_New Schools._--In this month of December, in which I am writing, we have thirteen schools in operation, a larger number than ever before. The Oroville school resumed its sessions December 1st under the care of Miss Helen Ostrom, whose father, once a missionary at Amoy, China, has taken pastoral charge of the Congregational Church in that place. It starts well, and engages the interest not only of the Chinese, but also of the better element among the Christian people of that town, to a greater degree, I believe, than ever before.
Of the two new schools, one is in Oakland, occupying an apartment kindly granted for the purpose by the Pacific Theological Seminary, situated about 1¼ miles from the school already sustained in rooms supplied by the First Congregational Church. It is near the Plymouth Avenue Church, and will, we trust, be taken under its wing. Miss Maria W. Bye is its faithful and devoted teacher. The other new school is at Point Pedro, the Chinese fishing village of which some account was given in the December MISSIONARY. On visiting the place I found it to consist of six or seven distinct villages situated on the shore of little coves, and separated from each other by points of greater or less altitude jutting out boldly into the Bay. The population, estimated at about 600, is thus divided into little groups of, say, 100 people each; the distance from the nearest to the most remote being not less than two miles. It calls for _two_ schools, and affording, as it does, a field for missionary service among women and children as well as men, it needs at least one teacher able to give not only evenings, but the daytime also to the work. We are at present feeling our way under conditions quite different from those in any of our older schools, praying that the wisdom from above may save us from the mistakes into which our own unaided counsel would plunge us certainly; and that, as we learn how to reach these dark and scattered multitudes, we may have means adequate to the task. “As thy days so shall thy strength be.”
_The Money Question._--Many who count themselves specially prudent find no room for the exercise of faith in matters of cash. But I have not so read either the word or the providence of God. We are walking by faith in laying out our missionary work for this new year. In place of the $1,610.70 received last year over and above the regular appropriation from the treasury in New York, we rely upon raising $5,000 this year. We cannot do the work waiting to be done, we cannot answer the Master’s call with any less sum than that. Every cent of it can be used without extravagance. Indeed we can practice a more effective economy on an income of $10,000 per annum than on one of $7,600. A certain amount is necessary even to _start_. There are some heavy expenses from which there is no escape however we may cut down the work, unless, indeed, we cut its life out altogether. These would not be materially increased even though the service rendered were increased three-fold. We look, therefore, first to the Master himself, and then to his people, whom he constitutes his almoners, to make up this $5,000. Humbly trusting to his faithfulness, we expect it to come, and we venture forward on that expectation. Already, from a helper in the “far East” comes an unsolicited gift of $100, and a pledge of another $100 if, thereby, this $5,000 can be secured. Already I seem to see in the near future full twenty-five or even many more of such $100 shares taken. Where shall I find the remainder? Are there no readers of the MISSIONARY who can aid me to answer this question? “Inasmuch as ye have done it even to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”