The time has passed when thoughtful people regard the great Orient as inhabited by savages; and yet when the lands of this same East are termed "mission fields," a grotesque atmosphere gathers over them, their culture vanishes into thin air, and behold, the natives become bona fide heathen, untaught and unrestrained! It is astonishing that in spite of years of contact with the East and of enjoyment of Oriental art, Europeans still regard Asiatics in general as heathen; and these so-called heathen are at least intelligent enough to recognize in the appellation the implication of inferiority in both religion and civilization, and to resent being designated thus by "red-haired barbarians," whose ancestors were roving in the forests of Europe when theirs had already for thousands of years enjoyed a cultured society.

Of course, the inhabitants of the eastern hemisphere vary infinitely in the degree of their development, from the Bushmen of Australia to the sages of India; but by far the greater number of mission lands are peopled by men who have great religions and philosophies behind them, and whose mental.

acuteness is not inferior to that of the white man. In spite of this fact, why will people say, as a young woman did upon hearing that a Smith College friend had decided to be a missionary, "Don't you feel as if you had wasted your education ?" Those who talk thus of wasting talents must have a somewhat material view of life. Even then, can it be considered a waste to invest one's college-acquired talents in a community of alien race where one occupies a unique place of incalculable influence and opportunity, where every talent from an aptitude for philosophy to a gift for millinery has room for multiplying as far as time and physical limitation will permit, rather than to invest them in a few scholars and associates of one's own race, filling a place which dozens of others could fill?

In view of the intellectual demands made by the peoples of the East on those who go among them as teachers of a new Way, it is well to consider in what particulars a college education helps or hinders both the missionary and his work.

It is evident that an intellectual education of some breadth is an absolute necessity. In general, it is the men and women of knowledge who make the greatest mark in mission lands; for Oriental peoples are as quick as we are in discovering intellectual ability in a missionary, and it would hardly be exaggerating to say that they revere it more than we. Unfortunately, there have been instances of missionaries not intellectually equipped, men of general ignorance; but the importance of intellectual qualification can not be too strongly insisted upon, and it is a fact that fewer and fewer men and women without a college diploma are being sent out. Soon it will be an impossibility to find throughout mission lands a missionary like one who in recent years was virtually expelled from his chosen work because of the fact that, in spite of devotion and zeal, he was manifestly too ignorant to gain the respect of an intellectloving people. Knowledge acquired in some way, whether at college or not, is indispensable. There is, however, a decided advantage in having a college diploma. The respect with which Western colleges are regarded by men of Eastern culture is indeed gratifying to Western pride. It is not uncommon to hear the question, "Of what institution is he a graduate?" and the name of one of our great universities acts like a charm in opening up opportunities for work and influence. Such was the case lately, when a veteran missionary was introduced to

one of the leading Japanese philosophers, a man who had studied in Europe and who now holds a chair in the Imperial University in Tokyo. The latter looked at the foreigner doubtfully until the introducer added hastily, "He is a graduate of Yale," and the cordial welcome at once extended was a testimony to the weight carried by a name.

It is often an astonishment to a new missionary to see how he at some time or other has occasion to use the studies which he took in college. Of course, in mission school or college work, one may be called upon to teach the very subjects studied while here at college; but aside from the direct use of such courses which, it is obvious, become invaluable then, there is the indirect use, much more interesting and perhaps even more farreaching in its influence. One is reminded of the native student in India, whose inherited faith in woman's brain as comparable to that of a cow was severely shaken on the occasion of receiving assistance from an American woman who knew a French word which he had been unable to find in the dictionary, and who could solve a problem in solid geometry which had puzzled him, a man. Who would not say that it was worth a college education to be able in such a country to affect man's view of woman so as to change, though gradually, the social position of a whole nation of dark-skinned sisters?

In taking up any college catalogue and running over the courses, a special, practical use for each will suggest itself at once to the experienced in mission affairs. There are the modern languages. The practical advantages of an ability to speak continental languages are great in countries like Turkey and Egypt, where they are a commercial medium. Not only does personal convenience come into consideration, but the ability gained in a college language course to look at things in other than an American light is invaluable among a people whose habitual mental attitude is the reverse of our own.

