and part of the yard are swept, the water jars are filled, breakfast cooked and eaten, and those who have no other A 26

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Christian young men who want the girls educated, somewhat at least, before they marry themg and those who, being forced to marry Cusually old menl, rebel and come to us as a place of refuge. As yet there is no Boarding Department for Girls, so they live in the homes of the missionaries. ln the five years I have lived here we have housed twenty-three girls and out of this number, fifteen are church members. With three girls to direct one can get along comfortably, but with nine, as l have had, one is inclined to say too many. When, however, you know that each girl who is even partly trained probably goes out to set up a Christian home, whose influence will help hundreds of people to a clearer know- ledge of what is good and true, can you say it does not pay to help each girl who asks for work, even if it means the sapping of your strength? JULIA lVlcKE.E. CMRS. C. C., FULLER, '95. Mt. Silinda, Rhodesia, South Africa. The Korean ldea of Sport The Korean mind is a poor place for the development of the idea of sport. The Korean has the faculty of imagination, has a passion for making fun, as also a passion for display, so among Christian boys sport does and will thrive. l shall confine my remarks to the non-Christian Korean, asking my readers to remember that the Korean is a highly civilized man. Their games and sports are similar to many of our own. The bovs have their kites. tops, pitching pennies, blind man's buff, game of leopard - about the same as our game of tag, all out of doors. The young men enjoy hunting pheasants with falcons, wrestling, tug-of-war, stone fighting and widow steal- ing, all of which imply the gathering of a crowd. The old men play chess, fish, and practice archery. There is no sport for women. The Koreans recognize no reason for the existence of a sport except as pastime. l-lence small boys are for the most part not only discouraged, but forbidden to play even their harmless games. Whether this attitude against children's games comes of a dog in the manger feeling or a hatred of children makes little difference, the fact remains that though the older ones have their sports they hold a pronounced attitude against the sport of the youngsters. But boys will be boys. So they deceive their elders, lie, steal, and have their sport. But as is its beginning, so the sport itself is full of the practice of deception, fraud and meanness. There is an utter lack of fair play, much cowardly action, and an immense amount of so-called bullying. The puny son of the big man of the village may break all sorts of rules and then kick a lad twice his size out of the game because he does not use proper language to himself. So although there are lots of rules they are so little practised that sport is lawless. It is also cruel. Watch a lot of small boys, who are dividing into two parties perhaps for a stone light, perhaps for their kicking game -- two of the most popular games -in either case there are few rules, people are maimed for life and skill is not required. The Korean idea of sport is as the idea of government - anarchistic. Pyeng Yang, Korea. WILLIAM B. HUNT, '84. Wm. B. Hunt U

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work begin sewing or weaving. Some practice music, and the native teachers have their English lesson at six-thirty A. M. As no pupil. except a few rich out-siders, can pay in full, each child works from one to two hours a day in addition to the house work. Morning prayers are at eight, then we study until twelve with one short intermission. Wfe teach Laos reading and writing, Bible in every grade, arithmetic, geography, Siamese and English. We hope in time to carry on higher work in these latter languages. Alter dinner we have writing, singing. then sewing and weaving. Our girls are receiving an education along the spiritual, intellectual and industrial lines. 'Z ,J-fu R1- Miss Mabelle Cilson and Native Teachers We endeavor not to change national customs as to food, dress, or manner of living, as we realize the girls must go back to their old conditions of life later. But we are trying to train earnest, thinking, Christian women, grounded in Christian truth and elementary knowledge, skilled in needle-work and weaving, care of the house, and of children, and the use of simple medicines. Some of the brighter ones are being trained as teachers and organists for village churches. We hope all will become better home-makers and helpers in the evangelizing of their country. MABELLE GILSON, '95, Chieng Mai, Laos, North Siam. Fields White for Harvest Lake Forest '92, Rush Medical '96, lndia ever since. and no regrets for the choice madeg a modern hospital in a town of 6,000 inhabitants, the center for mission work for a population of l55,000: the nearest European physician 20 miles away: an abundance of clinical material that would command attention even in Chicago: which, as Bret l-larte says of the Heathen Chineef' 'sis coming it strong, yet l state but the facts. I am glad of the opportunity to address a word to my successors at Lake Forest, who, if they may not l