LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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222 MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. sion lost heart entirely and was ready to abandon the contest as hopeless. Internal difficulties aggravated the situation. Some of Mr. Neesima's associates felt that too much prominence was given to the strictly educational work of the station. The entire separa­tion of the native churches from the Board was openly advocated, a course which Mr. Neesima believed to be impracticable in the early stages of their existence. The settlement of all conflicts between the students and the faculty, between the native pastors and their foreign associates, between the Mission and the au­thorities, devolved upon Mr. Neesima, and he was often misunderstood and misrepresented by those whom he respected and loved. Many of his best J ap­anese friends e1·iticised him severely for receiving money from Mr. Hardy for his support, -money which, in view of the slender salary paid by the Board, was indispensable, -and this criticism assumed at times the form of bitter personal attack. In addition to the cares inseparable from his position as head of the school, his activity in organizing the native mis­sionary work involved so large a con·espondence and such frequent journeys that for many years he was practically without 1·est or vacation. "0," he ex­claimed at one time to Dr. Davis, "that I could be crucified once for Christ, and be done with it." And yet Mr. Neesima was exactly the man for the place. Anglo-Saxon straightforward methods of procedure, so foreign to the semi-indifferent, indirect Japanese mind, made a middle-man an absolute necessity, and both by nature and education Mr. Neesima was admi­rably fitted for this position. He knew enough of both parties to sympathize with each, and his great heart of love was ever between them to prevent violent con-

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