LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

223/372

DEDICATION OF SCHOOL BUILDING. 207 Mission were present, and about seventy students, be­sides others from outside. .Mr. Yamamoto's remarks were brief but wonderfully appropriate. He is re­garded as one of our best thinkers, although bodily feeble and helpless. The existence of the Kyoto Mis­sion is largely due to him. He was convinced that an immoral country like Japan could not be purified by any other means than Christianity, and by his influ­ence and labor the proud and dignified governor li~­tened to us and at last smiled upon our efforts. In the dark and trying hours of last winter he stood up for us and did his best to persuade the governor. The latter made no inte1ference with our dedication exer­Cises. "You will be glad to know that of our forty-seven boarding students more than half are Christians. They have come to us with the purpose of studying the Bible and fitting themselves for the ministry. 'Ve are very fortunate to get such pupils at the outset. I pray that this school may be the nucleus of a future college and university for Japan. Our mission work has also bright prospects, the work being chiefly car­ried on by our students. A third church will soon be formed. My aged parents now worship God instead of idols, and my invalid sister, who grasps spiritual things faster than these aged ones, takes part in the prayer-meetings for women held at my house. My wife attends the Biblical exercises in the school. 'V e are perfectly happy together and I am trying to make my home like the Christian home I found in America." In September, 1876, the number in the school was increased by the arrival of thirty students from the province of Higo in the island of Kyushii. Their ac· cession was an important event in the early history of

※このページを正しく表示するにはFlashPlayer10.2以上が必要です