LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

232/372

216 MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. there I found them well prepared to be baptized. I held a meeting on the evening of my ar1·ival, preached to a large audience the next da.y, and held an inquiry meeting in the evening. This was repeated the fol­lowing day, and on the fourth day I baptized thirty persons and organized a church. It was the most S{}lemn and yet most joyful event I ever witnessed. 'lhe people thus far have paid all expenses and have never received any aid from without. They take pride in doing so, and have already raised a fund for the support of their church. There is a rich mer­chant among them, the most influential man in the place, although quite young. He keeps the pastor in his home and does everything for his comfort. He also supports a free reading-room, where daily, weekly, and monthly papers, secular and religious, are kept. When I left the place, numbers came with me as far as the outskirts of the town and expressed to me their gratitude for my coming." A school for girls had been opened two years be­fore in Kyoto at the house of one of the missionaries, and had recently been removed to a building erected for this especial object. A similar school had already been established in Kobe. The object of these schools was the fitting of young girls for the great work to be done among-the women of the land. Nowhere outside of these "Homes " could the growing class of Chris­tian workers find Christian helpmeets. Certain mem­bers of the Mission deemed this movement premature, but events proved that those who were sanguine were not sanguine enough. Mr. Neesima's "isit to Tokyo was for the purpose of securing permission for the res­idence of two .American ladies as teachers in Kyoto. This permission had been refused by the governor 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