When we visited him at his work, we found the room well filled with about a hundred teachers in training, who were writing out answers to Bible questions. To maintain order among so large a number, who have known practically nothing of discipline before they joined the classes, is in itself no light task; but the fact that all are voluntary learners makes the work easier than it otherwise would be. The missionary has, of course, many anxieties regarding the spiritual tone of those who offer themselves as Christian workers; but some test of their sincerity and zeal is provided by the fact that the majority come from a distance, and find considerable difficulty in providing for themselves during their stay at the capital. Many have, in fact, to endure real hardness, and often go short of food, in their anxiety to learn and to qualify themselves for pastoral and missionary labour.
The avidity for learning evidenced by
