50 Malaysia. 



own homes. Tlie words they vocalizc are, 

 thereiore, full of meauing to their ears, and 

 they carry these readiug lessons home with 

 them to the grcat dclight of mothcrs and 

 grandmothers, who can hear the children 

 rcad in thcir own languagc things they 

 thcmsclvcs havc never heard bcfore, Thc 

 experiment works so well that the Mission 

 contemplates abandoning the regular gov- 

 ernmcntal codc and striking out for itself 

 a course of vcrnacular studics to be fol- 

 lowcd much later, if at all, by the study of 

 English. Tliis will mean the loss of gov- 

 ernment help, but it promises to bring to 

 the womcn what we greatly desire, the 

 early and intelligcut rcading of religious 

 literature iu the language they speak in 

 their own honies, And siuce it is a far 

 cry to any time when women will be in 

 compclition for any public position in 

 which thc knowlcdge of English wiM bc 

 demandcd, it secms bcltcr to give thcm ac- 

 cess to the literature that is to their hand 

 and easy to comprehend rather than to 

 put all of thcm to the very dirrkult task 

 of mastcring the complcx English lan- 

 guage. 



