A TOUR AMONG THE MISSIONS.
BY REV. W. C. POND.
Since writing my last account of our work for the Missionary, I have visited several of our Missions in the interior of the State, and, as far as I can in the space at my command, I will recount my observations.
I. Stockton.—Except as, for a short time, more than thirty years ago, something was done by Rev. S. V. Blakeslee in San Francisco, Stockton was the first point in California occupied by the A. M. A. The work was continued there with scarcely a month's intermission from 1871 till about a year ago, when under financial pressure it was closed for a time. The intention was to resume as soon as the opening of a new fiscal year gave me the right to draw against a new appropriation. Meanwhile it was hoped that a temporary suspension might lead to a greater interest on the part of the Chinese themselves, and that we should begin to get urgent requests from them with pledges of coöperation such as had sometimes come to us from other places. It was all a mistake for which your Superintendent is chastened, and repents. When we were ready to resume, we found the convenient room which the school had occupied so many years rented for quite other purposes, and no quarters could be obtained except at a rental too exorbitant. Most of those among the pupils who had been specially benefited, and whose urgencies we should otherwise have heard, had moved elsewhere, and the Macedonian cry which we hoped would put us on vantage ground for future operations, did not come to our ears. The Chinese are very numerous in Stockton—at least 1,000 constantly there, and probably 1,000 more who, working here and there in the great San Joaquin Valley, make Stockton their rendezvous. I ought not to have suspended work among them, but rather with faith and courage I should have pressed it with greater zeal, and if hearts seemed harder there than elsewhere, I should have poured in upon them more abundantly the light and love of Christ. All that I could accomplish on this visit was to arrange conditionally for a room in a building not yet completed, and to intensify my own determination somehow to carry to those dark, needy souls "the fullness of the blessing of Christ."
II. Sacramento.—It was good to come into the warm spiritual atmosphere of our Sacramento mission. The tokens of God's blessing on our work there are unmistakable. Our readers have heard recently from our helper, Chin Toy, and I forbear going into details. The best result of my visit was in the decision of one of our pupils who had been highly commended to me by his brethren and by Mrs. Carrington, to enter into missionary work. His name is Chin Kel. I am all the more hopeful about him because he is distrustful of himself. This was the only ground of hesitancy with him. The fact that it involved a very considerable pecuniary sacrifice does not seem to have weighed with him at all. He will be stationed at Marysville, relieving our excellent brother Joe Jet for work elsewhere.
III. Marysville.—Here, too, I found comfort with the brethren, and after the usual exercises of the school were finished, at nine o'clock p. m., we sat down together at the Lord's table. One brother was baptized and received to the church. All the resident members of the church were present, and, if I mistake not, we broke the bread not only at about the same hour of the evening, but with the same number of communicants as were gathered round the table in that upper chamber at Jerusalem when this sacrament was first observed.
IV. Oroville.—The next two evenings were spent at Oroville, twenty-eight miles further north. I took our faithful helper, Joe Jet, with me, and he will spend a month or more in that mission. Two of the Marysville brethren also accompanied us, and one other was already there. I invited them to be present because I proposed to organize our Oroville brethren into a church. Too long already—too long, not by months, only, but by years—we had waited, hoping that the church already existing in Oroville would open its doors and extend a brother's hand to these disciples; and we believed that they ought not longer to be debarred the privileges of the sacraments and of church fellowship. Several who in years past have given evidence of conversion in connection with this mission, are now elsewhere. Four young men, after careful examination, in which Joe Jet and the Marysville brethren shared, were constituted into "The Bethany Church of Oroville." Four others were believed to be Christians, but, as being recent converts, were held under probation awhile, as is the custom in our missions. When we sat down on Friday evening to the Lord's table it was found that four other churches were informally represented by members present, and thus, in some sense, the fellowship of the churches was expressed.
V. Tulare.—My next visit was made to Tulare, in the southern part of the San Joaquin Valley. I was greatly interested in what I found. My hopes were more than realized. Believing that our work will be permanent and fruitful, I bought, on my own responsibility, a lot, and contracted for the erection of a comfortable Mission-house, which having been put up with Californian speed, was dedicated on Monday, May 18. I could not myself be present at the service, but Rev. D. Goodsell, pastor of the Congregational Church, conducted it well. There were songs and Scripture readings by the pupils, an address by Ju Guy, the helper, giving in a brief and modest way his own religious experience; addresses also by Bro. Goodsell and by Rev. Mr. McMillan, of the M. E. Church; a collection which under the circumstances was quite generous; and finally a banquet which the pupils asked the privilege of providing for their friends.
VI. Fresno.—My last visit was at Fresno, the largest and most promising town between Stockton and Los Angeles. Here I found fully 500 Chinese. Many more, doubtless, make their headquarters here. Ju Guy accompanied me from Tulare, and in about six hours found five of his countrymen who professed to be Christians. Three of these were Baptists from Oregon, one a Methodist and one a Congregationalist. All were ready to coöperate. The last one gave his name as Soo Hoo Foo, and said that about eight years ago he began to believe in Jesus, and united in San Francisco with our "Congregational Association of Christian Chinese." Soon after this he left the city, and ever since has been almost entirely destitute of Christian instruction and companionship. Yet he had not relinquished his purpose to follow Christ, and his heart warmed at once at the prospect of a mission in Fresno. Our school was started there May 1, and gives good promise of permanent usefulness. The teacher speaks in glowing terms about Soo Hoo Foo, believing that he might be trained for good service as a missionary. About this time will tell; but certainly our faith may well be strengthened and our hearts gladdened to see how the Good Shepherd knows and keeps His scattered lambs.