The walls of our new church had been nicely coloured and ornamented by means of stencil plates; but as we had to conduct a large day-school in it, the walls got soiled and suffered in other ways. We found, to our surprise, that there were a great number of budding artists among our boys, and they would persist in exercising their gifts on the walls, until our people became quite angry over their doings. They said: ‘We cannot allow the walls of God’s house to be desecrated in that way. If those boys won’t desist, we shall turn them out of the church to learn outside.’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘It is very thoughtless of them; but you “can’t put old heads on young shoulders,” and boys will be boys, the fact is, I was once a boy myself. There is nothing for it but to build a large school-house, and get them out of the church.’ ‘Oh,’ they said, ‘but that is building again, and we are tired of building.’ ‘Well,’ I said, ‘If you are tired of it, what do you think I am? What’s to be gained by falling out with the indications of Providence? Sit down and let us discuss the situation’; that is what the Malagasy enjoy. We sat down and discussed the matter for two hours, until every one had his say--some several times over. After we had gone over all the pros and cons, I said: ‘Now to bring things to a point, you will make the bricks for the new school, the children will carry them to the site, and I will pay for the laying of them. The women will gather the thatch for the roof, you will thatch it, and I will be responsible for all the wood-work--the roof, the doors, the windows, and the glazing. ‘That’s it, sir,’ they said, and we all set to work with a will, and our fine large school was soon an accomplished fact. The people fulfilled their part of the agreement with great heartiness. In fact, after I declined to leave them and go to Mojangà, to open a new mission on the north-west coast, they were most diligent; I had only to mention what I wanted done, and it was done at once. The men made 200,000 bricks, the school children carried them to the site, the women gathered 100 bundles of thatch, and the men thatched the building. The glass for the school, and also for three churches in the district, was a gift from my old friend Colonel R. Pilkington, M.P., of St. Helen’s. It was a fine school, a fit addition to our model church. It was of immense service for years. It was requisitioned during the reign of martial law, after the arrival of the French, and since 1897 there has been a large government High School for boys conducted in it. Compensation was paid for the other buildings requisitioned; but nothing has ever been obtained for it, for the remains of the manse, or for the yard for which we had a forty years’ lease.