ided to Japan, and Mr. Sprague found
himself with the whole mission on his shoulders.

'If things are to remain as they are, it amounts pretty much to
this, that in the warmer months of the year I can travel through
parts of Mongolia teaching the Gospel and dispensing medicines; the
rest of the year I can turn my attention to Chinese work in
Peking. This is a pleasant enough arrangement for me, but it is not
a very vigorous prosecution of the work of the Mongol mission. On
the other hand, such is the fewness of people to be reached in
Mongolia that it is only by alternating these periods of
deprivation with seasons of activity among the Chinese that a man
can keep his spirit alive.

'As regards the opinion of other members of the Committee here, I
have never called for any formal expression of it, nor have they
(the members of Committee) ever been invited to discuss the
question of the Mongol mission in committee, but I know their
individual opinions in an informal way. Messrs. Meech and Barradale
don't say much; Mr. Owen thinks we will never do much in Mongolia
working upon so distant a base as Peking; Mr. Lees thinks it a pity
to take up such a seemingly unproductive field while so many more
promising fields call for attention; he moreover thinks that the
only way to do much for Mongolia is through China; Dr. Edkins
thinks I spend too much time and labour over the Mongols, his idea
being seemingly a combination of Mongol and Chinese work, with a
preponderating tendency towards Chinese; Dr. Dudgeon has always
regarded the Mongol mission as hardly practicable.

'On the principle, however, of _Sow beside all waters_, and _Thou
knowest not which shall prosper, this or that_, perhaps it is well
that the Gospel should be exhibited to the Mongols also, and if
anyone is to go to Mongolia, perhaps many people would have more
disqualifications than myself.'

In 1877 there was what seemed to be a very hopeful development of
Christian work in Shantung, and Mr. Gilmour and Mr. Owen visited that
district and baptized a large number of converts. Still later, Dr.
Edkins and Mr. Owen, on another visit, baptized some two hundred
people. With reference to this latter ingathering Mr. Gilmour wrote, 'I
much regret that we have not some definite system of putting men on a
period of probation..