of Christian parents. These are of course far and away the best pupils if the parents have been really Christian in character. (b) The children of well-to-do heathen. Of these we have not had many, but the few we have had have varied very greatly; some settling down at once to the conditions of schoollife, others, having had their own way in everything at home, proving most intractable pupils and leaving before the course was finished. (c) Children of poor heathen. When the parents have paid a little towards the support of these they have shown much interest in the boy's progress. Where the scholars have been admitted free, they have generally left them entirely to us. (d) Beggar children; some found by missionaries, some left at our entrance. It may seem strange to those who have had no experience in this work, but it is true that it is very hard work to get these beggar children to enter the school. Almost all that we have had have been literally babies who have known nothing of what was being arranged for them. There are dozens of boys who beg regularly at the street corners near this compound in all weathers, who will not agree -possibly they dare not agree-to enter our doors, for they make a good income in their present state. If such are admitted two difficulties have to be met: the one, that they object to cleanliness and routine; the other, that they are often so dreadfully contaminated in mind that they are a source of danger to the morality of the school. If possible, boys of this sort should be placed for a year or two with a reliable Christian Chinese family, so that they may have time to forget much of the evil they know.

Such are the classes of "raw material" which we receive. But if I were asked from which of the last three classes we have got the best results, I could not say. One of the best lads in the present fifth form was originally a little beggar on the Hankow streets. The best musician we have at present is the son of heathen parents, who were induced by a missionary to let the lad come into the institution, and I feel sure that to-day there are few lads of his age in China who are his superiors in character, whilst his spiritual experience is deep and real. The only safe rule in a school of this sort seems to be that adopted by great institutions like Barnardo's Homes; judge each case by the needs of the applicant and trust in God and our Saviour to mould these young hearts to His own glory.

There is, of course, one great advantage in receiving a boy from a mission or an individual rather than from off the streets; one can always in an emergency send the boy away from the school. It has been a most salutary thing in one or two instances to be able to send a boy away for a few weeks or months, for our boys soon learn the extent of their privileges when they are deprived of them for a time. When a boy comes off the street, there is no possibility of sending him away. And again, it is always nice when a boy is sent to the school for definite training with a view to some particular piece of work at the end of his stay with us.

EXPENSE.

We have

With prices as they are at present, it seems impossible to keep the expenses per head for tuition, clothing, bedding, barber, laundry, and food within Tls. 40 per annum. at present thirty-four boys-out of the sixty whom we hope to accommodate when our buildings are completed-and the expenses will tend rather to increase than diminish as our numbers grow, for the staff of masters will have to be augmented.

NEED.

When the Editor asked me to write on this theme, he mentioned two matters to which I might refer the need which is existent and the apologetic which these institutions provide. As to the former there is surely no need to write. A need which is felt in lands like England and America and which in those lands draws out so much sympathy and support, is surely only to be described by the word stupendous in a land where the only possible ways in which the blind can earn a living-I speak of men and boys alone-are fortune telling, reciting vile ballads, or begging. A blind man in England is at least sure of a life of inactivity and monotony in a poor-house; a blind man here must either deceive or beg. An institution in every large area in China where these waste products can be turned into useful implements for the extension of Christ's kingdom, is surely to be classed among the necessary aims of each mission or group of missions in this land. And when one turns in thought to the blind women and girls who, if they are allowed to live, so often live lives that make one say: "Good for them if they had never been born!" then indeed the call for blind schools becomes clamant.

APOLOGETIC.

But

On this theme one has little to say. From time to time officials and gentry have visited the school. At somewhat rare intervals donations have reached us from heathen Chinese sources, though not as often as from Christian Chinese. A former Governor of the province, while in office, requested that the senior boys might be sent to his Yamên to let him see our methods, for he professed anxiety to begin a school, but nothing has ever come of the project. All the Chinese who come are impressed, and it is safe to say that among the myriads of Chinese around us there are none, who know of its existence, who misjudge the motives which govern us in our work. I am afraid it is equally true that the majority totally misunderstand us. They do not say, as they did in the early days, that we must have an ulterior and wicked purpose, but few if any believe that the idea of "merit" is absent from our minds. fear that to very, very few of the Chinese is this institution a revelation of the meaning of Christianity, and I do not therefore regard it as of much apologetic value at present. But I believe that as the influence of our work spreads, the Chinese will come to see in this and other such philanthropies a proof that Christianity is not only a doctrine but also a life.

I

Is the Medical Missionary An Ice Breaker?

