To tell this part of the story of Dr. Mateer’s life satisfactorily, I must begin with the first general missionary conference, held at Shanghai in May, 1877. For two years previous he had served on a committee to prepare the way for the meeting, and in this capacity he had rendered much valuable assistance. At that conference he read a paper in which he elaborately discussed the subject of “The Relation of Protestant Missions to Education.” The meeting was regarded as successful, and a second was called, to assemble at Shanghai, in May, 1890. It was at this conference that the movement for a revision of the Bible in Chinese took actual measures toward realization. For the sake of any readers not well informed as to the Chinese language, a few preliminary statements concerning it may be desirable here. In a very broad and general sense it may be said that as to elements, one tongue prevails throughout China proper; but that there is also much important variation in this general tongue. First of all, it needs lo be noted that the language takes on two principal forms,—the classic, or Wen-li, and the spoken, or Mandarin. The classic has come down through the centuries from the times of Confucius and Mencius, and remains comparatively the same as it is found in the writings of those sages. This is accepted as the model for all writing; and for that reason Chinese students have been required to spend the greater part of their time in memorizing those ancient books, so that they might not only absorb their teaching, but also especially that they might be able to reproduce their style. The classic Chinese is stilted and so condensed that in comparison with it a telegram would seem diffuse; and though many of the characters are the same as those used in writing the spoken language, yet the meaning and often the sound of characters is so different that an illiterate person would not understand it on hearing it read. The spoken language, on the other hand, may be compared with English as to its use. Good English is very much the same throughout the countries where it is the vernacular, and though it takes on local dialects, it remains everywhere intelligible. So, broadly speaking, is it also as to the spoken Chinese in a large part of the empire. From the Yangtse up into Manchuria, though the pronunciations differ very much, the colloquial if put into writing is understood. In other words, with differences of dialect and pronunciation it is the speech of perhaps three hundred millions of people. The regions excepted lie along the coast from Shanghai down, and inland south of the Yangtse, where the distinct tongues are numerous and are largely unintelligible except in their own localities.