The Newtown bee., 1901-05-24

was not very gracious in itsinvitatior
Here Mr. Ewing again told the stor
of the siege, though in such simpl
way that the children easily followe'
! him and took it in. IT we only knew
J a little Chinese, how much meaning
: we could get out Of some Of those un
pronounceable Chinese names that w
USED TO STUMBLE OVER WHEN WI
STUDIED
|. geography years ago. For instance
Kiang in Chinese means "river;" ant
so that ugly-looking name, Yantse
kiang, is not so bad after all, for il
simply means "Yellow River" Nj
Ewing showed that he was goot
teacher by holding the closest atten
ton of the children as he drew upor
the blackboard various Chinese charac
ters and explained their meaning
Thus, the picture of house with &
woman under it means "peace;" fol
when woman is in the house instead
of being a busy-body upon the streets
there is peace according to the
Chinese nation. A good collection
was taken up here to 60 as a thank
Offering to the American Board.
At the Endeavor meeting in the
evening Mr. Ewing was again brought
into service as he told some stories OF
real heroism among the Chinese. 1t
is said that an opium-eater cannot be
converted. He cannot unless he is
really converted; it is only the grace
Of God in its sincere form that can re-
move habit that sends down it's roots
more deeply into the character even
than the drink habit. The story was
told Of an opium-eater who weighed
the merits of the Christian religion SO
philosophically that he set down the
arguments for Christianity on one side
of sheet and the arguments against
Christianity on the other side and
counted which side had the more
points; but when he was once really
converted, he willingly gave up his life
rather than abjure his faith.
The evening service brought out a
large audience, although the night was
dark and stormy. 1t was a decided
compliment to the speaker that those
who heard him in the morning were
anxious to hear him again, and when
he was through wished that he still
might go on. .-Mr Ewing's address in
the evening let a great deal of light
in upon this peculiar people. 1t did
more; it removed many prejudices.
If WE KNEW THE CHINESE BETTER,
the same as If we knew any people
better, we would think better of them.
In all lines OF knowledge we know but
in part; the world will come closer to-
gether and wars will cease the more
that we come to know face to face. It
is good thing that the missionaries
have to take a long time when they
first arrive upon the field to study the
language. This gives time to become
acquainted with the Chinese at close
range, to rub OF prejudices and to learn
better how to deal with them. The
people live in villages, all of them, even
the farmers 60 to their homes in the
villages at night. This is for pre-
lection. The Chinese would not think
Of building village without a wall,
but sometimes it is only mud wall.
The villages are named from the fami
lies that reside in them: thus there is
the John-village and the Sam-village.
It is patriarchal sort of government
that exists here, for the older men in
each village exercise the authority.
After the siege of Peking nothing too
mean could be said by foreigners about
the Chinese. We are now coming to
to see that they
WERE NOT ''TEN PARTS" TO BLAME
The Russians and Germans were max
ing entertainments on their territory,
the "foreign DEVILS" were building
railroads that were throwing multi
tudes out of employment, their super
stitious beliefs led them to think that
a kidnapped child was buried under
every sleeper: and so the Boxer up
rising became movement to save
their country. 1t was rather anti
foreign than anti-Christian; but the
Christians became involved in it be-
cause they we're foreigners and 1.-THE
native Christians because they were
friendly to the missionaries. The
Chinese are practical people; they
look at everything from the point of
view Of what they wish to accomplish.
They lie because they want to gain
something; they tell the truth because
they want to gain something. They
do not know what it is to be honest for
honesty's sake; it is always for policy's
sake. They are childlike people.
Their language is very childlike;
thus an American boy or girl who is
brought up in China learns the Chinese
language with greater facility than he
does the English. We would say, "Put
the book upon the table," the Chinese
parent would say to his boy; "Take the
book, place it on the table," You
cannot teach theoretical dogma to the
Chinese; it is life that appeals to them.
They are interested in the lives Of
Moses, Daniel, Paul and our Saviour
and in the lives Of modern saints. The
consistent, earnest life of a faithful
missionary is strong power for good.
1t is an ill-starred fate to be born
girl in China; no congratulations are
offered the mother when her baby is
girl. The mother-in-law cruelty treats