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dismissed as he would be freed from the obligation to refund money. He became insubordinate and tried to excite the same feeling among others. ... After much expostulation and forbearance I was forced to dismiss him. This and public and private admonitions to others led all the rest to return to their duties with their usual alacrity.
Thus the student rebellion had been successfully crushed, but at the cost of Ng A-fat, a student upon whom Dr. Happer had placed great hope of his future usefulness as a mission helper. After leaving the missionaries A-fat, like Ng Mun-sow, became an interpreter in the Chief Magistrate's office in Hongkong.
Dr. Legge had similar trouble keeping his students. Some of their classmates who had left the school had already gone overseas. The reports sent back were full of the ease money could be made, especially for those who understood English.
In 1852, Dr. Legge reported that one of his former students, Ho Cheong-kow, was in San Francisco working in a store where he made $100 a month or £250 a year, which Dr. Legge noted was the same salary as that of a married missionary.
The boys were not only tempted by reports from former classmates, but their friends and relatives urged them to leave school and, as Dr. Legge phrased it, “engage in the race for gold.”
He particularly mentioned Ng Mun-sow and O Soey-cheong as having rejected large sums offered to them by their friends if they would become partners in overseas business ventures.
O Soey-cheong was especially under pressure from both family and friends. A-cheong's father had brought him to Dr. Legge's school in 1848 with the idea that if his son were taught English he could get a good position, make money and contribute to the support of the family. When several years later, A-cheong had wished to be baptised, the father did not oppose for he was sure it was but another step towards financial advancement.
As soon as A-cheong was taken on as a theological student and
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dismissed as he would be freed from the obligation to refund mon- ey. He became insubordinate and tried to excite the same feeling among others. . . After much expostulation and forebearance I was forced to dismiss him. This and public and private admoni- tions to others led all the rest to return to their duties with their usual alacrity."
Thus the student rebellion had been successfully crushed, but at the cost of Ng A-fat, a student upon whom Dr. Happer had placed great hope of his future usefulness as a mission helper. After leav- ing the missionaries A-fat, like Ng Mun-sow, became an interpret- er in the Chief Magistrate's office in Hongkong.
Dr. Legge had similar trouble keeping his students. Some of their classmates who had left the school had already gone over- seas. The reports sent back were full of the ease money could be made, especially for those who understood English.
In 1852, Dr. Legge reported that one of his former students, Ho Cheong-kow, was in San Francisco working in a store where he made $100 a month or £250 a year, which Dr. Legge noted was the same salary as that of a married missionary.
The boys were not only tempted by reports from former class- mates, but their friends and relatives urged them to leave school and, as Dr. Legge phrased it, “engage in the race for gold.”
He particularly mentioned Ng Mun-sow and O Soey-cheong as having rejected large sums offered to them by their friends if they would become partners in overseas business ventures.
O Soey-cheong was especially under pressure from both family and friends. A-cheong's father had brought him to Dr. Legge's school in 1848 with the idea that if his son were taught English he could get a good position, make money and contribute to the support of the family. When several years later, A-cheong had wished to be baptised, the father did not oppose for he was sure it was but another step towards financial advancement.
As soon as A-cheong was taken on as a theological student and
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