The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-01-26

in New York are specially welcomed Is one of the most interesting con ducted for the yellow race. The school meets each Sunday evening in @ large hall in East Fifty-ninth street. each session there are from 24 to 40 Chinamen. The pupils in the primary wear heir pigtails and the loose flow ing garments of the Celestial, but the pupils in the upper grades are garbed like Americans. To each pupil there is one teacher and the instruction is entirely individual.
 Many former pupils who have mas tered English and have Joined the pa rent church return each Sunday to act as interpreters and teachers for the beginners who cannot speak word of English or even read Chinese. The first effort is to give them enough Eng fish to understand the Christian mes sage which is to be given to them later. Primers and readers giving words of one syllable with their mean ing in Chinese characters are employed and for those who read Chinese, as the greater part do, for education is held in great respect in China, the work is comparatively easy, and in two or three years the pupils acquire talking abil- ity and some writing knowledge. The religious teaching, which is the prl- mary object of the school, is done by simple earnest exposition of the essen tials of Christianity occasional ad- dresses translated into Chinese, the repeating of simple prayers, the sing ing of hymns in English, and finally the singing of the doxology and other hymns in Chinese. The singing or an English hymn in Chinese gives most strange effect, for the reason that Chinese music is very different from any other and the teachers are under the necessity not merely of teaching a translation of the words, but have to train the ear and voice of their charges to an entirely new musical scale. In this school, which was started in 1886 with the approval Of the late Dr. John Hall. and has been con tinually under the superintendency or William Campbell, assisted by MISS '. c. Hall, an earnest worker among the Chinese and a corps of volunteer as sistants. more than 1000 Chinese have come into contact with ChristianitJ. The effect of this early work is be- coming very marked, as many of the former pupils are now sending thelr sons over from China to be trained in this place.
 Of the sincerity of the converts the workers have no doubt, and can instance
 
 have refused to work or even to deliver packages of laundry on Sunday. In one such case the Chinaman was actually haled to a magistrates court on the ground that he was trying to keep the laundry, but when the truth was known, both complainant and judge quickly agreed to his discharge and the laundry was promptly delivered on Monday. They say also that their pupils have resisted the attempts of some of the Chinese secret societies to wean them from their new faith, and that those who have once entered the church do not use opium, never gamble, and are moral and law abiding.
 Of all the influences of this school, however, probably the most significant result Is. the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church School at Ha Lo, in the Sun-ui District of Canton. In this town the "Chu' family is powerful and 1t so hap pens that the Chus and their friends and relatives have made the Fifth ave- nue church their special educational and spiritual center in New York. num- Der of graduates returned to Ha Lo and in a very short time the home school had word of the opening of a school with their former pupils as teachers In these schools English is taught. but Christianity is the prime object. Of the effect of the native Chinaman as a missionary, MT. Kin said. Il nave Just TeCtlNSo WoLa liOHi a missionary in China who writes that these American trained native workers are most effective.
 He even goes so far as to suggest that every effort be made to train more of these men in America and that more of them be sent out instead of miSsion- aries of other nationalities. When l re- turned to China some years ago after completing my education in the Lane seminary I noticed in far-away villages schools for English. l observed also that where one of our pupils was at work there was decided tendency to adopt short hair as the custom They also are aiding importantly the crusade against foot binding as a fashion for women. Yes, these men also aid in making a more friendly feeling toward America in China, because they can explain many American customs and to some extent, at least, these American trained Chinese also stimulate an interest in American trade tS