In commencing this department of his work, the pioneer missionary must be content to begin at the very beginning. He cannot afford to hold his hands in this matter, and wait for better, or the best, material. Time is too precious for unnecessary waiting. Every year is valuable, and it ought to be his aim to shorten the initial years of paucity of workers, as much as possible, by seeking to provide them early. He had better commence with such material as he can find, and not be disheartened, however many failures and disappointments there may be. A wise missionary will take care to have always about him a number of young disciples, whom he is training or trying to train, and into whom he is endeavouring to infuse as much as he can of himself, and the Christian training of centuries past which he embodies,—his knowledge, methods, thoughts and aspirations, together with his spirit and example. All the best native ministers, catechists and teachers I have known during many years, have been men who cherished with gratitude the memory of their association with some missionary, and his training and example. And there is no mission work, earnestly persisted in, that is surer of its reward than the labour we spend on our young native brethren. We commenced this work with a very humble effort in the way of a preparatory school, into which we gathered, from time to time, those who were desirous of following the studies that would fit them for teaching. Our experience illustrates the kind of difficulties that may be expected in a work of this kind, and it also illustrates that, although at the outset the failures and disappointments will be more numerous than the successes, yet even then all is not lost, and if even only one good teacher or preacher be secured out of the first batch, that one will be worth all the labour. Afterwards, when things get more into shape, and we can make a better selection, we shall be correspondingly better off. We had gathered eight Burman youths together in this preparatory boarding school on the Mission premises. I had them regularly taught by a conscientious and faithful native Christian teacher. They attended Divine service regularly, and we took pains to give them, in the school, Christian instruction, together with the course of secular instruction that seemed adapted for them. One day I went into the school and found all ominously quiet. “Where are the boys?” “All gone but one.”