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An Object Lesson

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jan 31, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 5.

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An Object Lesson

An Object Lesson.—Away down in Tonga Island there is a little mission school that more than pays its way. The teacher, Sister Ella S. Boyd, writing to the Union Conference Record, says:
The school income is, on an average, a little above a pound a week over all expenses. I wish that the financial part of all our church schools could be managed as easily as it is here. The tuition charge is two shillings per week, with no reduction where even three come from one family. No one speaks of the price as too high. The school-building was put up by a private loan which is now being paid back. Very soon we hope that the school will have paid for its building, and be bringing in funds to the conference to help where it is needed.
The make-up of this prosperous school of twenty-eight members is noted in another paragraph:
About half of the school are half-castes, while the other half are about equal numbers of white children and Tongans. We use the English language wholly, as the Tongans are very anxious to learn to speak English, which to their minds is a great accomplishment; consequently, as a reward for their earnestness, they make rapid progress.