W

subject.

BY W. H. DOBSON, M.D., YEUNG-KONG.

HEN I was requested to discuss the present utility of medical missions I willingly complied, realizing that apparently there is still some doubt on this Let us first review the conditions :

I. A heathen people.

2. People that have been compelled to doubt the good intentions of foreigners.

3. People who are insular to the extreme.

4. People who must now be dealt with as individuals; the nation and

communities being generally open.

5. Disease is universal.

6. No system of medicine or sanitary knowledge.

7. No sanitary laws, customs or habits.

8. Practically no supply of natives educated in Western medicine.

9. No standard of medical excellence other than the medical mission.

ΙΟ.

No adequate understanding of Christ or of Christian love.

In addition there are the following facts:

I.

The command of the Master to heal and preach.

2.

The medical mission is practically the only one to the upper classes. 3. That the relation of physician and patient is unique.

What is medical mission work and what is the measure of its utility? Is it "philanthropy" as distinguished from Christian charity? Many at home reply "yes," and many on the field assume it is becoming so. I believe there are reasons for this assumption, which will be considered later. Are we to understand Christ to command us to heal only those who would eventually become Christians? Did He Himself do so? Was His healing solely philanthropic, or was it for the purpose of demonstrating Christian love and truth, either to the individual healed or to the bystanders? Did He use His healing power merely to "break the ice" so that people would permit Him to live among and preach to them,-a shield from behind which to declare the Gospel? Do some of us look upon the medical work as an encumbrance necessary in 'breaking wintry ice," and as summer comes to be cast aside ? In other words, do we hold up our medical ability as a glittering trinket to appease heathen powers, or do we make it a concrete living standard of Christian love and endeavor? If the former, then medical missions have served their purpose; if the latter, then their usefulness has but just begun.

I believe many have thoughtlessly looked upon this branch of Christ's service as a costly temporary expedient. Is there a larger purpose? Why did Christ heal the sick? It seems to me in the answer to this we have the solution of our main question. When the Great Physician put forth His hand to heal, was it not for the purpose of either drawing a lesson or illuminating some deep truth? See Him at the bedside of the daughter of Jairus. "Death is but a sleep," He teaches. The woman came behind in the crowd and touched His garment. Before He would let her go the Physician must implant the necessary truth. "Your faith hath made you whole," says He. A man was let down in a bed through the roof for cure of the body, but, "that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins," is impressed by the healing. Sabbath observance was the theme when the withered hand was restored. See how He meets that demoniac and creates another preacher of the Gospel to go and "tell what great things the Lord hath done

for him." Medical missions, it would seem, are a practical exemplification that Christianity is not simply a dogma, but a life of love expended for others. The source of life, the Father's love, the brotherhood of man, faith, the presence of the kingdom of God, are taught through the agency of medical work. Ours is not merely a fleeting task of "ice breaking.' Preaching the Gospel is properly the whole object of our presence in heathen lands. The great question from the time. of Christ to the present is not what to sow, but how to sow. While speaking in America I told of a woman who had just come to the hospital and who asked, "Can Jesus talk?" I inquired what the folks at home would have said in reply. One lady in the audience, closing her eyes, said: "I would have told her yes, that He speaks to us through His words and works from the foundation of the world." I replied that had I so answered her, she would have been as ignorant as before. Is is not in striving to answer such queries that we open chapels, hire keepers, put out tracts, invite people to come and listen to singing, instrumental music, sermons, lectures; do we not use parables, sometimes feed the hungry, comfort the bereaved, smooth the brow of pain, perform surgical operations, open schools, young men's associations, hospitals, etc.? Are these labors undertaken simply as philanthropy?

When we speak of utility should we speak from the "ice breaking," the monetary, or the statistical viewpoint? Or should we conceive of the medical work as a necessary ingredient of the whole effort to evangelize the masses? A member of our own mission has recently published a letter in which it is stated that more can be obtained from schools than from the more costly medical work. His method of reasoning would, no doubt, interest us. Another has asked how many patients have become Christians.

In the human body there are several large secreting glands without outlets. Only recently has their utility been established. They have what is called an internal secretion which circulates with the blood through the body, tempering, expanding, contracting, increasing, or diminishing the functions in accordance with the needs of the economy. Removal of these glands disorganizes the body and death or a lingering uselessness ensues. The surgeon instead of ignorantly sacrificing these glands now honors and aids their functions, not at the expense of but in conjunction with the needs of the healthy