Sara Test

13th QUAHTERLY KEPORT, r'""'-- OCTOBER 1 - DECMER 31. 1907. CLR J 0 ions ARTHUR RUGH, SHAITGHAI. -- tv AOK, ------------------------------------- FOH fi tifi. The first two weeks of Octoher were spent in coining down from Kuling and preparing for the year's travel. Some time was given to the General Conmittee's finances, five weeks were spent visiting Horth China and Manchuria, one week was given to Soochow and Mngpo, four weeks to Hangchow and the Yangtse Valley, and about one week in the office ""between trips. Secretaria.1 Co-operation:- In the Spring Mr. Shen Wen Ching agreed to become National Chinese student Secretary, and we hoped that the long hunt for a man for this place.was ended. Ho/ever, during the summer he decided not to take up the work. As a compromise we a.sked him to give one month to visiting the schools in his section a.nd at the same tim^e choose"" four other men in different sections, and asked the missions interested to release these* men for a period long enough to visit the schools of their respective sections. In every case the man has ""been granted, ha,s Ei,ccepted the work, and in the case of the three men who have a,lready been used the plan has proven satisfactors'"". We are convinced much more satisfactory thaji our original plan of having one na,tional Secretary would have been. This plan gives us a man in each section, who speaks the right dis^lect, knows the customs and traditions of the schools, and in most cases knows the Missionaries. It gives us a man who is him-

self in school and acquainted with the life and prohlems of students. And it f-iTes us a man 'ffb.o is still 'isrorking on a missionary allovmnce as we could not ask a man to do if he should become a National Secretary. In raost missions there is not now a more acute jjrohlem than the holding of the ""best raen in mission employ on a mission alloT/ance. Had we come to the schools with a. high salaried man it ?Jould haa^e increased the discontent simong the Chinese teachers, a,nd in consequence would have closed the door of effective work b.b far as our work must ""be done through missionexies which is practically in toto. Under the present a,rrangement the missions have most cordially welcomed our nan, and have frequently used him before the students as an illustra/cion of the work a man can do for China if he continue in Christia^n ?/ork. All three of the m^en used have been conspicuously successful in the v/ork. All jiave exf)ressed their delight in it, and I think all are available for similar work agsiin. So the long vexing problem raaj be solved by training in each section one lee.ding m-an /ho will continue in massion employ and yet under our darection make occasional visits to the schools, ha,ve a lea,ding part in the training Conferences of the diffei'ent sections and become the student Secretgur^/ for tha,t section. We will need nattiona^l m.en for unifying the work, but visitation and Conferences would seem to be best provided for by the plan into which we heive been led by cir-ci;ffiista,nces. Conditions in the Schools:- Since the .National Convention la.st Spring there has been evident a new interest in the

movement. As,so ci at ions are loeing organized re.pidly. --i.Ti'it new ones having iDeen organized in tlie territory already visited. Mie nairie is one to conjure with ^^Si-e-re .fessionaries and heathen believe in our work, and though we do not in all cases deserve this confidence it is a good working asset. During the present student genera,tion rao st of the schools have not heen visited hy a secretary, and there is very much need of caxeful training of Committees and lea.ders and of detail develop-inent of the work. There is more enthusiasm than method, more zeal than knowledge. I fan not over estimating the work when I ssiy that, to prevent serious failure in the \/ork two things are necessary at once. Pirstjfour men ~ two foreip;ners and two Chinese should he giving all their time to this work at the earliest possible date. Second, Provision must he made hy which local secretaries can have time to give attention to the student part of their field. I wonder if it is- necessary to stop again on the' imijortance of these students in the future of China's history. They do not have money now, they will some day. They are not officisils now, they will rule the Orient t?/enty years from now. They v/ill lead the Church ten years from, now, and save the country ""by leading it right or it will never he saved. The Christ of all wisdom might have captured cities and worked with kings but he didn't. It was this same class of future leaders of the Church among whom he chose to spend most of His earthly life. I know of no place where we can strike so direct ly at China's redemption as here, and without going into details believe me the ""progrtim suggested a,hove is the very least we can do

sinning acrainst our opportunity sind Jeopardizing the future % ' ov.r movement, T^-Of^ram^- The schools arei having their closing exaraina-tion so that visitation will end until after Chinese Hew Year, irehrucvry 2nd-. Meantime we hope to produce four paiuphlets of which the visitation has revealed, a serious need. Pajaphlets on ""The President of the Associcition"" , ""The Bible study and lieligious meetings departments"", and one on the ""Ministry as a life work."" At the Scune time training Conferences for the newlj'' electcd officers and leaders will be planned to be held immedi^iately a.fter Chinese lew Year in five sections - Peking, Shanghsii, Kiulciang, for the Yangtse Valley, Canton and Poochow. The time after that will be given to visitation of regions not j/et visited and the planning of six surrnner Conferences which will be held during the summer. General.- Boone College Association, Episcopal Mission. Wiichang, deserves special mention. It has 110 men in well m.anaged Bible classes, heis fifteen of its chcicest men pledged for the Ministrj'"" and organized, into a Band which is a great force for right-eous.ness in the College, The Association has launched a vigorous campaign for an Association building which should by all means he secured. The leaders are not much e.cquainted with Association history and methods, and the work could be improved by the training of leaders but it is a vigorous and fruitfiil work, the best I have seen so far this year. G-overnment schools:- One of the very best Associations visited is the one in the Imperial Medical College in Tientsin.

- 5 "" -i 5 the Co?^lege^ orpcanized 'bj John Kenneth McKenzie, now under ^orerniaent control. The Association has thirty active members , daily prayer meeting, good social work and is a vigorous association as a, whole. The Association in lanj'-ang College, EJhanghai, has finished its first year with a, solid history, and is in growing condition. There is beginning to be a cheerjng demand for foreign teachers in Governraent schools which we need to be reexly to meet. Present inclinations are toward the reduction of the list of JapaneBe teachers in Chinese schools, and if the schools which are already calling for foreign teachers are well supplied this ought soon to be an open door to us with iiniaeasured possibilities. In all the Government schools the present situation seems to be that any school can be opened where the rien in charge locally can be led to see the value of the work. The student irolunteer id-ea:- Boone College has a real Volunteer Band though not bj-'"" that name. There is a very general desire among the students to evangelize China, but the average group of leaders in d:a Association blush when you ask how many men are preparing to enter the Ministry, and the exaltation of the Ministry as a life calling is the iimaediate need in this direction. In the twenty-five schools visited students are preaching regularly in the A community of the schools, and there is a cheering evangelistic spirit but the number of men on record as preparing for the ministry could be multiplied by five hundred withou,t da,nger of crowding the profession.

There is rather a new line of work which we need to take up rigorously, namely the work in the Theological school. The average Theological surmnary in China is not a group of pious College graduates but a group of faithful Christians who have never been in a modern school, have never seen the world or heard much of it, have never held any iissociation experience and sorely need its training. It is a new proposition in the Association world but needs onlj^' to be tackled and kept at to solve it. If I were looking over the world for something definite that needs and would yield to prayer, I think these students of China loom up as being worthy the best faith possible to any of us. Shanghai, January -Snd, 1908.