The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-10-28

as much RELISH as the others. oh. that tHcre
TRUTH
This VII, % many people, confirm the
theory that the English people have no
sense of humor- Certainly the lady
who wrote this letter was unyrovideI
with anything of the sort, though il is
"A very good thing To have in a mission
AIRY outfit To consider that a woman
Is huugcriug FOR the truth Of the gospel
because she is aUngerinE for FISH and
pork. ana gives way 60 the appetite. Is
a mixture of ideas sublime and larc.cal
which cannot often be found n this
world
Aside from this. the incident suggests
a somewhat doubtful phase of mission
AIRY enterprise. For centuries the peo-
pie of India ana some parts of China
and Japan have been taught To DE veg
etariaEN. They give two reasons for the
practice. one is that in the law of God
all living creatures are akin. and that
% Kill one of them for purposes Of food
Is sin the same III kind. though not IN
degree. as canuibalism. The other rea-
They believe that when the flesh Of an
animal is eaten, the qualities of the an
imal in some sense pass into the eater
of the flesh; that is, that he who eats
pork viii be heavy and sluggish. and SO
forth. They also think that the terror
and pain which the animal experiences
at the time of death makes the flesh
UuWhoIesCme food.
OF course, the missionary regards all
this as superstition. But there are
facts in this connection which should
not DE overlooked one is that it is
rather a dangerous business to per
sUade person To commit what is a sin
in his own eyes. It Ioosens the sense Of
moral obligation. and lessons the power
OF resistance To real temptation. If he
can De thoroughly convinced before
committing the act that it is not "a san,
that is a different matter When one
reflects that the ancestors Of these for
ciEu people have, FOR many hundreds Of
years. regarded hesh-eauag precisely
as We regard cauuibalism. il viii be
easily seen ,hat the best Of them are
not likely 20 overcome the prejudiva in
a short time, simply because il seems
ridiculous 10 Europeans.
Again. medical authorize agree that
% eat much meat in a tropical climate
is not good for tho health. even of Eu-
rsuea1s. who have always been accus-
toned 10 such a diet This being So,
what about the sudden introduction of
an entirely new bill Of fare among plO-
pl. who. like countless numbers OF their
ancestors. have never tasted uesh2 It
seems as if the thing were unnecessary
as well as difficult. and as if it might
in some cases be even dangerous To
health. Everybody knows that Chris
tiauiJy has nothing whatever to do with
tho question of vegetarianism- Why.
thel should not the attitude OF the mis-
sionary be- precisely this Why should
ne not in fact. declare that converts
viii do well not TO change their habits
i'm this respect. since such "a change will
not only cause great grief TO their fam
lilies who adhere TO the old belief but
can do them no possible good There
is sc1IPturaI authority for such course
for il was the Apostle Paul who said
that he would eat no meat if it caused
his brother 10 offend; and there is the
authority Of numerous educated Hin
dus for the statement that one great
source OF the Hindu's distrust of the
Westerngr is the missiouary's attitude
on this very question.