The _Irish Presbyterian Mission_ has a boys' school under the supervision of a clerical missionary, wherein 20 scholars, from 9 to 13 years of age, are instructed in geography, penmanship, and the course of (4) reading books used in the government schools at Hong Kong. They will learn, when more advanced, arithmetic and other subjects. There is also the nucleus of a girls' school, only two pupils, supervised by the missionary's wife, who teaches them plain sewing in addition to the above branches of knowledge.
Mr. Carson also contemplates starting a day school in the heart of the city, in connection with the above mentioned which are held in his compound.
The medical missionary of the Irish Presbyterian Mission has in his own compound a boys' school with 15 scholars, and in an adjacent building a girls' school with 9 scholars. Many of these are too young to learn much, but the elder ones learn geography (Wade's book), and three boys and three girls are taught to read and write English.
The _Scotch United Presbyterians_ have a mission here, but apparently neither in their boys' school, recently discontinued, nor in their girls' school, which numbers 14 scholars, has any foreign secular education been, except indirectly, imparted. The girls, however, are learning foreign needlework.
MY DEAR MR. BANDINEL: In our boys' school, which we have now discontinued, our object was to give the children of our church members a Chinese classical education, such as they would receive in a first class native school. Our principle was that of the grammar schools at home. Outside of the regular lessons, there was daily the "religious hour," or morning and evening class, where I instructed them in religious truth. I only bound myself to spend one hour per day with the scholars, and therefore never formally laid myself out to train them in foreign knowledge. But I have, of course, introduced all manner of subjects in my illustrations, making it a point incidentally to introduce whatever knowledge of historical and scientific subjects I myself possessed. The school room has always been well supplied with books. I think we have had almost every foreign work which has been translated, and we take in for the school, 1st, the Globe Magazine; 2d, the Scientific Magazine; 3d, the Child's Paper. I have several times had teachers who took a great interest in these periodicals, and who did what they could to make the subjects intelligible to their pupils. We still continue a flourishing girls' school. We also teach the Chinese classics there, and with great success; though the classics are, as it were, taught incidentally, and scripture history, &c., forms the bulk of the teaching. The girls are being taught foreign needlework, but have not made any very great attainments. But in most cases the direct teaching has borne mostly on Chinese subjects, and we have trusted to the personal influence of the foreigners to communicate foreign knowledge.