The times., 1897-05-30

sions In presenting the contribution the.
| go through little Chinese ceremonial
one scholar collects the money from al
the others; then he places 1t on a bible
| which he holds with both hands, ane
| bows low to tie superintendent, to whom
| he hands the whole offering; this Is 8
mark Of respect from an inferior to hIs
/ superior.
1t Is difficult to get enough teachers
as one is required for each pupil, ant
some scholars, after waiting weeks fol
an instructor, are compelled to drop out.
few experienced teachers take tive
pupils, hut this Is not satisfactory to the
latter, as they like to nave ones entire
attention during the brief and far-bctween
hours given the lessons; besides, 1t IL
harder for the teacher
Before the bell calls to- order, Mrs. Col
lins takes her stand near the door, and
as each cne enters she cordially shakes
bis hand-they are much given to hand
shaking-and extends some pleasant greet
ing Tables, with boxes containing all
the implements of warfare with knowI
edge, are placed In rows across the room,
and at each table are two chairs, one
for theinstructor the other'one for the pupil,
When seated they form variega ted group;
here is the Chinanan, his little feet en-
cased in gay-colored shoes, with an enor.
nous amount of cloth in his, blouse; and
there the American woman. with most of
her cloth In sleeves and shoulder frills,
which look like wings.
When ] visited the school a week ago
there were fortyfive pupils and thirty
four teachers present; eight or ten of the
former wore American costumes, but
there were only one or TWO shorn OF their
pigtails. Miss Somers raped for order,
and announced the hymns to he sung
This part Of the program was executed
with much vigor and comparatively good
expression. They seemed to put their
whole hearts as well as voices in the sing
ing. After prayers the lesson began, and
with it the hun. and buzz alva US prevalent
iD schoolrooin. Different teachers
have different methods of iInparting in
struction Each is free to pursue her own,
and the rapidity OF her progress with q
pupil depends largely upon the knowledge
which he already has of ourlanguage; when
he has none the process is very laborious.
The beginners are Taught Bible verses by
rote, ara 10 read from primer W hic b
has Chinese-E English dictionary Bible
verses are typewritten, with each English
word accompanied by those funny little
marks, like the print of "a hens foot to us
but conveying world of meaning To them
These verses are passed around To each
table; the teacher spells and pronohnces
the English word, and then points to its
translation. Ii the scholar is uuahle 10
read even his own language the process of
teaching is more complicated and difficult
1t is a great pleasure to them to be able
to recte verses before the school. aud thus
show how well they can pronounce Mrs.
Collins has "a pupil who init ates her method
OF talking, and uses the broad "a" When
asked the time one day he replied: .Hahf
pahst FOUR
When the tim for the lesson had expired,
Mrs Collins took her place on the superin-
tendent's IS platform and began the ex-
PLANTATION OF the days lesson: it was on
the commandments; she read one line In
English and then repeated il In the pupils
own language. Her explanation was also
In Chinese, and While unintelligible 10
teachers, held the interest OF the scholars
completely. There was no despair on
any of the faces then. Occasionally she
caused n ripple of laughter among her
auditors, hut the rest of us felt. that IL
we laughed too, it would he merely from
sympathy and not because we understood.
At the close of the lesson six young men
sang one OF the Gospel hymns in the
Chinese language, but retained our melody
and meter. After the closing prayer an
other song was sung and the benedlction
pronounced by one OF the scholars in his
native tongue.
The scholars seldom fail co come To Sun
day school, but one of the few. things that
occasionally keep them away lis a christen-
ing. This Is very important cerem ony
with them and takes place when baby
is one month old. It's head is shaved "a nd It's
mother gives it a name About two years
ago was the last time that the school was
depopulated for this reason Sometimes
the scholars make apt replies to the ques-
tions asked them. One was asked the
rleaning of the word sad ard replied
'ailee sarnee, no home, no money, no
frie nd" At the same time laughable
mistakes occur. One pupil was asked
If he kept the Sabbath holy. "Oh, yes.
yes he cried, ION Saturday evening /
workce all nightee till four in the morning
to keepee from working on sunday
teacher wanted her Scholar to learn to
speak English more correctly, so She com
rnenced TO ask him questions
What did you have for breakfast this
morning, Moy?"
"0h not muchee -riceand dog pork chop"
was the nonchalan MT reply.
S F RAMSEY.