While living at Whampoa my attention was attracted one morning by hearing the voices of children singing Sunday-school hymns. At first I doubted whether I might not be mistaken, for it seemed incredible that the sweet tones of so many childish voices could ever be heard, amid our heathenish surroundings, singing the same notes that are set to the little hymns found in the “Sabbath Bell,” and other Sunday-school hymn-books. I was, however, soon relieved from my perplexity by the entrance of Mr. W----, from whom I learned that the singing proceeded from a Hong-boat, in which were Mr. and Mrs. Bonney,[28] together with the boys belonging to the school of the former. After they had visited the Bethel “chop,” we had the pleasure of seeing them moored at our side, and entering the boat, heard the boys sing more of those agreeable home-strains, with which our ears had been so unexpectedly greeted. The hymns were the same that we had heard sung by the “little ones at home;” but when translated into the Chinese language, and sung in that far-off land by those boys of benighted parents, they were all the more sweet and touching. An American gentleman,--a resident of Canton,--having recently visited the school, proposed this holiday excursion, and paid the expenses of the trip. It was a remarkable affair for the little fellows, whose thorough enjoyment, together with the high degree of gratification which their happiness gave Mr. Bonney, must have more than repaid our countryman for his kind and thoughtful generosity. Mrs. Bonney has also a school composed of twelve or fourteen Chinese girls, most of whom have touching little histories. One of them, who is now capable of assisting in caring for the younger girls, was originally sold for ten dollars, to be a servant-maid. She was redeemed, however, by an English lady, and given to Mrs. Bonney to educate. Another had been cast out from her home into the street on account of a lameness caused by cruel treatment, which had incapacitated her from doing much house-work. There was one, also, who had been sold by a wretchedly poor father for _five dollars_, but was redeemed by a Chinese woman, who had placed her with Mrs. Bonney for eight years. And still another, from Macao, whose mother--a poor widow--had wished to sell her for thirty dollars, but Mrs. Bonney would not permit it.