LIFE AND LETTERS OF JOSEPH HARDY NEESIMA
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APPEAL TO THE PUBLIC. 281 the very appointed time of God to save our nation. If we lose this fairest opportunity we fear it will never come back to us again. If we do not discharge our duty now, what will they say to us in that awful day before the throne of judgment? When I think of it my blood boils within my veins and my heart aches. I admire your motto: "Strike while the iron is hot." Do intensify your force ; do try to finish your chief work with a quarter of a century. Then you can apply the same force elsewhere. In the long run it will be more economical. Dear Sirs: I fear I have detained you too long. If any of my remarks offend you, I earnestly beg your pardon. But as a humble missionary of the cross and a sincere lover of my native land I cannot keep silence within me; and if I do, I fear I will cry out even in my midnight dreams. Allow me to add further that I have poured out my heart and my prayers, as well as my tears upon these pages. I found it a risk to my impaired health. But it was my fixed determination to win your favor at whatever cost. So I sincerely and prayerfully request your attention upon these plans. May God show you his own way. Your unworthy friend and fellow-laborer, JOSEPH H. NEESIMA. AN APPEAL FOR ADVANCED CHRISTIAN EDUCATION IN JAPAN. Old Japan is defeated. New Japan has won its victory. The old Asiatic system is silently passing away, and the new European ideas so recently transplanted there are growing vigorously and luxuriantly. Within the past twenty years Japan has undergone a vast change, and is now so advanced that it will be impos-
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