and Public Service are enjoyed even by
the smallest, and precede the happy hour when parents and near relatives
may see the scholars. At its conclusion all are hungry for the dinner,
which, though later than usual, proves well worth waiting for,
consisting as it does of the popular white bread and vegetables. The
afternoon closes with a service of praise.

Three times a day the children assemble in the large dining-hall for
meals. Over one thousand pounds of flour are used each week, and about
one hundred pounds of vegetables, in the preparation of the food. The
bread is steamed and eaten hot, and the midday meal generally consists
of flour and water, made into a paste, rolled out very thin, and cut
into long strips which are boiled for a few minutes, and when cooked
resemble macaroni. If a man's greatness consists in the small number of
his needs, the Chinaman must rank high. A bowl and pair of chop-sticks
is the sum total of the table requirements of each girl; a cotton wadded
quilt and a small, bran-stuffed pillow comprise her bedding, and a
cotton handkerchief will hold her neatly folded wardrobe. A child
usually owns no toy, and many have never thought of an organised
youthful festivity until they spend their first Christmas Day in school.
With bated breath they hear from their elders of the joys in store, and
watch secret preparations for presents to class teachers and
missionaries. Excitement reaches its highest point when, with silent
footstep, they creep into our courtyard in the winter dawn to sing
Christmas carols, and in place of the temple gongs and weird music of
heathen rites, the air rings with joyful strains as class after class
takes up the refrain: "Oh come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!" The
reputation of the evening illumination and Christmas-tree is so
widespread, that two small newcomers were heard encouraging each other,
eight months before this event, to endure with patience in hopes of
seeing the glorious sight, and becoming the possessors of a threepenny
doll.

Nearly five hundred girls have already passed through the school, and
every few years we have made an attempt to gather them together for an
informal conference; unfortunately, the distances are so great, and
family claims so many, that only a very small proportion have been able
to attend, and we have supplemented these by instituting an Old Girls'
Guild which includes a prayer union whose members receive a quarterly
circular le