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Show 87 „ . „ , . . , , The results of evangelistic work for women are not easily « ? » . £ t a b u , a t e J . ' - ' the effort and the fruit often are widely , „ " ™ separated The new life manifest in Huodjuangdz has already WI TNESS. been noted. In the fall a Bible woman was sent there, whom the girls' school teacher was glad to introduce, not only there but in the neighboring villages. The two Bible women in Hsiku have given faithful, steady work. The regular attendance of women at the church services has increased. In the village, where every home is open, there are scores of women who can read the little books, and who do pray. A systematic canvass of all the families from which children have come into the schools and a definite effort to win them has been made. Perhaps the Christians have been a little too content to work in the homes, however, and so these new believers have not known the value of fellowship in the church, but there must soon be a gathering in. The weeks before Easter were busy for the volunteer workers, who daily went to their appointed courts to preach. One woman said, when the places were mentioned, " Why, I want to preach in my own court and invite in all my neighbors !" Her life carried with it no reproach for the name of Christ, and her love won two of her nearest neighbors that very week Over 200 women and children listened daily to these volunteer workers, and 18 women began reading the following week. Miss Davis has had the opportunity to meet the Government TIENTSIN Normal School girls in two Bible classes. It has been most NORMAL gratifying to see these splendid young women reaching out STUDENTS. for new truths, and still more to see them making them their own. Very special mention we would make of one student, last year a pupil in the Stanley Memorial School, who, with only a minimum of help from Miss Davis, has organized and maintained a class of 32 non-Christian pupils younger than herself, and who has the purpose that each of these girls shall be won to the Christian life. It is such volunteer service we long to see developing among all our students. Looking at the visible results of the year's work, we have no ESTIMATE OF right to be satisfied. Gifts in money to the Church were less THE YEAR than in 1912, though gifts to schools were much more. But a gain of 25 church members is not enough; we cannot rest •with gaining eight or nine per cent a year, in this time in China. There are causes to be mentioned: perhaps one is the non-ubiquity of the one missionary; also the necessary absence of one preacher; the curse of an income from Boxer indemnity lands, which makes lazy Christians in the "North Country"; and the lack of a permanent street chapel in Tientsin. The Chinese have contributed generously toward this project, but we have not yet secured a strategic site. , We must dig down to a deeper cause, a spiritual one. There have been heart-searching experiences recently, and we, all of us alike, need cleaner living and thinking and speaking, a whole loyalty. There are spots in the Church which need treatment and healing, spots which need the knife. God help us in this kind of work! When all that hinders is thus enumerated, we have yet no cause for discouragement. The opportunities open before us are more than ever, the friendliness toward Christianity more marked. In our Hsiku Sunday School, |