The Savannah morning news., 1900-11-18
MISSION ARIES MISTAKES.
Chief of Them IN China is the Intro
ductIon Of women.


Julian Ralph IN the London Mail
I was told Ia China that / had studied
che relations Of the missionaries TO the
natives 50 az 10 ho able to present the
facts in a light In which they had not
been viewed hy the sponsors FOR the mis-
sionaries OF Chrlstondom. II was urged
that much good would come Of q n
would make public my Views and impress.
siona. Il was a sage. vigorous and
successful missionary, az the head OF
large school Tor Chinese children. who
tried 20 persuade mo 20 broach this most
delicate subject. He knew that I had
crossed tho Pacific with more than
hundred English end American mission
aries, ana that a0crwari ! had ma,ie
two or more Journeys into the Interior
and had met many missionaries and ques-
toned some very shrewd Cinnamon upou
the extraordinary enmity to the mission
aries Of the highest rs well a. the hum.
biest people 81 China
10 was upon my return to the treaty
port, after second journey inland that
this hroadminded missionary asked M
what ] thought 81 tho missionaries and
their methods. ] az first declined to an
sWer him. This was because Ia my talks
with other mlssonaries Of narrower men
tnl grasp ! quickly saw that my point OF
Wow was not theire.
Instead Of arguing or meeting fact with
fact. they usually cook tho ground that
whoever criticised them had imbibsd the
prcjudiccs or The white people a. the
treaty ports. This was NOT AZ an my case.
but u appeared peculiar thas there should
be such a prejudice II also seemed that
IL the missionaries knew thar their own
fellow countrymen found fault with them
they snouid inquire closely into she re1-
son and Try 10 remedy a.
had done little talking with these
white critics. because % Is their habit to
crys,allize their fault-hndiug in two
ehnrge@-nrst that the missionaries man
age TO live well wherever you mud them
and second. that they make an the
trouble there is in China &"
II is not a rational point Of criticism fhat
missionaries dive comfortably To begin
with. they 10 not have the means 10 pam
pcr themselves. and. again the better they
live the more fayorahlv shey impress al
Orentals. J admit that wherever saw
their homes they were decent. and they
had plenty 81 scrvauts--wh no are dirt cheaa.
over There. But when 7 compared their
poor comforts with The dangers bv which
they were surrounded could only BE- GLAD
things were not worse with them How
ever. the question TO be met h not how
N"tAft'f ttta'f' amy AAfs NNA now 40 fnrN
conduct themselves toward the native.9
u is well mat they should have cool
homes and servants a-plonty 20 Keen
their face in China hut J., is very. very
go indeed u their conduct or relations
with those strange people shame Them
iu the public sight
Fearing that my friend would misurder-
stand my criticism, ] refused 10 make IL
hut ne persisted. and assured me that
wouid not offend him.
We'll them said J. 81 viii ten YOU hon.
fsiiy what ! have seen sni hoard and
what deductions have drawn
First Or all, men too often volunteer
a. missionaries 20 satisfy their own needs
Instead 81 being carefully selected 90 SAT-
isfF tho needs Of the Chinese Iu America
tine men who are sent out a. missionaries
are too frequently persons who have ran.
ed ia other walks ana who take 20 ihls
work as last resort. ass e certain means
20 get an income and because thrv thu.
cease 90 shift Tor themselves and have a
church or rich society 10 lean upon.
do not criticize the men FOR .hls. 10 is
the system that Is at fault
ION the sh.p bound for CHINA was
struck by thc mediocre mental character
I Of too many OF the men. They were often
villagers and men OF thc uarrowcef howl
zau. 10 was these who declared what thpy
would 10 and have and would not have
wnen they reached their stalons-as if
tho Chris'ianizlnF OF an ancient "A polish
ed. and q highly cultivated race was o.
he carried out by a word % command IN
stead OF by the most sage. dcft tactful
8nd sympathetic means. 'iil have no CON
vert who permits his wife 20 cramp her
feet said ore and that fairly illustrates
the mental attitude toward their work
OF loo many whom Z mot Small feet cone
cubluaEe. even the rcvcrCnt regard of an
good Cinnamon for their ancestors were
90 be Instantly discountcnau-si before
the true modes Of life ana Worship wer,
established iu their places
when / Travelled in China I found that
fhe ablest ard broadeat Gilman RS could
not understand or Justify fhe balsvio- ~
our ulss.0narief~nrogcr AS 3. was to our
way o. thinking M these able Chluamen
were ccnfoundtd by what ilrF saw. Sc. 81
easy 10 understand the source u tfc hos
hiity q the psasantry. In Shlna, a woman