The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1869-06-16
Nonsehnla Nards.
To the Children of the Sabbath Schools.
LETTER FROM REV. NJ. H. HOUSTON.
HAYcHoU. CHINA. Feb. 25. 1869

HANCHoU, CHINA, Feb. 25, 1863.
Dear Children: AS hope to write to you
from time to time about things relating to
our mission here, | send you few lines now
on point which | heard mentioned in our
Sabbath schools several times before left
home-I mean giving the names of Chris
tan friends to the heather children in our
schools here.
There is great difficulty in the way of
this, which you may not yet know. The
names that are given among the Chinese, and
their way Of writing them are so different from
our own, that Christian name could hardly
be put on Chinese boy or girl. Indeed, SO
far from giving Christian names to Chinese
boys or girls, the fact is, that all the Chris
tian missionaries who come to this country
have to take, for convenience sake, Chinese
names. AS an instance, | might mention
Mr.. Inslee. He is not known among the
Chinese by the name you are familiar with.
If a Chinaman should hear you mention
such name, he would think you were put
ting sounds together in strange way, such
as he had never heard before in his own
language; and perhaps the best scholar in
the land could not find native characters or
letters which would show how such name
was to be pronounced. Mr.. Inslee, there
fore, has to take Chinese name, and he is
known in this land as cling" The Chinese
address him as cling Seen Sen, "-Seen-Sen
meaning frst-born, and corresponding to our
Mr., though it is put after the name instead
of before. Even so simple name as Mr..
Helm has to be changed to suit the Chinese
style. He is known here as "Heh" Seen
Sen. Now the Chinese are great people
for asking about names. If Chinaman
meets stranger, the talk almost always be-
gins, "What is your name?" "My name
is. What is your name?' Each one
learns at an early age to describe his name
by the character which stands for it. Ifyou
could ask, for instance, one of the little boys
in our school what his name is, he would
tell you it is Pau; and then, as there may
be several characters in the language, all
pronounced Pau, he goes on to tell you that
it is "Pau tung-si-ti Pau, that is, "to
Wrap-up-something Pau and he traces at
the same time the character which means
"to wrap up on the palm of his left hand
with the forefnger of his right, which is the
common way among the Chinese. Another
will tell you that his name is Chin, which
he explains by adding, in-ts-ti-Chin, -
that is, "Golden Chain, the character
which stands for his name being the one for
gold. And so on. Nearly all the Chinese
names are of one syllable. Now, you may
understand what difficulty Chinese boy
would have with an American name. He
probably could not pronounce it. He could
not write it and when his countrymen heard
him try to give it, they would no doubt
wonder from what quarter such strange
name had come | think the foreign name
on the little boy would be very much as
Saul's armor was on young David.
But [ trust that your interest in the Chi
nese boys and girls will not depend on a
name. Remember the interest that is felt
in them by every one in heaven, and be
like-minded. The Father loves and pities
them, and desires that they may be saved
by knowing the truth. Christ, whose body
was broken that salvation might be offered
to them, now commands his people to make
known this offer to them. And the Holy
Spirit-as Gods people say, Come-also in
pity and love says, Come! And when one
of these poor heather does find Christ, and is
saved with an everlasting salvation, there is
joy in the presence of the angels of God over
the one sinner. And when all heaven is
thus looking down on them with pity and
love, will you be indifferent? Depend upon
it, dear children, all your honor, all your
true happiness, rest upon your having the
same mind toward the lost which was also
in Christ Jesus.-From the Missionary.