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Show "Why, how ever can we get her married?" the mother thinks in alarm at the future prospect of having to support her. But we are having great hopes of Shu Lin because of a gift that has come from a friend in the homeland that will keep her in school. We trust her mind and not her arm will make her useful to her people. Then there is Ch'un Jung too, who is offered to us foreigners if we will care for her. She is bright and lovable, but her folk are so poor that they feel they have too many girls in the family. But these children's stories must wait until another letter. There are other girls who want to come to school and we hope that next year our funds and rooms will be sufficient so that twenty need not be the limit. Woman's Station Class. None of us foreign women could go out into the field this year, but we could invite a few of the women to come to us. Last spring we had a class of seven about which we wrote to you, and this fall we had a class of five with a young woman to help with their reading whom we invited as much for her own training as for her help. She is the secondary wife of one of our churchmembers, brought into the home, of course, before he came into the church. She is young and capable, and her husband has promised that she shall help the church whenever we want her. Another one of the class was an old woman of seventy, the mother of one of our native preachers. We were inveigled into allowing her to come because of her son's assurance that she would do anything that we told her to. She was the only one of the family who had any interest in coming to the station clasS,and so we let her come, hoping that she would be better able to in influence the younger women of her household. She is a dear old soul but being the head of a family whose members were all supposed to obey her words, the life of the school did not suit her. For one thing,each one is Supposed to help' with the work. She Smilingly said that she was too old, and that her granddaughter who is in the girls' school could do double duty. We let that pass, but she is deaf too, and misunderstands and misconstrues things said. One day one of the little girls pointed to the picture of "Christ, the Good Shepherd" saying, "we are all Jesus' little lambs-you and I and Mrs.Si-" "What," cried the old lady, "do you call me a lamb?"- and it was sometime before her anger was appeased. When some one remarked that she had said that she had come for the sake of the food, we began to think of sending her home. When she began to bother the matron with requests to take her to see the sights of Lintsing, we set a tentative date for her going, and at last when she had a quarrel with the teacher because she wanted to read rapidly rather then thoroughly, we sent her home, and off she went smiling. One woman was very stupid and read very little. Another, the wife of one of our helpers, was a heathen when he married her, but in the class has proved herself so quick in her studies that wre are beginning to hope she will be very useful. The fourth one of the class was a schoolgirl before Boxer times-fan Shu Li. She has read her New Testament through and is very good at recognizing Chinese characters but is too timid as yet to be able to tell even the thoughts that she has in her mind. Then the fifth member of the class is Mrs. Yil, who has read the four Gospels, and is a woman of ability and strength, so wesenther to her home to be a Bible woman. From these two classes, the one last spring and and the one this fall, we have picked out five women whom we expect to send to P'ang Chwang this spring for thiee months of further training, hoping at the end of this term to have more Bible women to send out into the big field. Boys' School* We were disappointed in our hopes of-starting a boarding school for boys at the beginning of the year, but in the spring a small compound was found that seemed well-suited for the schoolwork. We had a series of difficulties in getting the owners to vacate the property they had sold, the old mother because she had not received what she thought was her share of the money, the sons because their opium smoking took so much of their time. One son, a man of forty, stayed in much longer than the others because his mother would not provide him a place to live. Finally they were all gone- and with them a number of things that were written in the bond, so that, before they got the last of their money, several rafters and doorlatches and a few other little things like these, had to be restored. The rooms seemed very dirty the first time we went to see them, but a little whitewash and paint made things look attractive by the time the boys came. There were six or seven boys from here in the city and the rest of the thirty were from the out stations. There are difficulties in starting new boarding schools, one of which in our school was the coming of a number of twenty year old boys who did not like to be put in the beginning classes. They had read in the Confucian schools and the study of arithmetic and geography did not suit them. Several of them were married and were troubled by home cares. The, younger children were more easily classified and managed. We foreigners had very little indeed to do with the school. They had two good teachers and a committee to look after their wants, and,as we had all we could do in other lines, the success in the school is due to the Chinese leaders. What would amount to over a dollar at the present rate of exchange w7as asked of each boy as a part of his food-money.One of the hard things en the last day when accounts were settled was to hear the stories of the parents as they told of their efforts to raise this money. Some brought in pieces of household furniture, some even bedclothes to sell, yet in consideration of all that the boys had received, it seemed the wise thing that they should pay some thing toward the expense. The examinations on the last day were very pleasant. In the geography examination, it was very interesting to hear the boys tell about climate and zones,longitude and latitude, races and governments. I t was interesting too to see where their geography put China. The teachers occasionally tried to trip the boys, but they had been well trained-as the teachers probably knew-and for the most part showed no confusion. There will be those who will not return next term, though there will be new7 ones entering, but we hope that those who were here just the one term, will know more of the Doctrine from the daily teaching they have received here. We have had many letters asking about the new regime and if we are in danger. The new Emperor came to the throne as peacefully as any one could wish. Trouble was expected from the south where most of the revolutionists are supposed to be but there has been no movement and no word of any particular unrest. As far as we can see just now the only things that seem at all disturbing are the hard times and the dismissal of Yuan Shih K'ai. Crops about here were very |
