LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA

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230 MISSIONARY WORK IN JAPAN. conveniently. There is no vacation in this hottest part of the summer. My correspondence and these callers still keep me busy. I will try to get off from home as soon as possible, else it will kill me. With regard to my opinion on mission work, I think the plan of Mr. --will cut it short. The native churches ought to be independent. Most of them are striving to be so quite hard. Here is no lack of in­dependent spirit. But some churches are like babes. Mr.--'s plan is to make men out of babes at once. He says the native churches ought not to receive any foreign money; that the native missionary society ought not to receive any aid from the Mission; that the Doshisha ought to be supported by the native churches; that the girls' school should be in their hands; that the theological school and newspapers ought to be sustained by them. It is bard work for most of these churches to support their pastors and defray all other necessary expenses, and too much for sixteen or seventeen poo1· churches to take so much into their hands independently of the Mission. None of us have any beggarly spirit, yet there are some things which we cannot efficiently do. If this plan be carried out our school will be weakened and the number of theological students diminished. I would call this a poor and short-sighted policy. To save money is to lose our best workers. "V e are hoping to start a vernacular theological course to educate some in Chinese and Japanese without English. Those who have a thorough English education ought to occupy central places, and those who are taught in Chinese and Japanese can be assistant w01·kers. Since last May oux Buddhist priests are wide awake. They have plenty of money to hire scholars to attack

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