Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-09-16
Story Is Told of Christian Work
Now Being Done In Northern China

| college. 49,. @.r-
The actual embodiment OF the
greater union in Picking in facts OF
brick and mortar is still unfulfilled.
awaiting indeed the fairy touch OF
| some friends silver or golden wand
/ surely not too far in the future.
What the Gray Towers See
| The college life in the shadow of
the towers is much the same as In
America. Chlorine smells unmistake-
| ably like its maledorous self even IL
1t has been generated by slender Chi.
| nese fingers. and Euclid himself
would recognize the angular figures
on the blackboards. But for the fact
| that the college boys wear long blue
| gowns instead Of black. and the Jokes
that provoke such hearty laughter fall
( on our ears with strange sound and
| rhythm, the Verdant freshman and
dear old senior are as recognizable in
Tungchou as New Haven. National
| idiosyncrasies they have. II is a far
cry from Randall to our college din.
ing-hall, where at 10 or at 4 o'clock
the black-haired youths fall hungri-
ly upon curious food of strange
odorousness and savbr, devised by
their own cteward committee and
their obedient servants. the cooks.
After the evening meal the campus
is cheerful place of shouts and
laughter, for all but the most grind.
ing of grinds betake themselves TO
their favorite sports, for which ample
athletic grounds provide tempting OPP
portunities. Soccer football, baseball,
basketball, squash, tennis, running.
skating, pumping. pitching You would
need to look long and hard for the
dignity of the long blue garment now.
These are tossed aside, along with
the centuries-old Chinese ideals of
scholarhood, which prescribed round
shoulders, hollow chest and the wad-
ding gait they described as square"
for anyone who followed in Confu-
Gus footsteps. In the old-fasbionod
classical school the benumbed stu
dents who swayed hack and forth
memorizing from in the morning
till 9 at night. with .wo short inter-
walls for meals, had little time, and
less taste for sports.
These Strengthening outdoor recre-
ations. and the games which the col
leSe Y. NJ. G.. A. has organized in
their attractive room, are the gifts
of the West and its ideals OF the sym
metrical life. The spirit of team work
and true craftsmanship and sair play
are as valuable in Chinese business
and politics as they are in America,
and what our students learn of ttiese
vital things under the gray towers
will count even more than the present
joys and benefits of the physical ex-
ercise. But glory is dear to the heart
of a college boy, and w1en two years
ago our college track team returned
from the All China Athlete Meet with
dazzling array of trophy cups, med
ais and ribbons, college pride ran
high. Had not the NORTH China Union
Arts College scored more points than
any other college entering the meet?
Cheers in China can be quite as deaf.
ening as Anglo-Saxon ones! Again
last spring, at the Far Eastern cIym-
pic, two of our men won high honors,
and our flag waved e4ultingly from
the tip of the highest tower
Where Students Come From
From many provinces, from crowded
cities and elemental farming hamIets,
come our students. The homes of
the butcher, the baker, the candle
stick maker" as well as of officials and
Confucian scholar send their sons to
acquire western learning in. our halls,
for the majority of the students are
from the sturdy middle class that is
the fiber and strength of China, and |
OF these more than half are farmers |
sons. Coming, as most of the lads |
do, from Christian homes, they have
studied their way up through the vii |
lage or city primary and grammar |
schools which are maintained by the /
three affiliated missions throughout |
their fields, with uniform curricu- |
lum, and through one of the seven col /
lege preparatory schools. In Tung-
chou itself, the promising small boy I
may begin with the kindergarten and
proceed automatically through anyone
Of the five primary schools, to the
grammar school of some fifty pupils
and four Chinese teachers, which in
provides the two lower grades
of the college preparatory, the last
two years being still given in the col
lege building, though separately or
ganized
Organizations flourish in this col
lege as in others-debating societies,
an English club, social clubs, class
and athletic association,
a volunteer band of those pledged to
enter the ministry and Y. NJ. c. A.
Each class has a festor from among
the faculty, who is kind OF honor
airy member and meets with them at
their bi-weekly class prayer meetings.
and treats them to games, goodies,
and advice whenever he can find time
The Y. NJ. C.. A. works through the
usual committees, finding its outside
work in teaching classes in the local
all, singing and preaching in any
nearby village that will give them an
,pen-air hearing of a Sunday after
loon, and in vacation time making
title lecturing and preaching tours
bout the countryside In bands OF four
II FIVE
Ind Where They Go
To call the roll of the two hundred