Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-06-05

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household spirits, spirits q the village
and OF the country, spirits OF ancestors,
spirits OF rivers, spirits Of the rice
fields. spirits Of the air and spirits be-
longing to every thing under the sun.
person desiring to undertake some
extraordinary work, as building a
house, or the marrying of son or
daughter, must first inform the spirits
and give them special invitation.
Should he fail to do this some misfor-
tune, caused by the offended spirits,
will befall that person or some of his
relatives. Now these superstitiou5
ideas of these poor heathens may seem
to be very foolish to us, but they are
not IN the least more superstitious and
1oolIsn than some of the absurd stories
which people who claim to be intelli-
gent tell in this enlightened land For
example, to break looking glass
means seven years trouble, or if thir-
teen people be seated at the table one
OF them will die within a year, or if
you cut a dress out on Friday and do
not get it finished you will not live to
wear 1t out, or you will have bad luck
II you see the new moon overa certain
shoulder. Such superstitions are more
disgusting to me than that of the poor
Siamese heathens, for the heathens do
not know any better, but people who
live in this enlightened land of Chris
tlanlty do know better. or ought to be
ashamed of themselves if they do not.
Let Gods truth govern your lives and
ghosts and devils and foolish signs will
not trouble you.
1t has been about seventy-fve years
since Protestants began their missions
airy work in Siam. The Methodists,
the Baptists and the Presbyterians
have established quite a number or
churches, schools and religious papers
IN that country. One of the mission
aries writes, I'VE enjoy the most ready
access to the people in the way of
preaching the gospel. In our vista
lions to the homes of the people we
were cordially received and respect
fully listened to while we talked to
them of Christ and their need of Him.
Where We met with any difficulty was
in villages remote from US, where the
people were not accustomed to see us
and know us. AS in all of the Oriental
countries medical missionary work is
OF great value. Even in some of the
most healthful portions of Siam the
people. are most wretchedly sickly.
This is due mainly to the sinful lives
OF the people and their ignorance of
the laws of health, sanitary arrange
ments and diet
In time of pestilence among the
cattle they eat the flesh of animals
which have died of disease. They
throw the carcasses of dead animals in
to the stream above the city from
which many of the people have to draw
their supply of drinking water. The
natural result is that they are subject
to horrible sores, and many of them
seem to be a mass of loathsome dis
ease, and what few native doctors they
have are as ignorant of the principles
of physiology and anatomy and how to
cure disease as an Apache Indian med
icine man. And as they are willing to
receive treatment from the medical
missionary, it gives them great oppor-
tunltles for the relief of suffering and
at the same time for leading them to
the Divine Healer of their sin-sick
souls. The medical work at one sta
ton included the treatment of over
5000 patients at the dispensary, and
100 bed patients at the hospital. Fifty
years of Christianity will do the world
more good than a thousand years of
Buddhism
And now | must consume the re-
mainder of my time in giving inter-
esting facts about the experiences of
our workers in Siam as they go from
station to station. In the city of
Ranong the governor gave them a COM
Portable cottage on the mountain side,
and treated them with all manner of
kindness. From this cottage they
went in various directions, visiting the
people from house to house, and they
sold Bibles and books. They were per-
mitted to preach the gospel in the
prison, the market place, the police
court and in several Buddhist temples
AT one of the temples the head
priest seemed deeply impressed. On
the first night of their visit to the tenn
pie he read the Bible until midnight.
and early the next day, which was
Sabbath, he sent a priest inviting the
missionaries to preach again, saying:
/ want to know more of the teaching.
but how can learn without teacher?
They gladly went, and the head priest
anu one VI Iu6 OTHERS declared tnelr
willingness to accept the gospel, urg-
ing them to remain and teach them the
true way. Everywhere they went they
distributed Bibles printed in the vari-
Gus dialects and languages Of the
Siamese people. Rev. Eugene Dunlap
writes that in the city of Singapore the
British and Foreign Bible Society has
an agency where the agent sells the
Bible in forty-five languages, and that
two hundred languages are spoken in
that city.
Speaking of the work in Bankok,
the Rev. w. G. Mcclure says a gam
bling house became a chapel and house
of prayer, where audiences of two or
three hundred attracted from the
streets have heard the pure gospel.
They have heard exhortations, SER
mons, practical talks, the explanation
of stereopticon views, gospel singing,
etc. Thousands of copies Of Scriptures
and tracts have been distributed. Five
boarding schools and several day
schools have been in operation, and in
addition TO all this much has been done
that cannot be reported. This is not
wasted effort. 1t must tell for the