Part 3

We are also much in need of a house of worship, as the school-house (18×24) is too small and inconvenient for that purpose. Dr. Atkinson informs me that he raised $50 while East to help in this object, but about $200 more will be required to supplement the work of the Indians.

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THE CHINESE.

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CLIPPINGS FROM THE FORTHCOMING ANNUAL REPORT OF OUR CALIFORNIA AUXILIARY.

[BY REV. W. C. POND.]

GENERAL VIEW.—“The past year has been one of blessing at almost every point of our experience. We have to record our roll of members unbroken, so far as we know, by any stroke of death; our schools increasingly prosperous, on the whole, from the beginning of the year to its close; our work larger and better, we trust, than ever before; a deeper and more general interest in it, we have reason to think, on the part of the churches, and our receipts, especially in the way of gifts made directly to our own treasury, much larger than in any preceding year.”

OUR WORK AS A WHOLE.—“Fifteen schools have been sustained for a longer or shorter period in the year, a gain upon last year’s work of three schools. Of these fifteen, nine were sustained the entire year, with no vacation at all, except for two or three days at the annual holidays. Of the other six, all except one were commenced during the year, and all but two are still in operation. One of them is still an experiment, and may be discontinued; the others give such promise of usefulness—are, indeed, already bearing such good fruit—that I think they are experiments no longer.”

“We had at the close of the previous year 20 teachers and helpers employed, six of whom were Chinese. At the close of this year 27 laborers—nine Chinese. The total number of months of missionary service is 286, being more by 40 than in any other year of our Mission’s history. We have great satisfaction now in all our workers. Our Chinese helpers give us especial joy, as being themselves the fruit of our mission-work. They are faithful, zealous, and, generally, wise; and God owns their labors, setting His seal upon their ministry by using it for the salvation of lost souls. We greatly desire to call others into this service, hoping that when they have learned among us to teach by teaching, and to preach by preaching, it may please the Master to use them not only to carry the good news of a Saviour to the Chinese in America, but to evangelize also some of the myriads in their own land. The total number of pupils enrolled was 1,632, an increase upon the previous year of 76, even as that year showed an increase of 67 on the one further back. The average membership month by month reaches an aggregate of 562, a gain upon the year preceding of 78, and the average attendance was 288, a gain of 36. We find like gains in the columns representing those who have ceased from idol worship and who give evidence of conversion. How many began the new life during the year it is impossible to state accurately. No month has passed without some accessions to our Association of Christian Chinese, and to join that Association is to confess Christ. I estimate the hopeful conversions at 56, and the total number brought to repentance since our mission-work began at more than 325. The contributions of these Chinese brethren to the work of Christ through the treasury, either of our Mission or of their Association, amount to about $1,900.”

POSTSCRIPT.

The Secretary takes the liberty to add, by way of bringing the story of our work down to the date at which this report is issued, that the monthly reports for the first third of the present year—that is from September 1 to December 31—show that the enrolled membership of our schools, month by month, has averaged 677, against a like enrollment last year of 473; the aggregate average attendance 325, against 215 last year. And the total number enrolled in all the schools up to December 31 was, this year. 1,104; last year, 753. So the work grows; may the gracious results multiply in far greater proportion! Brethren, pray for us.

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CHILDREN’S PAGE

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BOY LIFE IN CHINA.

HANGCHOW, China.

My dear children: I think you will be interested to hear something about the life of boys in China. Well, to begin at the beginning, when a little baby-boy makes his appearance into the world he is welcomed very warmly. When he is a month old a grand ceremony is gone through; the child is washed, and its head shaved, all except two little tufts of hair on each side of the head behind the ear, which are tied tight and stick out at right angles from the head. He is dressed up very smartly, and a feast is given. Up to about six or seven years old, boys are allowed to do much as they like; but after that they are taken to school, and learn reading, writing and manners. They do not seem, as a rule, to be taught arithmetic; but the master is very particular about his pupils’ manners. In every school there is put up opposite the entrance a tablet in honor of Confucius, and all the pupils have to bow low before it, holding up their books with both hands towards it, both on entering and leaving school; they also bow in the same way to the master. The books which they learn at school are full of the sayings of the wise man Confucius, who was born 551 B.C., and lived about the time when the Jews were returning from their captivity in Babylon. Confucius himself did not write any books, but his disciples wrote down his wise sayings, and the boys at school learn them off by heart.

