544
Report of the Morrison Education Society.
Oct.
increase of labor. The cessation of hostilities between Great Britain and China, furnished the first fair opportunity for exhibiting to the Chinese people, the tendencies and benefits of Christian education, and more than this, since the war has given a severe shock to the national vanity and valor, there must be some ready aid applied, in kind like that which this Society offers, to prevent the mind of the nation from relapsing into a sickly restiveness or sullen submission to the baser foreign influences. Had we the men and the means, a school of a hundred boys might at once be opened, and that might be increased to any degree accordingly. The circles of our influence are now widening, and we are no longer encompassed by a narrow boundary, which we must be cautious of overstepping, as in former days, but the limits that circumscribed us then are fast retreating in the distance, leaving us only straitened in our own ability to oc- cupy the
the space
The action of the trus thus thrown open before us. tees in order to procure a coadjutor for Mr. Brown, is but a step in advance towards this end, and they will not doubt, until they see it, that the friends of the Society will withhold their approbation of the measure so essential to the lasting prosperity of the institution.
Before his departure for England, Mr. Dent desired his agents to pay in the treasury of the Society the sum of $3000, “as soon as the trustees could fix upon building at Hongkong." The site had already been selected, but it was not till the 5th of August that the plan and contract for the building were agreed upon, and the trus- tees then deemed it expedient to limit the expenditure for this pur- pose to about $3000.
The site is one every way most eligible for the purposes of the Society. It is a hill having the harbor on the north, the valley of Wongnai chung on the east, the Queen's road on the south, and adjoining it on the west, the lot granted to the Medical Missionary Society, which is a part of the same range. In process of time, it will probably be nearly midway between the eastern and western extremities of the town, occupying a conspicuous yet retired position, elevated and healthy, and commanding a panoramic view of land and The plan for the building which is commenced is in its out- line as follows. It is to consist of a main body and two wings; the whole one story in height. The first is to be 63 feet in its front length, and 55 deep, divided into 6 rooms, each 20 by 25 feet. wings likewise are each to be 63 feet in length by 244 in breadth. The east wing is intended exclusively for a range of apartments for pupils, sufficiently large to accommodate 20 boys and two Chi
water.
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