The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-24

both branches of the Christian church
vill6fy Shsjr brothers of the other COM
uluniOn. The harm that is done by
half-edUCated and aggressive mission
aries can hardly be estimated. The
younger generation of the Japanese
have q more complete knowledge OF
Christian doctrines than many of the
missionaries who go out to teach them,
and as their heads are full of the doc
trines of Mill. Comte and others, it is
easy to see why Christianity should not
make much Roadway.
BY many Protestants resident in Jap
an it is maintained that the Roman
Catholics are the only body of workers
who are effecting any real progress in
the conversion of the japanese, the
reason being that all the missionaries
sent out by the Roman church are
thoroughly educated men.
There Is a theory in England and
America that the life of a missionary
in foreign parts must be one of hard
ship and sacrifice. The author of ia
pan in Transition" says that with the
exception of the Roman Catholics. the
payment of the missionaries in Japan
is Extremely good" "They form their
own colonies and their own society,
they live in good houses and on good
food. Many of them, though paid as
missionaries, run a successful COM
merce in connection with their relig-
ious work. In the warm weather the
Toxic missionaries migrate in a body
to the mountains for months at a time,
where they have also good houses of
their own, and where they speculate
in house property to a very consider
able extent"
And elsewhere he says: "In Japan at
H. H. .-zl.w IL
cult to encounter either serious hard
ships in the way of living, climate, or
extreme filth in surroundings; and risk
to life is practically absent. To use
the words of a well-known and much
respected clergyman who has lived
smany years in Japan, The life of the
ordinarily conscientious curate of, say
an industrial town in England, entails
vastly more privation than is the case
even with conscientious missionary
in Japan.
To conclude, Mr. Ransome sums up
the case by saying Christianity, so far
as the Japanese are concerned, is in
as bad a state as it could be, without
being absolutely extinct. 1t is high
time, if we wish to Christianize the
country, that the responsible ecclesi-
astical authorities in England and
America should make a strong effort
to see how the interests of Christianity
are being served there.
No thoughtful person can read what
Mr.. Ransome has to say on this point
without being interested and moved
and until some disinterested< and quail
fled person comes along to disproYe the
gloomy picture he has drawn, it must
be accepted. The fact seems to be that
the Japanese have learned so much
from the Europeans and Americans
that it is far more difficult to deceive
or cajole them than it was and that if
the opponents of Christianity who are
sent to teach them are deficient in
dignity and sweetness of character, and
IN the book learning, at which the Jap
anese are themselves such adopts the
japanese are keen enough to detect the
fraud. This is merely another illus
tration Of the truism that good inten-
tons are not a substitute for knowl-
edge and skill
Mr.. Ransome's conclusions upon the
position of Christianity are only such
as have been drawn by unprejudiced
observers of missionary work in other
Asiatic countries, Siam and China, for
example. But the basal trouble lies in
the fact that books like his and opin-
ions Ike theirs never seem to reach the
right persons, but these latter con-
tinue to raise money and to labor in
the same old way with the stiff necked
heather" and with the same I'M
worthy results. And if the persons who
areso active in prosecuting foreign mis-
sions ever do chance to read chapters
like that referred to in the story, they
invariably assert that the writer was
preJudiced or sunduly severe, or that his
sources of information We're colored-l
anything and everything, in short, ex-
cept that he was telling the truth.
There were happy doings at the Tenn
porary Home and Day Nursery yester-
day afternoon, when the annual Christ
mas tree and treat were given. For
many years it has been the custom for
Mrs. w. w. Rice, the president, to give
the oyster stew and other goodies for
the supper while Miss Harriet Clarke
gives the tree. There were 46 chill |!
dren to partake of the bountiful supper.
This number included all the little
people who are in any way connected |
with the institution. The low kinder |
garten tables at which they sat were
spread in the dining room and kitchen, !
and so closely were the children slowed /
away that when the feast was over
they needed assistance before they
could Chamber out. In another room
mothers.
That was at A. 80. About 5 o'clock the
door into the front room was opened
and at first in silence, then with ex-
CARNATIONS of delight, they filed in
where the tree was blazing with can
dies and tinsel Miss Clarke distrib-
uted the gifts, assisted by Mrs T. c.
Mendenhall, Mrs. Rice and Mr.. Men
denhall, who, as in previous years, had
IN 70
of candy, an orange toys or books, and
either pair of stockings or else a pair
of mittens for each child The chill
dren manifested the greatest delight
and hung around the tree, loathe to
leave it.
The engagement is announced OF Miss
Alice R. Brown, daughter of ]. K.
Brown, the shoe dealer, to Charles H.
Wood, well-known young lawyer, who
Is the junior member of the law firm
of Wood & Wood.
Alfred K. Miller, who has gone to New
York to meet his wife, Mrs. Dorothy
McTaggart-Mille who sailed on the
). S. Campania, Dec 16 from Liver
pool. telegraphs that the boat arrived
yesterday morning, and that Mrs. Miller
Hdu an unusually pleasant voyage con-
sldering the time of the year. Mrs Mil
Ter has been a number of months in
London, studying with Georg Hen
schel, living While there with Mrs. Bal
lev MIS- HenschePs mother. Mrs Miller
says that Mr.. HenscheTs opera, which
was brought out in Dresden a short time
ago, was pronounced success; the
London Times containing quite an arti-
Gle in reference TO it next morning.
Mrs. e. NJ Wood is to give the chill