HOW THE FARM STARTED 63 



however, was all spent before we had any dormitory, 

 class-room or laboratory accommodations. We urgently 

 need a laboratory and houses for our teachers. The 

 first students who came to us were poor Christian boys. 

 My wife gave the back verandah of the six-room bunga- 

 low and part of the dining-room for a dairy. I filled the 

 guest-chamber with our good seed and used the front 

 verandah as our recitation room. The students slept out 

 when the weather permitted, and when it did not, they 

 went in under the cattle shed or the machinery store 

 room. I was very glad indeed to receive from Mrs. 

 McCormick, of Chicago, five thousand dollars to build the 

 first wing of a dormitory. The very day on which Sir 

 James Meston (now Lord Meston), then Governor of the 

 Provinces, opened the dormitory a check came from Mrs. 

 Livingston Taylor for the other wing. Friends of the 

 late Mr. John H. Converse have provided the dormitory 

 body to which the wings are attached. Each one of 

 these buildings had students living in them before they 

 were finished. We have had to fit up some of these 

 small dormitory rooms as recitation and laboratory 

 rooms until we are fortunate enough to secure our lab- 

 oratory. The local government has promised a grant- 

 in-aid of one-half the cost of a laboratory as soon as we 

 raise the other half. 



With what equipment we had my colleagues and I 

 were training Indian boys, both Christian and non- 

 Christian. Many missionaries thought we were run- 

 ning a reformatory and were anxious to send those with 

 whom they could do nothing. At this time agricultural 

 education was not popular in India, the government 

 colleges could not secure enough students, the idea being 

 that any old fool knew how to farm and that there was 