It is astonishing what memories these Chinese boys have, and what a number of pages they will repeat straight off, as fast as their tongues can go, and hardly stopping to take breath. They learn their lessons aloud, and consequently as you walk along the street you can tell when you are drawing near a school by the noise, which becomes simply a din if you enter; and you can only wonder how the children ever learn anything, and what the master has done to his ears to make them strong enough to bear all that noise. When the boys repeat their lessons they stand with their backs to their master, and, swinging their bodies from side to side, gabble off the words as fast as they can, without any stops except for breath. They are not expected to understand what they learn till they have been many years at school.

I dare say you wonder whether the Chinese school-boys play any games. They do not know anything about such nice games as cricket, foot-ball, marbles, etc. But at the new year they have a grand time of flying kites.

The streets at that time look quite gay with groups of people, dressed, not as at other times, in dark cotton clothes, but in silks and satins of crimson, green, blue, purples and various hues, often with beautifully embroidered sleeves, and jackets often lined with fur. The children look particularly smart, being adorned with gay caps and hats, ornamented with gilt figures or Chinese characters, especially the Chinese character which means “happiness.” The Chinese kites are very elaborate, and are generally in the shape of some animal—a gigantic butterfly, a centipede, a bird, a dragon, etc.; and it is a fine sight to watch such a kite rise, rise steadily in the still, clear atmosphere, till it becomes almost a speck. Sometimes they fly these kites at night, and send lighted lanterns up after them, which startle the unwary into imagining there are new stars appearing in the sky!

But you know, dear children, that these Chinese have evil hearts as well as we, which need the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Will you pray that they may receive this great blessing?—_Mary Elwin in C. M. Juvenile Instructor._

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RECEIPTS FOR JANUARY, 1882.

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MAINE, $462.36.

Bangor. Central Cong. Ch. and Soc. $50.00 Bath. Central Ch. and Soc., $25.70; Mrs. J.C., $1 26.70 Belfast. Rev. Wooster Parker 5.00 Bethel. F. B. 1.00 Brunswick. C. R. S. 0.50 Bucksport. Miss L. S. Barnard 5.00 Castine. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00 Dennysville. —— 21.68 East Madison. Eliza Bicknell 4.00 Ellsworth. L. F. D. 0.50 Gorham. Bbl. of C. and $2.75 _for Selma, Ala._ 2.75 Hallowell. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Fisk. U._ 5.17 Hallowell. 2 Bbls. C., _for Talladega, Ala._, and _McIntosh, Ga._ Hampden. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for John Brown Steamer_ 10.00 Hiram. Sab. Sch., _for Selma, Ala._ 1.00 Litchfield. Miss Maria Plimpton 2.00 Limerick. Rev. T. N. Lord 2.50 Orland. Mrs. S. T. Buck and daughters, to const. SARAH E. BUCK L. M. 30.00 Portland. State St. Ch., $75; High St. Ch. and Soc., $100; Mrs. L. D., $1 176.00 Portland. “Ladies of Maine,” _for Lady Missionaries_ 50.00 Portland. Brown Thurston’s S. S. Class, High St. Ch., _for Student Aid, Hampton N. & A. Inst._ 25.00 Portland. Bbl. of C. and 50c. _for Freight_, by Mary A. Perkins 0.50 South Paris. Cong. Ch. 6.06 Union. Cong. Ch.; _for Freight_, $1.50; Cong. Sab. Sch., $3.50; _for Selma, Ala._ 5.00 Union. Rev. F. V. N., 50c.; Mrs. H. R. B., 50c. 1.00 Weld. Rev. D. D. T. 1.00 Wells. D. Maxwell 20.00

NEW HAMPSHIRE, $462.47.

