Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1889-05-09
SCENES OF HORROR
AMONG THE STARVING THOU
SANDS IN CHINA.
Children Sold BY Their Parents to
Secure Food-Living on Roots
That Destroy the System.

4has 0SSIhOy IAS 0JSbSAh.
Meagre details have been received
thus far of the famine in Shantung and
Monkden, North China, but the letters
from missionaries in the field, which are
printed in the North China Daily Netos,
give the most vivid picture of misery
such as can scarcely be conceived in this
land of plenty, and we print the pas
sages which furnish the best idea of the
terrible suffering:
Dr. Nevins, of Chefoo, in letter says
that the English Baptist and American
Presbyterian missions in Chefoo are Civ
lug all their time TO the work of reliev-
ing the sufferers from famine He says:
"After careful personal inspection they
have fixed upon some of the most needy
localities in the faIaine field, and are
now pushing on the work Of enrolment
to a present limit of sixty thousand per
sons. This, with the allowance of enc
cent n day, will require an output of
5000 daily. If the receipt OF funds
should Justify ii, we would be glad to
increase the enrolment to one hundred
thousand or more. An additional allow
ance is greatly needed to supply the in
habitants with seed grain, but funds ON
hand do not warrant us in giving 1t.
The distributing centres, of which there
are three or four, will, with an enroll
nent of sixty thousand persons, include
three hundred villages, and embrace
about two hundred square miles. These
centres are like oasis in this desert OF
famine. How far they may be extended
will depend upon the material supplies
furnished within the next few months.
Rev. J. H. Laughlin wrote as follows
to DIR. Nevins: "Some of the villages
enrolled lately are destitute beyond de-
scription. DIR. Hunter was out with me
one day, and his judgment was: Many
of them must die before spring. Yes
terday / was in town of 374 families,
nearly every one of which needed help,
and scores we're really in starving con-
dition. 1t was Ch'uen Hwa Chiu, where
Mrs. l.. and spent Sunday on our
first tour through this region, and about
whose condition wrote you at the time.
We found the blind woman and the old
man of seventy-seyen, whom l then
mentioned as sad cases. The former had
since put her poor little babe to death,
and the old man had improved his con
condition by selling his daughter-in- law
for about 80. / enrolled there 4S3
names. To-day cart-load of grain went
up to them, and l can tell you it made
me feel very happy to send it.
81 am sending you small package OF
roots, the staple of thousands OF people, !
now that the wheat blade season is past /
The whole plain is dug up in the search |
after them. This afternoon, in riding
along the road, / counted 100 persons /
men, women and children-in sight at
one time, all engaged in digging roots.
They are offered for sale at large cash /
per catty. Constant eating of them
draws up the hands and swells the limbs /
of the eater, something after the man
ner of inhammatory rheumatlsm-so
the people say. Another sad thing
about it is, that if the roots are all dug I
up now there cannot be later on
eli 'ngts'ai, which grows from them, and I
on which the people have been counting I
for proyender during the third and
fourth months.
"The Rev. Frank Harmon, Of the (
English Baptist Mission at Using Chon
En-. writes from Shou Kuang: "Ihis /
country is poor ut its best, and when the /
floods came every one who was able em- /
igrated to Cuan-tung or Shargi. Thou (
sands remained, however, and are IN a /
furnishing condition. Here, within /
twenty Ii of the Hsien city the waters OF /
the Mi River rose to the height of eight 4
and ten feet above the level of the river /
bed (the height is plainly indicated on
the walls of the houses left standing), /
washing away eight-tenths Of the houses, |
destroying the household and stored 1
grain, and in some places drowning old |
people and children who were unable to
escape during the confusion and dark
ness of the night. The river in retiring
cousummated tie work of woe by leav
ing behind it heavy deposits of sand,
thus rendering the land yalueless for /
years to come.
Anything more lamentable than the !
aspect of the country about here would
be hard to conceive. Villages look MS if
they had been heavily bombarded,
save where the water hrs washed away
whole rows Of mud built houses. Here
q heap Of ruins, there the remains of
k'ang or piece Of wall left standing
upright, are the only evidences that but
a few months since a well-built brick
house stood on the ground; while the
site Of many a human habitation is
often indicated BIZ pit dug in the
ground and raised some two feet above
the level, in which may be found crowded
together families of eight and more
individuals.
Western Shantung is overrun by
from the eastern part of the
Province of Honan. The refugees
differ greatly in their circumstances.
Some who are absolutely unable to get
anything to eat at home are yet clad in
garments and look at first