Trust."46
By the end of 1898 Hyde's health was failing rapidly but Leadingham was sufficiently adjusted to the Institute to allow a drastic curtailment of duties. Doctors advised a change of climate and on May 13, 1899 a very sick Dr. Hyde sailed for the United States mainland. Sick or not he maintained his concerns for the Institute. Upon arrival in San Francisco he got off a letter to W. W. Hall in Honolulu, requesting he submit a resolution to the Hawaiian Board applying income from a recent Charles M. Cooke gift of $50,000 to the operational budget of the Institute.47 Dr. Hyde and his travel party then took the train to Ware, Massachusetts.
Unhappily, the Institute story did not run far beyond his decease, five months after this letter was written. The Rev. Mr. Leadingham was an able man but he was no Dr. Hyde. He was unable to mount a campaign for the $150,000 endowment planned by Hyde before the last mainland trip. He did not have the understanding knack of recruiting new students. The Institute came to a quick halt in 1902. Too little, too late!
Dr. Hyde had in his singlehandedness created a religious seminary; he gave it an orderly and intellectually stable program of studies. The products of his teaching skill were scattered in effective mission work throughout the Hawaiian Islands and the mission stations of Micronesia.
NOTES
1. Report, Committee on Theological Education, Minutes Hawaiian Evangelical Association, June 1861.
2. Letter Hiram Bingham to Missionaries of the Hawaiian Board Cooperating with the American Board, April 1877.
3. Letter Hyde to Rev. N. G. Clark, ABCFM, June 19.
4. Letter Bingham to Clark, Feb. 19, 1878.
5. Letter Hyde to Clark, Feb. 17.
6. Makua, a relative in the role of parent, benefactor, provider.
7. Letter Hyde to Rev. E. K. Alden, ABCFM, Oct. 28.
8. Makamaka, intimate friend with whom one is on terms of giving and receiving freely.
9. Letter Hyde to Clark, Nov. 14.
10. Ibid., April 16. Aloha, greeting. Mahalo, thanks.
11. Ibid., Jan. 20, 1879.
12. Hyde, North Pacific Missionary Institute, Annual Report, June 11, 1878.
13. Ibid.
14. Awa, a shrub, its root a source of a narcotic drink.
15. Letter Hyde to Clark, Jan., 20, 1879.
16. Hyde, North Pacific Missionary Institute, Annual Report, June 5, 1879.
17. Letter Hyde to Clark, Oct. 27.
18. Letter Hyde to Clark, Jan. 19, 1880.
19. Ibid., Apr. 8.
20. Ibid., Feb. 12, 1883.
21. Ibid., Jan. 10, 1884.
22. Hawaiian Gazette, May 14.
23. Letter Hyde to Rev. Judson Smith, ABCFM, Oct. 15.
24. Ibid., Nov. 1.
25. Ibid., June, 1885.
26. Ibid.
27. Hyde, NPMI, Ninth Annual Report, June 2, 1886.
28. Hyde, NPMI, Tenth Annual Report, June 9, 1887.
29. Hyde, NPMI, Twelfth Annual Report, June 4, 1889,
30. The Friend, Oct. 1889.
31. Hyde NPMI, Twelfth Annual Report, June 4.
32. Hyde, NPMI, Thirteenth Annual Report, June 11, 1891.
33. Letter Hyde to Smith, June 16.
34. Ibid., Apr. 26, 1892.
35. Ibid., May 3, 1888.
36. Hyde, "New Times, New Men, New Methods," Congregationalist Boston, Oct. 23, 1890. pp. 364-365.
37. Letter Hyde to Smith, Feb. 9, 1891.
38. Ibid., Feb. 2, 1892.
39. Ibid., Oct. 17, 1891.
40. ABCFM, Annual Report, Oct. 10-13, 1893.
41. Ibid., April 28, 1894.
42. Ibid., Aug. 3, 1894.
43. Letter Hyde to Dr. C. H. Daniels, ABCFM, Aug. 18.
44. Ibid., Sept. 15.
45. Letter Hyde to Smith, Dec. 8.
46. Ibid., Oct. 26, 1895.
47. Letter Hyde to W. W. Hall, Honolulu, May 22, 1899.
Chapter 7
THE HAWAIIAN BOARD
THE NORTH PACIFIC Missionary Institute was the compelling care of Dr. Hyde's multi-phased religious beat in Hawaii. He never slackened his efforts on its behalf. He never failed it as he stalked the whole field of religious objects moving across his horizon. He was omnipresent, he was available, and as much as anything he was willing to serve. He could endure long hours of work. These qualities, permeated with an unusual intellectual and judicious grasp, drew him into almost every religious activity in the American Board program in Hawaii. The Institute was his primary mission but the church community work in which he deeply involved himself constituted a second career.
A starting point was membership in the Fort Street Church and its successor, Central Union Church. This was his "parish" church, not a base for operations but a home church. He became a member of Fort Street Church at Communion in December, 1877. In writing of this step he also mentioned attending "worship at one of the native churches. I also have a class of young (native) men in the Sunday School. Mrs. Hyde has one of young (native) girls at Kawaiahao. In the afternoon I visit some out district and take part in the Sunday School teaching and the conference talk of these afternoon meetings. I have also accepted appointment as one of the Trustees of Kawaiahao Female Seminary. I was chosen President."1
None of his scheduled religious activity was part of the Fort Street Church-Central Union Church program. He served his parish church only on special occasions. He was elected Moderator of a Council to ordain Mr. E. N. Dyer as minister for Kohala Foreign Church on Hawaii island.2 Another time he gave the pastoral charge to the Rev. E. G. Beckwith who was called as pastor.3 He preached by invitation occasionally; once on Foreign Missions, in which he sketched the missionary work of the Hawaiian and American Boards, another time on Idolatry Among the Hawaiians.4 One of the most touching of his Central Union messages was given on December 12, 1898 when he extended "William Morris Kincaid the right hand of fellowship as pastor of Central Union Church."5 He himself was a sick man and scarcely able to weather a pulpit experience. This enumeration is selective and merely suggestive of his Central Union role. He was speaking elsewhere two or three times every Sunday of his life but it was usually a special purpose that lured him back to his own church.
When Bethel Union Church was destroyed in the disastrous downtown fire, April 16, 1886, the Hydes were everywhere about, working with the victims of the fire, housing, feeding and clothing them. Later when Bethel Union and Fort Street Churches merged into the new Central Union Church, they became charter members.
This merger and the see-sawing preceding it was not a simple transaction. Bethel Union members were invited to use Fort Street facilities. Initially, each congregation had its own worship and Sunday School, but burned-out Bethel people also immediately entered into plans of fund raising and rebuilding and this had the full support of Dr. Hyde. A year passed and the Fort Street hosts liked their Bethel guests. Almost a year to the day, he wrote some of the circumstances of a proposed merger and his regret in the matter:
. . . Another complication has arisen. The Bethel people undertook to rebuild after the fire. Their pastor, Mr. Oggel, has made strenuous efforts and has raised $16,000. Before engaging in the work they discussed the advisability of uniting with the Fort St. Church and decided against it. Negotiations with the Government and the Seaman's Friend Society enabled them