Amherst. Cong. Ch., $15.60; Mrs. C. M. B., $1 16.60 Amherst. “Friends,” Box C. and $2, _for Wilmington, N.C._ 2.00 Antrim. “A Friend” 10.00 Acworth. D. C. A. 0.50 Concord. South Ch. and Soc. 50.11 Dover. First Parish Ch. and Soc. 91.16 Dublin. Mrs. L. B. Richardson, $10; Malachi Richardson, $10; R. E., $1, _for John Brown Steamer_ 21.00 East Alstead. S. D. H. 1.00 East Jaffrey. Rev. J. C. Staples and family, _for Marietta, Ga._ 5.00 Exeter. “A Friend” 30.00 Exeter. Ladies, 3 Bbls. of C. and $5, _for Freight, for Talladega C._ 5.00 Fisherville. PRISCILLA P. GAGE, $30, to const. herself L. M.; Jeremiah C. Martin, $16.25; Mrs. A. W. Fiske, $5 51.25 Francestown. R. G. C. 0.51 Great Falls. W. H. M. A. Aux., Bbl. of C., _for Student Aid, Fisk U._ Greenland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.00 Hancock. “Cheerful Workers,” Bundle C., val. $8. Haverhill. Eliza Cross 5.00 Hillsborough. Mrs. N. T., $1; Mrs. J. G., $1 2.00 Lancaster. E. M. K. 0.50 Lebanon. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $27; O. S. M., 50c. 27.50 Londonderry. C. S. P. 1.00 Lyme. T. L. Gilbert ($1 of which _for John Brown Steamer_) 3.00 Manchester. I. G. M. 0.51 Mason. L. J. G. 0.50 Milford. Cong. Ch. 12.29 Mount Vernon. J. A. S. 1.00 New Ipswich. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $10.50; G. T., $1 11.50 New Ipswich. By Mrs. L. A. O., $1 _for Freight_; Dea. R. T., 50c. 1.50 Pembroke. C. C. S. 0.51 Peterborough. Union Evan. Ch. to const. MRS. ELLEN M. HATCH, L. M. 30.00 Peterborough. Mrs. Eph. Holt ($1 _for John Brown Steamer_) 2.00 Plymouth. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00 Rindge. Collected by Mrs. Street, _for Almeda, S.C._ 4.55 Rindge. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 2.55 Short Falls. J. W. C. 0.50 South Newmarket. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.81 Stratham. Cong. Sab. Sch. 15.00 Tilton and Northfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.00 Wilton. A. B. C. 0.50 Winchester. Cong. Ch. 2.62 —— “Friend of Colored People” 3.00

VERMONT, $811.15.

Barnet. Cong. Sab. Sch. 10.37 Bennington. Second Cong. Ch. and Soc. 74.66 Bradford. Bbl. of C., val. $35, _for Charleston, S.C._ Brandon. “J. L. H.” 10.00 Brownington. S. S. Tinkham 5.00 Chester. G. H. C. 0.60 East Hardwick. Cong. Sab. Sch., $27.78; O. P., 50c.; S. W. O., 51c. 28.79 Granby and Victory. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 2.00 Lowell. Cong. Ch. 7.68 McIndoes. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 12.00 Milton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.15 Middlebury. Cong. Sab. Sch. 21.80 Montpelier. Bethany Ch. and Soc. 12.80 Newport. Willie Richmond 30.00 Northfield. O. D. E. 1.00 North Thetford. Cong. Ch. and Soc., $7.70; Mrs. E. G. B., 50c. 8.20 Pawlet. A. F. 1.00 Pittsfield. H. O. G. 0.50 Pittsford. N. P. Humphrey 10.00 Pittsford. “Dea. A. D. T.,” $4; Dr. and Mrs. Smith, $2; Mrs. A. W., $1; H. K., 50c. 7.50 Pittsford. Mrs. Swift’s S. S. Class, _for S. S. First Cong. Ch. Atlanta, Ga._ 3.00 Randolph. Mrs. Isaac Nichols 2.00 Royalton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 17.50 Saint Albans. A. O. Brainerd (ad’l), to const. MRS. JANE E. BRAINERD L. M. 25.00 Saint Albans. Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch., Young Men’s Class, _for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 13.00 Saint Johnsbury. North Cong. Ch. 283.99 Stowe. Cong. Ch., to const. DEA. H. S. ATKINS, L. M. 46.42 Waitsfield. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 16.88 Westfield. Cong. Ch. 2.00 West Rutland. M. Newton ($5 of which _for John Brown Steamer_) 10.00 Worcester. Cong. Ch. 3.31 —————— 685.15

LEGACY.

Jericho. Estate of Hosea Spaulding, C. M. Spaulding, $60; A. C. Spaulding, $30; E. E. Spaulding, $18; Nellie M. Percival, $18 126.00 —————— 811.15

MASSACHUSETTS, $10,925.60.