Fernando (Cal.) College
By H. E. Giddings
THIS school opened for its third year September 14, and has enrolled eighty-five students above the church-school work. The growth of the school, from thirty the first year, has been steady, and does not consist alone in numbers. The spiritual interest, intellectual advancement, and the order and decorum of the students, as well as their devotion to the message and their desire to help give it to the world, are all apparent. The Young People's Society has been doing good work. Twelve of our students have been baptized since school opened this year. Of the class of five who were graduated last commencement, one was a music student, and four were church-school teachers. All four are engaged in teaching church-schools in this conference, and are giving good satisfaction. The young men who are preparing for the ministry are growing more serious as the time approaches for them to assume the responsibility of the cause and work of God. They have already taken up some lines of work, that they may do all the good possible, and gain the experience that will better fit them for service. The most important part of training for any work is the actual doing of the work itself. While preliminary training is needful, the practical should be begun as soon as possible; and the two, preparation and work, or training and practise, should go hand in hand throughout the entire life. We should all be learners and teachers as long as we live. Our young teachers are required to teach under the supervision of an experienced teacher, and to study the subject of teaching while they teach. Why not employ the same method in training canvassers, Bible workers, ministers, and office help? This method has been in vogue for years in the training of doctors and nurses. “We learn by doing.” We thank the Lord for his help thus far, and look to him for guidance to higher planes and more perfect methods, as well as for a clearer view of the great purpose for which our whole work has been set on foot. Let us put on the whole armor, and quit ourselves like men, like men that wait for their Lord, and work while we wait, watch, and pray.