Page:Life in India or Madras, the Neilgherries, and Calcutta.djvu/107

Rh Christian teachers would be preferred for every department; but they cannot always be procured in the present state of education in India, and we must use the best tools we can get until better ones can be prepared.

In addition to the study of the Scriptures and of the evidences of the truth of Christianity, the lads of this school go through a full course of English studies, in which they use the English language. They study arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and surveying, English composition, the history of Rome, England, and India, with general history and natural philosophy. It must be borne in mind that they are not carried through these branches by the missionary himself, but that the instruction is carried on by hired native teachers, while he is engaged with matters more strictly religious. After leaving the school, the young men, if nominally heathen, and conforming to the customs of the countrymen, are almost universally at heart convinced of the folly of idolatry and its attendant superstitions. They are qualified for stations of responsibility; and some remain as assistant teachers, while others enter the medical, engineering, and surveying departments under government, or engage in other