PAM. 
 
 ■apan 
 
 ((U>H 
 
 ’’"’Japan for Clirist. 
 
 Mrs. C. B. Perkin s. 
 
 HEN the little brown 
 men of the East won 
 victory after victory in 
 their struggle with Rus- 
 sia, the world echoed 
 their shout of “Banzai 
 Nippon,” “Hurrah for Japan!” A louder and 
 more important cry sounds in the ears of 
 the Christian world to-day. “Japan for 
 Christ!” The mighty empire that now is, 
 and the still mightier empire that is to be, 
 must be won for the King of kings. And in 
 this conquest America has a double duty. 
 While sending the Gospel message generously 
 and gladly to the Japanese in their island 
 home, w^e must not be unmindful of those 
 who. in the Providence of God, are gathering 
 within our own limits. 
 
 What should be done for the Japanese in 
 America? The question may be answered, in 
 part, by the story of what is being done for 
 Japanese and Korean women and girls in San 
 Francisco by the Woman’ s Home Missionary 
 Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 
 
 The work began under the management of 
 a local committee, in 1901, in a humble home 
 of two meagerly furnished rooms, with a 
 deaconess, Miss Lena B. Gray, as missionary. 
 
 Its influence for good soon became so ap- 
 preciated by the Japanese people that larger 
 quarters were sought in July, 1902, and a lower 
 flat of four small rooms on Pine street, op- 
 posite the Japanese church, was secured. This 
 proved to be verily a haven of rest for those 
 needing sheltering care, and the only place 
 that many could truly call “home” in Christian 
 America. Here the missionary held women’s 
 Bible meetings, and a primary school for the 
 little people. She also visited the women in 
 their homes and conducted once a month a 
 woman’s Bible meeting in Oakland. 
 
 The following year another move was nec- 
 
Friends and Pupils in New 
 
 essary, as the property changed hands, and the 
 humble little flat gave place to the modem 
 apartment house. A cottage of seven rooms, 
 a block further out, was rented, and a school 
 was conducted in a room on St. Mary’s street. 
 
 The second Pine street home was soon 
 overcrowded. Here our permanent family 
 started with a child sent from Los Angeles, 
 who needed the guiding and protecting care 
 of a mother heart. At this time Miss Gray, 
 after faithful and earnest work, began to fail 
 in health and had to return to her home. Miss 
 Margarita J. Lake, an experienced worker 
 among the Orientals, took her place. Other 
 girls came to make their permanent home un- 
 
PANESE Home, San Francisco. 
 
 cler the sheltering roof until the little cottage 
 gave place, in August, 1903, to a more pre- 
 tentious home of eight large rooms at 1241 
 Bush street. 
 
 Responsibility, financial and otherv/ise, in- 
 creased with the increase of accommodations. 
 The school on St. Mary’s street was aban- 
 doned and a school in the Home was estab- 
 lished, where not only the little people and 
 girls of the Home were taught, but girls dom- 
 iciled in families throughout the city came, 
 thus making many grades necessary, and the 
 services of a first-class teacher. The mission- 
 ary, Miss Lake, added another department to 
 the work by visiting with her interpreter each 
 
incoming steamer from the Orient, as well as 
 those from the Sound, talking with the Japan- 
 ese women on board, and taking unprotected 
 girls to the Home (with the cordial assistance 
 of government immigration officers), thereby 
 saving them from unknown but very real 
 dangers. Eternity alone will reveal the har- 
 vest of this seed-sowing. 
 
 Long before the two years’ lease of the Bush 
 street Home had expired, the eight-roomed 
 house was crowded to its utmost capacity, the 
 family at one time numbering thirty-two. The 
 committee came to the conclusion that it would 
 be a wise business proposition to purchase a 
 Home, if a suitable one could be found, and 
 borrow the money with which to pay for it, 
 as the interest on the loan would amount to far 
 less than rent. Much prayer, time and energy 
 were expended to find the one most suited to 
 the needs, but it was finally found at 2025 
 Pine street, a house of eighteen rooms. Every 
 room in the house has the sun. The low’er 
 floor is used for school rooms, store room, 
 kitchen and dining-rooms. The second for 
 parlors, office, sitting-room and children’s bed 
 and play rooms, and the upper floor for dor- 
 mitories. 
 
 The first of November, 1905, found the fam- 
 ily happily domiciled in their permanent home, 
 and California Methodism rejoices with the 
 Committee in its good fortune. Many things 
 are needed to complete the requisites of a 
 comfortable home, and many will deem it a 
 privilege to assist in this practical way. Others 
 will help bear the responsibility of the burden 
 of debt and congratulate the (Church upon se- 
 curing a real Home for the girls who need the 
 shelter and training that they could receive 
 nowhere else — the girls who will be, no doubt, 
 wives and mothers of the new Japan. 
 
 Annual scholarships in the Home are ^60. 
 Partial scholarships may be taken. 
 
 Woman’s HoMr: Missionakt Society 
 Methodist Episcopal Church 
 150 Fifth Avenue New Tork City