LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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206 MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. This is partly due to the successful starting of the school and his steady work there, but largely also to his marriage and settlement in a happy home of his own. " The house above referred to was provided through the generosity of Mr. J. M. Sears of Boston, who also sent money for the erection o£ a chapel. It was for several years impossible to secure preaching places in the city, and during this time services were held in Mr. Neesima's house and in the adjoining chapel, where two hundred people often assembled to hear the gospel. On September 18, 1876, the new buildings were dedicated. Of this event Mr. Neesima writes to Mr. and Mrs. Hardy:-"I must express my heartfelt thanks to you for your having led and educated me in such a way that I might found a Christian institution on my dearly beloved soil. As you know, we started our school in a hired house, but having found this very inconvenient, we began the process of building two months ago. The buildings are three in number, two of which contain recitation rooms and twenty-four rooms for students; while the other is a small structure and is used for a kitchen and dining-room. They are simple, but solid, and look very pretty in the large open space about them. We were permitted to dedicate them to the Lord the day before yesterday. The exercises con­sisted of a prayer of invocation in English and a prayer of dedication in Japanese; a sketch of the history of the school, and the singing of hymns in both lan­guages. Addresses in English were made by Mr. Doane and Mr. Learned, and in Japanese by Mr. Yamamoto and myself. All but two of our Kyoto

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