So far forth, I am confident. It is no new thought with me, and, in proposing it, I feel that I am walking on solid ground. I feel that I speak in God’s name when I say this ought, forthwith, to be done. Whether the proposed mission should be sustained by the A. M. A., or by the American Board; whether more than one efficient American missionary will ever be needed; what sort of mission work he should go about in Hong Kong itself—concerning these and other matters of detail, any suggestion I could make would be crude, and, likely enough, mistaken. But the proposal itself, as to its essentials, I stand in no doubt about, and I ask the prayers and co-operation of all who love Christ and souls, that it may be speedily fulfilled.
Let me add, as if by postscript, that a Chinese brother, Wun Ching Ki, a member of one of the London Missionary Society’s churches at Canton, who is in business at Hong Kong, has been doing something in the line above marked out; has kindly welcomed and aided our brethren on their arrival; has suggested that, in that English city of Hong Kong, mission work among the Chinese could be conducted most successfully, upon the very plan which we use here; and is very desirous himself to send native preachers into the neglected interior districts, asking whether our Chinese brethren here could not help him so to do. The emphatic testimony which these bear to his good judgment and general efficiency, as well as to his Christian character, makes both the work he has done, and the work he wants to do, confirm my confidence in the suggestion I have made.
THE CHILDREN’S PAGE.
We make the following extracts from letters of Mr. A. E. White, one of our missionaries to Africa, to his former teachers at Hampton Institute:
I have just returned from the Shangay Mission, where I have been for near two weeks (this mission is carried on by the United Brethren of Ohio.) The brother there sent for me to come and spend some time with him, and to give him some advice in regard to his work while I was there. This mission is on the mainland, and one can see more of the habits of the people than he can here. When their children have gotten up to be two or three years old they send them to the bush, called the Purroo and Bundoo. The Purroo is the place where they send the boys, and the Bundoo where they send the girls. They keep them there for a good many years, and cut on their backs the shape of a hamper-basket, and teach them the use of the country medicines and the way of worshipping the heathen’s gods, and all the heathen’s habits. If a man wants to marry, he can go to the Bundoo Bush and pay eight pieces of cloth, of two yards each, and take any girl he wants. After these boys have spent all the time which the chief says they must spend in the bush, they come out and go to whatever trade they have learned. Some are doctors, others teachers, and some are farmers. The doctors go around with their medicine, and sell it at a very high price; and when they attend the sick they carry a board about one foot long and nine inches wide, with a bottle of ink and brush. On this board they write, and then wash the ink off and give it to the sick to drink. Then they have various things to sell to keep away sickness and to give good luck. These children are taught all kinds of vice, and they think it is right—such things as lying and stealing. They are very easy to teach, and they put a great deal of faith in the person who teaches them, and whatever they are taught they believe. So one can see that the hope of this country lies in the children. It is a hard thing to get a heathen to turn from his god; and I believe you can only do this by prayer. The missionaries who want to do anything must use the weapon of prayer. The chief of Shangay is an educated man; he spent eight years in the high school of England. When you find one of the heathen educated, he is ten times worse than an uneducated one. This man was taken up and sent to England and educated there. If he had been trained under some good missionary, he might have been of use to the country.
I have given the school to Mr. Miller, one of the new comers, and I have taken other work. We had an examination, and all the people seemed to be pleased. We had, also, pieces recited on the stage, and a dinner for the children and the friends of the school. The people said that they never saw anything of the kind in Africa before. I think now we have about 140 pupils that are coming. We don’t have that many any one day, but they are in attendance. I have some fine boys in school, and one whom I want to send to Hampton next fall, if I can find a place there for him, and some one to help me pay for his board. Please ask the General if he can have a place there? He is the boy who has been with me since I have been here, and I have taken him and want to do all I can to educate him.
Last Sunday was the happiest day I have seen for many. We had thirteen new members to unite with the church—twelve on profession; and one who once was a member, and was shut out when the church was closed, came back and united the second time. And of this number, six were members of my Bible-class—four were my best boys, as I call them, and two I own as the fruits of my own labor. The young man whom I have already written you about was one. He has been trying ever since his brother became a Christian on the ship, and at last has made up his mind to follow Christ. You can imagine how I felt to see all these—my boys—standing up acknowledging Christ to be their Saviour. There was another of my class to unite with us, but he was sick and could not. I hope he will be able by the next Communion-day.