Directory_and_Chronicle_1841 — Page 591

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Morrison Education Society.

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positive on the point, (being warned by past experience,) but I should think there is little danger that the pupils now here would ever leave us of their own accord, without permission. The school is known to a considerable extent among the Chinese, in this vicinity, and a good many applications have been made for admission to it. It is well known by all these persons, that the highest recommendation an ap- plicant can bring, is, ceteris paribus, an engagement to remain under instruction for an indefinite period of time, to be limited only by the discretion of the Society. So many applications have been declined, that those now here can but feel that they are privileged above others, their fellows.

"Much more might have been done in the form of instruction, had the school been properly supplied with books. But though every desire has been manifested by the trustees to meet this deficiency, it still remains. There are many difficulties in the way of furnishing a school here, which are unknown in more favored situations. We need books made expressly for the use of schools in which Eng- lish is not the vernacular tongue. This desideratum can only be supplied gradually, and by the united efforts of those who best know what is wanted, and how to furnish it. As the cause of education advances in the eastern world, the production of such works will doubtless keep pace with it. In India, where, by the enlightened policy of the English government, the subject of education for all classes of men is receiving more and more attention, this fact is one of the signs of the increased interest with which popular education is regarded. In justice to our pupils, it ought to be said that they have labored under great difficulties for the want of books enough. For example, in geography, all could not learn the same lesson, for they had but two books, so that four boys, but partially acquainted with the language, have been obliged to read together in one book, and two in the other. In the study of arithmetic the difficulty was still greater, because they had but one book for all the six, and therefore were compelled to depend almost wholly on oral instruction, which of course adds as much to the labor of the instructor, as to the in- convenience of the learner. I trust this evil will soon be removed, since books have been repeatedly sent for, and if the wishes of all concerned here are obtained, will not be long in coming. One of the former officers of the Society has kindly offered to procure a sup- ply for the school on his return to England, whither he has gone. I am also happy to state to the trustees, that I was successful, to some extent, in procuring books in the Straits; and that, while at