Three months after the first opening the six pupils admitted were reduced to three, because the fathers of the other boys were unwilling to sign the obligation to leave them in the school the required number of years. A decade after the school was begun Mateer said in a Sunday-school letter: Our boys are from nine or ten to eighteen or twenty years, and a number of them have been in school seven or eight years. If they have never been to school, we require them to come for twelve years, but take them for a less time if they have already been several years in a native school. We try to get those who have already been to school, as it is a saving both of labor and of money. At the end of a quarter of a century after the school was begun he said: During these years we took many boys into the school who came to nothing. Some were too stupid, and we had to send them away after they had learned to read and knew something of the Bible. Others were bad boys, and we had to dismiss them; and some got tired and ran away, or were taken away by their parents because they wanted them at home to work. We sifted out some good ones, who were bright and promised to make good men. The pupils they retained at the end of the first ten years were culled out of more than twice their number. Of the routine of the school he wrote: The boys go to school at six o’clock in the morning, and study till eight. Then all meet in the large schoolroom for prayers. After this there is a recess of an hour for breakfast. At half-past nine they go to school again, and remain till half-past twelve. In the afternoon they have another session of four hours. During the shortest days of winter they have an evening session instead of a morning session. These are the ordinary hours of study in the native schools. At first we thought so many hours in school too much for either health or profit, but after trying our plan for several years, we were convinced that for Chinese children and Chinese methods of study the native plan is best. The great business in Chinese schools is committing the classics, which they do by chanting them over rhythmically at the top of their voices, each one singing a tune of his own, and apparently trying to “hollow” louder than the others. The din they make would be distracting to one of us, but the Chinese teacher seems to enjoy it. The exercise it gives the lungs compensates, perhaps, for the want of more play hours. When Mrs. Mateer or I go into the school to hear classes, we, of course, make them stop their uproarious studying, and study to themselves. About half the day our boys devote to Christian and to scientific books. They learn a catechism of Christian doctrine, “The Peep of Day,” Old Testament history, “Pilgrim’s Progress,” “Evidences of Christianity,” and memorize portions of Scripture.