The evening times., 1901-03-30


American Review" for April IS out with
Mark Twaiu's apology to Rev. DR.
Arneut and other missionaries in China
That is. one may call it an apology if he
DE careless about the actual meaning Of
words The EumoriSt wishes it distinctly
T! understood that he has no prejudice
against apologies. and then he proceeds
To review the controversy started by his
article To the Person Sitting in Dark
ness, which appeared III the February
number of The Review.
! He quotes among other things a des-
/ patch from George Lynch. the we'll
! known correspondent. in which mention
/ was made Of Rev. Messrs- Tewksbury
and Ament holding sales of looted goods.
/ Sir Robert Hart is referred TO as having
! declared that even some missionaries
took leading part in spelling the Egyp-
! tians' "
Mark Twain's first article was based
| largely a cable despatch which repre-
| sented Rev DR. Ament as collecting thir-
! teen times the amount OF the indemnity
! Subsequently a correction was made stat
/ ing that this should have read one-thfrd
! extra tax. Twain asserts that the claim
/ for apology is based solely on this re-
! ductiou in the figures Commenting on
/ this, and the attitude IF the Rev. Dr..
/ Judson Smith and tae American Board of
! Foreign Missions. the LumoriSt says-
Il admire the alertness % the board in
/ watching OUT for chances TO trace board
! morals for Chinese morals. and get the
/ best of the swap: foT I cannot endure
! those people. they are Yellow. and / have
! never considered yellow becoming. I have
/ always been ike the bcard-perfectly we'll
! meaning. but destitute d the moral sense
/ Now. one Of The main reasons why it is
}
/ that there Is no moral difference between
q big flch and Z. little dlch. but only a
! legal enc. is that vacancy in its makeup.
/ Morally there are no degrees in stealing
/ The Commandment says, Thou shalt not
steal and stops there It doesn't recog-
niZe any difference between stealing q
| third and stealing thirteenfoId-
/ Twain speaks Of the board waiting fifty
six days before sending u cable message
| TO Dr. Ament 10 ascertain the facts. and
then says:
1t got a fata! reply and was not aware
of IL That was thar curious confession
about the 'oue-third extra its appIica-
ton not 10 the propagation of the Cos
pei but only to 'caurch expenses sup
port of widows and orphans: and on top
| Of this confession. that other strange one
revealing the dizzying fact that our mis-
/ siOnaries. who went 10 China to teach
Christian morals and justice, had adopted
/ pagan morals ana justice IN their place
That cable was dynamite
1t seems odd that the board did not
see that that revelation made the case far
! worse than il was before; for there was a
saving doubt. before-a doubt which was
4 Gibraltar for strength. and should have
been carefully left undisturbed. Why did
the board allow that revelation 10 get
into print2 Why did the board not sup
press 1t and keep stilI2 But, re; IN the
boards opinion. this was once more the
time for speech Hence Dr. Smiths latest
I letter to me suggesting that l speak also
"A letter which is good enough letter.
barring its nine defects, but is another
evidence that the boards head is not as
/ good as its heart
The Rev DR. ". s. Ament Of the
American Board Mission. who is station
ed in Pelzin, IN 4 recent interview denied
] the accusations against the missionaries
I and defended the demands for punish
j ment of Chinese who committed outrages
upon converts.
! Replying 10 questions about indemnItIes
for native Christians and why the mis-
sionaries took upon themselves to collect
the money from the heather natives, DR.
There seemed very little hope Of native
/ Christians receiving anything through
1 The inStrumeHtslity of their officials. nor
called upon 10 provide Indemnity Tor
/ them The. Eere even very reluctant to
undertake ta.-ir protection at the begin
ming of the outbreak
All The survivors of our churches were
reduced 10 absolute poverty They We're
harmless. iHOfrnsiye people, who had no
feudS with their neiShb0rs, and had net
intruded their religion upOu anyone
If "A missionary, by means Of his per
. Soliai influence and by the assistance of
Z the local official who might be fri9ndlg lo
. a. u is nor
secuted people TO see the error OF their
ways and persuade him 10 contribute
money for the rebuilding OF destroyed
houses and for the support of the surEi-
NOrs Of the families, ] think he is iuSti-
fed IN 50 doing II seems 10 me he would
- hard-h hearted TO do otherwise. For
him to take indemnity for the loss Of his
goods from the Chinese or any other
/ Government and not do ANYTHING for fTs4
! reimbursement OF his followers would in
diCate Il selfish spirit
In several cases / have known Of ma
tive Christians taking the matter into
. tHeir Own hands, and collecting more
JEan the circumstances would seem 20
justify. but IL no case have / known Of Z.
( Prot eGIant missionary doing SO In gen
eral. the process has been as follows To
demand the rebuilding Of houses. or an
. { equivalent IN money. TO demand DaV-
. / nent fos tools and grains carried off or
Tor aHlIndLS stolen IN case the head Of
; I = family had been murdered. or one who
WAS the DroEider. the sum Of 500 1aeIs is
, demanded Tor ihe support Of the suryiv-
j I'm most eases, sum equal TO about
o-it-Iulru o1 the aforementioned iudar.-
I may was demanded fOc the church. which
was used more or less entirely To provide
for the present needs Of distressed 14-o-
pie. If money Was left oyer. il was made
q fund for the support Of widows and
. orphans who have no other visible means
Of support We have connected with our
church in Pekin, largely as "A result of
, the recent outbreak, IWeuty-one widows
] sixteen orphans. and thiTty-nine half-or-
phanS. who are practically thrown upon
the resources Of the church.
In no case have harsh measures been
reSorted o to secure tbs fund. which is
/. not large, and the Justice Of the claims
would seem 10 De clear to all Not "a
/ have t-er some such measures would
| have indicated TO the Boxer SymBathiZ-
/ eTs an abnormal weakness and iadiner-
/ | euce 20 the sIneTiHgs of our native Chris
/ Jans that would have tended TO increas.
Excursion und Oyster Roast.
, The fr=t annual excursion snd oyster roast o.
! Columbia Lodge No. J. knights %! the Rsga
Arch VIII be held SUNDAY at Clifton Beach
The steamer PcHjz VIII leave her wharf at Il
and returning HiI reach Washington al
D. m- An Interesting programme Ha> been ar.