The war will soon be ended; In the dust you soon will lie; Go forth and conquer, or report To _God_ the reason why. * * * * * THE CHINESE. [Illustration: WORSHIPING THE ANCESTRAL TABLE.] * * * * * HOW WE TRAIN THE CHINESE FOR PREACHING. BY MRS. C. W. SHELDON, TEACHER OF HELPERS. The one aim and object of our schools is to show the way of life and salvation; so we mix in Bible truth with all our teaching. In all our school-rooms are charts, upon which are printed, in large type, selected passages of Scripture. Some of these texts are read each evening by the school in concert. The helper explains the meaning in Chinese and makes a short practical application of the central truth. Our hymns are gospel hymns, carefully selected, we have prayer both in English and Chinese, and each session of school is closed by the whole school repeating in concert the Lord's Prayer, first in English, then in Chinese. So the work of a helper is largely the teaching of religious truth, and is of great practical benefit in preparing him for preaching. Besides this drill, we have a class especially for the helpers, a teacher spending two hours a day, for five days in a week, with them. They study reading, spelling--paying particular attention to the meaning of the words--grammar, especially the construction of sentences; with a little history and arithmetic, as there is time for them. But the study of all studies is the Bible; a large part of the time each day is spent in studying it, chapter by chapter and verse by verse, and the end of all study, reading, spelling or whatever it may be, is to understand the Bible, and to be able to explain it to others. Their pastor, Mr. Pond, gives them one afternoon of each week, spending two or three hours in exclusive Bible study. Two or three chapters are assigned them for study the previous week, and these chapters are carefully reviewed. They bring up anything that has perplexed them, any truth that they do not quite understand, and he makes the meaning as clear as possible. Each one is expected to bring in a sermon from a text given him the previous week. This sermon he reads himself to his pastor, who makes such remarks and suggestions as he thinks may be helpful. The sermons are prepared in this way: The day teacher explains the meaning of the text and the practical lessons it teaches, parallel passages are read that will bring the meaning into clearer view, and it is talked over, so that each one may have a definite idea of what is expected of him. Those who have not had much practice in sermonizing first make a rough copy in pencil, which is corrected by the teacher, after which it is carefully written out with a pen.