LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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108 SEMINARY COURSE AT ANDOVER. Chinese in the shoe-factory. They could not speak English at all, except their leader Ah Sing. When I went in there they took me for a Chinaman, but I could not understand them at all. So I took out a piece of paper and asked them to write down their questions. The first question was: What part of China did I come from ? My reply on the paper was: " I am not from China, but from Japan. I came from Y edo, the capital of Japan, and am studying now the words of God, intending to preach the crucified Sa­viour to my countrymen." This reply surprised them in no less degree. I wrote down still further about the love of Christ. They seemed quite intelligent, and one of them said Jesus Christ was the Son of God. I wished to converse with them still longer, but they could not stop their work very conveniently. I went through their working shop, dining-room, and sleep­ing-room. They still keep up their own way of living and use the chopstick to eat rice with. They are very economical. They wash and mend their own clothes and cultivate the vegetables for their own use. I think they shall not be able to make money so fast as some Y a:nkees can, hut will accumulate it by steady and gradual process. They have neither so much aspira­tion or patriotic feeling as some of our young J ap­anese have, but they are simply contented with a few accumulations of the almighty dollar. On the other hand, the ,T apanese are not very anxious of making money, but are always craving after the knowledge and ideas of the western civilization. They don't do it simply for themselves, but it is their intention to elevate and enlighten their native friends. They love their own country and are willing even to give up their own lives for her. So if they love truth they

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