The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1891-08-19
ITAo-HO, SHANsI. CHINA, June 16 1891.
L wish you could have stood with us last Sat

ITAo-HO, SHANsI, CHINA, June 16. 1891.
L wish you could have stood with last Sat-
urday afternoon.
IL heard brooklet gushing,
From its rocky fountain near.
Down into the valley rushing,
So fresh and wondrous clear"
Four miles from home we had come. up the
rocky bed ofthe river. and here we stood at the
very fountain head. The valley was narrow
and like walls of proteCtion.rose the high rocky
banks. as if guarding the head waters that the
whole valley might be pure. As parents watch
ing their children at play. SO the mountains
looked -henignly- y-d3wn=upon- the little brook
Here was the beginning-here the source of the
life-supportiDg stream, which ever glides on
with its music and ripple and roar, turning its
sixty or hundred water wheels, which grind
out flour for the food o. the people. Though
small its source how great Its influence and
power. Water clear as crystal, pure as purity,
what does its face behold? The strength of the
mountains. the protection of the hills, the deep
blue sky with its brilliant orbsi Yes. But is
this all2 No. AS if to pollute the very head
and thus destroy the beauty of all its course.
stands Buddhist Temple. enclosing within its
walls the largest of all the springs. Here, be-
fore the huge idols. are the incense bowls where
the deluded people worship that which has been
come the destruction of time. Side by side of
the pure spring is this Temple of superstition
and darkness.
Not only at the source is this pollution. but as
| river OF life and river of death, see the
| laughing stream and by its side the deadly
opium. We turn our steps homeward- the
stream flows on. the wheels grind out the flour
1.-THE poppy grows thickly in the valley.
just at this season they are beginning to
gather the opium. The white blossoms ar
| falling of A man with a sharp piece of brass
| makes two slight incisions round the pistil and
| the juice oozes out; another man scrapes it of
| with his finger into cup, dark, viscid sub
| stance with Gdor as of old potatoes revolving
in the extreme.
The stream carries life in its path the opium
| death-death to the body and death to the soul
In the Province of Shansi, where we are the
habit is more common than in any other part o
| the Empire. Men, women and children use it
This winter. at DR.. Atwood's opium refuge
| there a sad case, which was doubtless ons
| of many. boy fourteen years of age. whost
| father at one time a magistrate, but bott
he and his wife were addicted to the fearfuly
enslaving habit. Inheriting the craving, ant
when Il child the fumes in his face, what coulC
the result bel At eight years he was given the
pipe, and when his father died he was left to
beg upon the street. Here he was found by q
friend OF his father and placed in the refuge
Here for time he was in critical condition
and suffered much, but i'll time he went ava
and is now in the Mission School at Tai -ha
Thus are the Chinese corrupted by this fou
poison. Thus is the valley of the beautiful
river polluted, and not of this one only, but o
many more. Thus is the life of this nation
sapped
| LYDIA LORD DAVIS.