a visit to our
missions at Oroville and Marysville. I reached Oroville at about 7:30
P.M. As soon as possible I was at the Mission House, where warmest
greetings from teacher and pupils awaited me. The lessons of the evening
received our first attention, for it is a principle with us that each
scholar shall have the English lesson promised him, whoever may be
present and whatever else we may desire to do. This is the demand of
good faith, and not less of good policy. It is the English lesson that
holds them where the gospel can reach them, so that this we must never
forego.

When all this was accomplished, those who could read with comparative
ease were gathered about a table for a sort of Bible reading, which I
proposed to give them, in the fifteenth chapter of Luke. This was the
manner of it: One of them read the first verse, being helped over the
hard words, then I explained it in as simple English as I could command;
then the reader translated both it and my explanation into Chinese, each
other pupil keeping watch to see whether what was said expressed the
ideas which he had received from me. At this time, we were much aided by
the co-operation of Yong Jin, our missionary helper, whose translations
I could depend upon quite confidently, but I often give these readings
without such help, feeling quite sure that if six or eight have received
the _same_ idea, they have received the one I meant to give. When we had
finished the first verse, a second pupil read the second verse with the
same method, and so on. Some felt unequal to the task of translating,
but most were willing to try, and most who tried succeeded strangely
well. I had intended to follow this with a few words of exhortation, but
just as we read the last verse, Yong Ack arrived. This is a brother who
was converted about a year ago. His daily work is that of a cook in a
way-side inn, about six (some said eight) miles from Oroville. He has
been accustomed to walk this distance, over a rough and dusty road, to
attend, not often the school, but the religious services of our mission.
He can seldom reach the Mission House before nine, but the meetings
begin when he arrives and continue till he is ready to start away. As
this brother was to be baptized on the following evening, the Bible
reading was suspended with a promise from me that I would speak from
these words the next evening, and we all addressed ourselves to a study
of the Confession and Covenant of ou