In September 1887 two more workers arrived—two Singhalese young men, trained by our mission in South Ceylon. We do not of course contemplate permanently looking to Ceylon to supply us with men, but at the outset of the mission it seemed likely that these brethren, being from an older Christian community, and far better educated and trained than any Burmans could possibly be for years to come, would be able to render us material help in the pioneer work, and would bring to bear upon it a degree of Christian knowledge, and a maturity of Christian character and habits, far in advance of anything in Burma. These two brethren are now working in the mission with a fair measure of success, and have justified the expectation we formed of them. Their success in acquiring the language, and their consistent Christian life, as they have gone in and out amongst the people, have been a stay and a help to the work. It was our desire from the first to begin an Anglo-vernacular school in Mandalay, as the first of a series of educational efforts. It is self-evident to the experienced eye that so long as the youth of Burma remain in the hands of the monks, in connection with the monastery schools, to learn idleness, and to have all the springs of life and thought saturated with Buddhism from their youth, the downfall of that religion will be indefinitely postponed. We must enter into friendly competition with the monastery schools, must take hold of the awakening desire for Western learning, and we must give an education so undeniably better than the monks can give that we shall thus win our way to success. I have used, about equally, each and every kind of missionary method within my reach, and I hold no brief for the educational method; but thirteen years of mission work amongst the Hindus in Ceylon, where we have an elaborate system of religion to deal with, has shown me that, in the long run, Christian education plays quite as important a part in the conversion of the people as any other agency. The educational and evangelistic work go hand in hand, and we cannot afford to dispense with either. Educational work gives a backbone of intelligence and solidity to the mission, and to the converts; it introduces us to the most intelligent and influential classes of the people, and gives us a powerful influence we could acquire in no other way, and it leads directly to hopeful conversions. So long as we are merely the preachers of another religion amongst them, our influence is circumscribed within that condition. But if, in addition to that, we move amongst the people as the trusted guides and teachers of their youth, it vastly increases our power for good. In the East the teacher of the young is always treated with the utmost respect. And this position of influence, which so legitimately belongs to the preachers of the Gospel, we cannot afford to despise or forego.