Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-08-04

perstitiOns Now Current About
Kerosene Oil.
A Tien-tsin letter to the London
Standard bearing date of April 80
gives an account of the antiforeign
propa ganda then in progress in north
efn China. reference to which has al
ready been made in these columns
The writer remarks that similar liter
AZURE" as politicians would call II, was
circulated largely in Hoo-Nan ten years
ago and led TO the serious riots of that
period.
AT the present time" he continues,
1--WE are having u not dissimilar, if less
violent, recrudescence OF antiforeign
literature, of which the following are
very good samples. The first Of them
is In rhyme Of a peculiarly attractive
form, the meter throughout represent
ing two lines of three characters each
and one line of seven characters. This
is particularly easy to memoriZe. 1
know some Chinese Christians whose
families can repeat II by heart after
one or two readings, and they assure
me that II is style of placard which
would be universally memoriZed,
whereas the prose placards are read,
but make no lasting impression. 1 APP
pend literal translation of the poem
without any attempt at rhyme. for fear
of destroying the effect:
Goods assist the Boxers,
The Patriotic Harmonious Corps;
1t is because the Foreign Devils disturb the Mid
die Kingdom,
Urging the people to join their religion
To turn their backs on Heaven;
Henerate not the Gods and forget the Ancestors
Men violate the human obligations;
Women commit adultery.
Foreign Devils are not produced by mankind.
II you doubt this.
Look at them carefully;
The eyes Of all the Foreign Devils blush.
No rain falls,
The earth is getting dry;
This is because the Churches stop the Heaven.
The Gods angry,
The Genii vexed;
Both are come down from the mountains to de-
liver the doctrine.
This is not hesrsay,
The practice will not be in vain
To rccite- lamentations and pronounce magic
words.
Burn up the yellow written prayers:
Light incense sticks,
To invite the Gods and Genii Of all the grottoes
Challs).
The Gods will come out Of the grottoes.
The Cent? will come down from the mountains
And support the human bodies to practice the
boxing.
When all the military accomplishments or tactics
Are fully learned,
1t will not be difficult to eXterminste the Foreign
Devils then.
Push aside the railway tracks,
Pull out the telegraph poles.
Immediately after this destroy the steamers
The grea. France
VIII grow cold and downhearted;
The English and Russian will certainly dsperse.
Let the various Foreign Devils all be killed.
May the whole elegant Empire of the Great Ching
dynasty be ever prosperous
THE translation OF one of the prose
placards is as follows:
Tho relatives and friends of all
around notice recently that members
of the Protestant and Roman Catholic
religions poison the wells with poison
Gus powder and that whoever drinks
the water have their lungs and intes-
tines rotten within 1S days. Two men
have been arrested by us at Liu Ii
Chuang, and we find they have poison
all over their bodies. They are silent
when questioned and bold when tor
tured. Those who smell the poison
will die Immediately. You must be
very cautious In drinking the water.
Those who see this notice must make
it known. 1t will avoid calamity be-
falling the people. 1t must by all means
be done
Both these placards were posted up
IN a district called Taicheng, in this
(Chi-lD province. six days ago.. e.,
since the last proclamation Taicheng
is about lao Ii, or so miles. south Of
Tien-tsin. The dense and universal
ignorance OF the people makes these
placards. silly and childish as they
may appear to us, very dangerous and
highly calculated to excite the widest
ideas and promote trouble. The peo-
pie are Just now peculiarly in the
mood, moreover. to be so excited. The
autumn and spring rains have not fall
en-. the earth is lying hard and parched,
and starvation stares them in the face.
They cannot explain II or understand
why the clouds gather. but produce no
refreshing showers. In their blindness
they blame the foreigner. To illustrate
the public temper of the day / may
mention that the widest superstitions
are now extant current about kerosene
oil. Several large fires have occurred
through the breaking of lamps. and
the people are now discovering that
kerosene promotes scarlet fever, small
pox and plague, Injuries the eyesight
and otherwise brings calamity Upon
this overwrought state of mind such
placards as the above act very strong
ly."
The correspondent adds that there is
no doubt that these infammatory plac-
ards have official sanction.