Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1900-09-01

mans soul. lie wants to know what
earthly reward the missionary expects
to get, and when he Is told Of the
glories of heaven to be awarded to the
true believer and propagation Of the
faith, white or yellow, lie meets the
statement with an unbelieying grunt.
Self satisfaction is one Of the leading
traits of the Chinese mind. Cinnamon
are sereRely confident that nothing out
side of China can quite equal their
country, and this holds true even when
they are sunk in the depths OF misery
and degradation. They call it impu-
dence in the white man or woman to
attempt to wean them from their an
cient faiths, and their animosity and
vindictiveness are aroused thereby.
Probably the greatest difficulty in
reaching Chinese hearts with the light
of faith Is missionary ignorance of
their language, or, rather, languages.
Many years ago, a Jesuit missionary
said, Il believe the devil invented the
Chinese language to keep the mission
airy out" There are as many different
languages and dialects in China as
there are days in the year, with posi-
bly, some districts not yet heard from.
1t is a positive fact that frequently
men from different parts Of the same
province cannot understand each other
and must have recourse to some out
side dialect in order to converse.
The leading languages of the empire
az t1,r 10 riY1 NH To he Ia al
language, and the Canton, Annoy, Fu-
chau. Swallow, and Hing-Hoa, spoken
by the cities of these names and the
districts tributary to them. Besides
these, there are the innumerable local
dialects referred to above. In order to
do successful work in his chosen
field, foreign missionary must speak
at least the colloquial dialect and the
mandarin tongue, leaving other lin
guistic difficulties to be dealt with as
they arise.
Space is too limited here to enter
upon a discussion of the Chinese Ian
guage and grammar. There is Il Chi
nese grammar, but what it is and how
1t is constructed are mysteries to the
ordinary Caucasian mind. One well
known anecdote to illustrate the diff
cultes of this tongue and its pro-
nunciation: A young missionary care
fully prepared his first sermon, under
the supervision of n native teacher,
and delivered it without, as he sup
posed. a single error. Judge of his
modification to learn afterward that
throughout the whole sermon he had
used the word pig" instead of ''Lordw
There is an endless number of such
obstacles in the way of learning Chi
nese, which is generally conceded to be
the most difficult language in the
world.
This brings us back to our original
onception-Chinese opinion and esti-
nation Of foreigners. To the mind of
the native any one who does not speak
his language is, ipso facto. barbarian
and to be despised as such. When our
devoted missionaries, through years of
hard study and research, learn their
native tongue they may, perhaps, sue
coed in changing native opinion of
them and become foreign gentle
men," instead of barbarians or foreign
devils" But this is only one of the
numerous difficulties to be overcome.
Although China is not generally
speaking, a gloomy land, and in their
own peculiar ways the Chinese manage
to enjoy life, they do not laugh aloud;
and our frank expressions Of mirth are
to them uncomfortable evidences of i'll
breeding. You need not ask a China
man to give a reason for this, or Tor