The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-07-07

l
 head of that family.
 It Is not only the common custom,
 but the right and necessary thing to do,
 when building a pagoda, to give it an odd number of stories, and when con- structing bridge to have an odd num-
 Der of arches. There is, however, a very fine stone and brick bridge, built
 over the river at Huei-Chowtu in South GanhWei, which has sixteen arches; but
 it is said that the contractor paid the 1 penalty for his mistake by being be-
 headed when the work was completed. | It Is commonly considered by many 1 Chinese as something of a favor to the | missionaries for them to become con- 1 verts and "enter the religion" so we oc- | casionally have some very peculiar peo- | pie present themselves to us as prospGc- 1 tive Christians. A man at Ganking
 once waited upon me, and begged me to help him in some trouble. A cousin of his, he said, had been arrested for man. slaughter, and he feared that he would be cruelty punished or possibly behead- ed. He urged me to use my influence with the authorities to save the deln- quent, and added: If you secure his liberty I'll become @ Christian" A Hueichow man came into our little
 chapel carrying all his earthly posses sions, bundle of bedding and some sun
 dries, saying: I've come to be a
 Christian" and he expected to live right
 in with me. I learned that lc and his
 father had quarreled and he was seek
 ing refuge away from his home. l told
 him the thing could not be done that
 way, and he was greatly disappointed.
 A Human soldier, by name of Cheng,
 became interested in the preaching of
 the gospel, and coming frequently to
 chapel, incurrep the censure of his cap
 tain, and subsequently, his dislike.
 Though forbidden to do so, Cheng still
 came to the services, was converted and
 baptized. Then he was beaten and
 turned out of the army; but on account
 of falling into sin of which he would
 not repent he was excluded from church
 membership. Now he retaliated on the
 missionaries. He burned his Bible and
 hymn book in the street, making pub
 lie renunclation of Christianity, dis
 playing a basin with some red stuff
 smeared in it, and explaining that he
 had, by great effort, vomited up the original medicine we had given him, by which he had been bewitched. and now he was free and in his right mind again. So he warned all people against us,
 I caught him once thus preaching on
 the street to an interested crowd. but he immediately tried to hide the basin and turn the topic. I stopped and said to him; Why do you continue to speak against us In this way? You will cer- tainly do yourself more harm than good" Then I addressed the people too Poor Cheng, after a season of hos tility and arrangement, came around to services again; he we'll knew we didn't hate him. One day he came up to my study, and wept like q child seeking for giveness both from us and from God. He was subsequently, restored and be- came a much more humble man.
 About eighteen years ago there was a man named Chang, who kept little | store by which he made humble living. | He was an ardent Buddhist vegetari- | an, and a celibate; but wishing to se- | cure the beset that Buddhism could | give him. or do for him, he sold out his ! little stock in trade, and taking the money to the temple of his choice, hand 1, ed q over to the priests for the priv- lege of living in the temple and eating its rice. He then shut himself up in a little cell, and there remained a sitting posture (the attitude of meditatton) day and night, awake and asleep, for three years. This with view to help him procure ultimate admission to the west ern paradise, promised to Buddhist de- voices of that particular school. He came out a much-weakened man. and very dissatisfied with the result.
 Shortly afterward he met a native preacher, who gave him the gospel, both Tn the spoken and printed forms, which slowly revolutionized Changs ideas on religious questions He attended the small native services held in a mission and kept listening, reading and learning, until he was persuaded be had found the truth at last Hearing hat I was at another station, thirty niles from his home, he walked that 1 distance through the rain one day to ,sk me to baptize him. He looked as hough he had had both sprinllling and combined, he was so wet We were glad to see him and helped Jim to get dry. He stayed with us a hort while to get acquainted; we were much struck With his earnestness and ket his spirit. We did not at that time ,aptize him, but sought to teach him a title and encourage him. Subsequently le was ba otized, and is now a much 'alued native pastor, in happy possess ion of the light he was once so earnest y seeking, and it is shining around Ipon others also.--Dr. Horace A. Ran l He in the New York Observer.