Then the sciences,-not enough can be said of the importance of a knowledge of science. A thorough acquaintance with the world in which one lives keeps one free from falling under any influence from the superstitions of the country to which one has gone, the very air of which seems heavy with contortions of nature. The superstition that a spirit always blew out the candle carried into a certain cave in China, would have no cowering effect on one who could give a scientific explanation

of the phenomenon, and an apparent indifference to the whole realm of spirits, good and evil, followed by no injurious results, could not but have a desirable effect on the superstitious mind. of a native. For purely hygienic purposes in countries where the very word hygiene has no equivalent, to say nothing of the lack of the condition suggested to a European by that term,for purely hygienic purposes, scientific acquaintance can not be overestimated. In the more progressive of mission lands, as in Japan, science is the means of attaining an astonishing influence, though not through any superstition of the natives. One missionary, for instance, was asked to meet with a number of leading men, with the special stipulation that he was not to talk Christianity. After asking him questions on a wide range of subjects, from the geology of the hills about them, to education in the United States and farming methods in the West, his listeners, impressed with his breadth of culture, finally asked voluntarily about the religion of the country which could show such wonderful advance in things secular.

So much missionary work is done through lectures and addresses that the advantage of knowing how to use the voice so that it will not tire with hours of consecutive use, is evident. In some countries long addresses are much in demand, and when the long address is over there may be an hour or two of conversation with some who were interested in special points or who want to hear about the West. Not only public talks, often in theaters for lack of larger halls, but also private interviews with these Orientals who have no sense of time, are a test for any voice.

The physical strain, however, is not to be compared with the greater intellectual strain of debating with an acute and alert Eastern mind. And here, what in college might be termed "tact courses," studies in argument and in various branches of philosophy, are directly or indirectly invaluable. Philosophy is truly indispensable to any one who goes to teach a new religion to those whose own religions and philosophies contain so much that is true but incomplete. Closely connected with philosophy is the modern theology. No missionary is well equipped who is afraid to follow modern Biblical thought. An experienced missionary has written: "Evolutionary philosophy, new historical knowledge, with higher criticism, advances in psychology, are necessitating a restatement of theological

truths. The missionary can not afford to ignore these facts. His library should keep abreast of the times. He should, of course, and I can not say it too emphatically,-know the fundamental truths in such a way that no changes of thought can rob him of their power and glory. Nay, he should make every advance of knowledge contribute to the richness and inspiration of his message.... Movements in the religious world have come to be world movements, and people of intelligence out here feel their force almost as soon as they are felt at home."

Of all college studies perhaps greater stress is being laid upon literary work than ever before. The man or woman of literary tastes and ability has a grand opportunity in the East. English books and treatises, especially perhaps those on religious and philosophic topics, are often unfit for the Oriental student, and should he read them, might do more harm than good. "They either approach the Hindoo from a European standpoint, or contain incidents and illustrations which he could not possibly appreciate, owing to his education and environment." Because of a recognition of this fact, the opportunity for literary ability is opening up as never before. A literary missionary who has lived among the people and who is able to see things from the native point of view, has in his hand one of the mightiest instruments of evangelization. It must not be said that he has thrown away his greatest gift because with all his facility in writing English he has gone to live among the Japanese or the Hindoos. The educated in India and in Japan read English fluently, and an English book may have as much to do in bringing the educated classes to a knowledge of truth as any work in the vernacular.

The college course puts, as it were, so much into the future missionary, that his capital is infinitely increased. Selfresource is absolutely necessary to one who will live comparatively isolated and often surrounded by conditions far from stimulating. The college studies have been called in to the assistance of the foreign missionary; but as a preparation for foreign missionary life, the academic part of college is only a part, how large or how small we may not know.

College social life, though in many ways not ideal, is eminently fitted in certain particulars for precisely the life which one going to an Asiatic country must live. In the first place, though a missionary may be isolated from others of his nation