"We have no good lamps yet for the church, consequently cannot open it in
the evening. But I have prepared some lamps for my chapel. I think you
would laugh to see them. They are four in number. Two of them are merely
small tumblers hung up by wires and cords. By means of another wire a wick
is suspended in each tumbler and the tumbler filled with oil. The other
two are on the same principle, but the tumblers are hung in a kind of glass
globe which is suspended by brass chains. These look considerably more
ornamental than the first two. Whether you laugh at them or not, they
answer a very good purpose. They do not make the room as light as would be
required in a church, in as large a city as Amoy is, in the United States,
but by means of them my chapel is open on Sunday evenings and on every
other evening in the week except one. The church and chapel are both open
almost every afternoon in the week, and sometimes in the mornings. One,
two, three, or more of the converts are always ready to hold forth almost
every afternoon and evening. Besides this, they go to other thoroughfares
frequently and preach the Gospel as well as they are able. For much of the
work these converts are perhaps better adapted than ourselves. They
understand the superstitions of the people in their practical working,
better than we probably will ever be able to learn them."