The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1886-11-17
THE MISSION FIELD

The GIRLS OF HEATHER COUNTRIES.
Girl life. among more than half the population
of the globe. seems the cheapest thing In the
dust bin of human possessions. A missionary
lady in China tell of twenty-five women be-
tween thirty and sixty years of age, personally
known to her, among whom were born sixty
male and one hundred and twenty female chill
dren. OF these twtnty-one males and twenty
three females lived till ten years of age. Eight
males and thirty one females were destroyed at
birth. Another missionary lady In the came
country knew of one hundred mothers who had
destroyed one hundred and ffty-eight female
children forty who had destroyed seventy
eight and six who destroyed eleven.
The motives which induce the practice are
too many to admit OF enumeration. Ii moth
or has not borne sons, she often destroys all her
female offspring that she may the sooner hope
to have a son. If she have sons, two or three
girls may be allowed to live, but any thereafter
will be smothered at birth, because of the ex
pense of rearing them, or from some more
oblique cause.
In China we find the ilteracy of females not
the same in all parts of the empire. In North
China the estimate Ia, that In sixty or seventy
out of every hundred families of wealth the
females are able to read Il have found the
wife of Chi-fu of Taiyuen says a missionary,
" to use all the fingers of both hands IN counting
up the books she had read, and that means
learned by heart"
In however, not more tudu Oue
woman in FIVE hundred could read. Possibly
fair estimate for even this literary nation
would be, taking the whole of China proper,
that one woman In three can read.
There is one other feature of Chinese society
which ought not to be wholly unnotlced, even
In this hasty allusion to the more prominent ills
which the Chinese women is heir to-namely
domestic slavery. 1t is not easy to write with
accuracy about the girl.slavery of the Chinese
Empire A reliable writer knows of girls
disappearing" or, as it s said, gone to spend a
month with friends" Sometimes pressure for
money comes on the family and the daughter is
pd1Oned; sometimes it is said plainly that her
father has taken her to distant city to sell
her. Sometimes she is handed over to the pur-
chaser by indirect methods The girl is at play
and ls " kidnapped, and no tidings of her can
be obtained. After month 1t turns out that
her elder brother or the head of the house and
therefore the disposer of the liberty of the
females of the family, was in debt, and the
kidnapped" girl had been sold, and delivered
according to previous arrangements.-ReU. j.
T. Grdcey, d. d., IN Methodist ReUieaO.
The Rev. F. V. Mills, Northern
Presbyterian, writes from Hangchow, China
that some of the older Chinese boys in the
boarding school have formed a missionary
society with eight members. They devote parts
of Saturday afternoon and other holidays to dis
tributing tracts and gospels. They meet with
insults and discouragements, but seem to find
more to encourage than dlshearten.
Mrs. Guinness writes from London
October 4th: Have You heard the glorious
news from the Congo? We heard from Mr.
Richards some time ago of an awakening at
Banza Manteka, on the Congo river, and that
there were seventeen or twenty candidates for
baptism whom he thought truly converted
What was astonishment shortly after to
hear by letter from dear Clarke that the con
verts and candidates for baptism already num-
bered between seven and eight hundred. The
tldlngs seemed too good to be true and for q
While neither Mr. Guinness nor l could believe
1t. What glorious result of years of trial anC
patient waiting"
"A report from Russian mission at
Japan states that the number of Japanese who
embraced the orthodox Greek faith in 1885 was
l,467, and that the total number of japanese
converts to the same Church was l 275. They
formed l84 communities. There are already
twelve japanese cleryymen of the orthodox
faith, and $50 students of both sexes in the
schools Of the mission.
The Church OF Scotland Foreign
Mission Committee say they need reorganiza-
ton. Their present foreign strength IS too
much distributed for its present strength, hut
their missions are inadequatedly supported and
farther retrenchment seems imminent though
the Church has ample resources. Fifty thou
sand OF their communicates get no chance tc
give because The cause Is not presented IN their
churches. Two hundred and fifty parishes with
over l25, 900 COMMITMENTS gave last year less
$4,000. The giving and interest in missions is
confined to the few.
The aggregate income of the mis-
sionary societies In Great Britain is a million
and quarter. The amount spent on amuse
ments Is Gl20000O0; o1 tobacco, Gl3 100000
on strong drink, Gl24 900 600
The American Board receipts last
year were S49l ,43S 50, which deductlng a special
gift Of $4,000, was an advance of 3 900.