The Portland daily press., 1900-12-18
BEsIEGED IN PEKING
Wonderful Escape OF the Endangered
From Serious Harm.
(The Boston Globe. }

The Rev. Charles e. Ewing, one OF tha
American missionaries who recently ar
rived from Chins. stated in a sermon In
tbs PILGRIM Congregational church, Dor
cnester, Sunday morning, that miracles
seemed TO have been wrought In their
favor during the siege OF Picking, He
has been in China for some time, and
was in Psking during the siege.
''How we all stood the siege is almost
miracle" he said. 1.-THE principal
reason is that God seemed to.be with Us.
We had able and valorous defenders, ..snd
the native Christians did wonderfully
well. We had only eco men against pos
sibly hundreds Of thousands. Something
beyond human power seemed to aid as.
As an illustration, bullets whizzed by our
ears at intervals, but no civilian was
wounded, and only one missionary In.
jured in the legation.
Zone day a bullet hit the window of
the.ohapel where we were holding. prayer,
glass, 1t never entered the chapel.
Fire was the most terrible enemy we
had to meet. The enemy would set the
IRE, but almost every time they did so,
extraordinary as it may ssem +, the win d
would change the course OF the fire away
from the legations.
1.-The Lord not only protected us, but
he provided for US. There were no
preparations for q siege, .but shortly after
it commenced we found tons of stored
wheat, which we conflscated, ground and
baked. It made very fair eating. Three
horses and mule were killed every day
and we had excellent sauslges. We had
plenty of water but IL REQUIRED boiling
before use.
"The Chinese are shrewd, but honor.
able, and can be depended on to keep a
contract when made. They are superior
business race, and child-like In their
wo rk and manners.
''The women are stunted both intelleo-
tually and spiritually. and, sad to cay,
are not wanted in China. The men are
peaceful and peace.loyinR. This seems
an extraordinary statement, in view OF
what has happened this year. But the
Chinese have been provoked into this up
rising. They ara wranglers, not lighters,
and do not want to draw blood.
with the Incubation OF Christian
ideas commenced foreign domination,
and when the Chimes could not smut
out the so-called foreign devils by brick
walls, they rose in thsir might against
them. The old cause of feeling against
ANAOA&hAAo VN6 az bAC 0SetSAAA Vi Aho nAOl5
thing"
/ do not wish to be understood rs ex-
ousing the Chinese for their atrocities, by
any means, but, as I'm example OF the
way the natives are treated by the for
eigners, l saw myself, in Shanghai, |
natives actually kicked into she gutter to |
make room for foreigners on the side
walk.
"As to the uprising against foreigners |
10 must be said that tho missionaries
were not to blame. They have been |
there for scores OF years, and no tronble |
has occurred. The uprising was essen |
TALLY anti-foreign, and not anti-Chris-
tian,
"Military aggression of the different |
nations was responsible In q great
measure for the trouble, but the primary
cause, to my mind, was the industrial |
revolution caused by the Introduction |
of the railroads in China. This intro
ductlon was followed by Germany with
cruelties and oppression. The wonder is
that the Chinese did not rise before,
when We consider that the railroads threw /
out OF employment nine-tenths OF the
carriers namely, carriers, wheel
men, and boatmen. who could not ind |
work, and satan finds mischief for thu
Idle hands to do.''