The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1904-03-04
LETTER FROM w. s.eAMENT.

nah Dewey from w S. Ament, read
at the meeting of the consree eationaI
Y. P. S. c. E., we are permitted to
to take the Following:
Peking, China, Jan "a, 1904
Your letter of Dec 10Th dropped in
upon us yesterday and hasten to reply
1t will give me great pleasure to endea-
vor to write the letter you desire but 1
am afraid you have left very narrow
margin of time in which the letter is to
reach you In winter our river is frozen
up and outgoing mail is very apt to be
delayed but hope this letter will meet
with no delay. / am making two copies
of the letter and will send one via Siberia
and one by the regular route through
Japan and shall be interested to know
which one reaches you first. 1t delights
me to read of the various forms ,of
Christian work going on in the dear old
home church I know that high ideals
are set before you in the preaching by
Mr.. Hanks Please convey to him our
fraternal greetings.
Your meeting is to be in February and
you want something on Heroism from
a people who are constitutionally timid
and who lack initiative. / wish your
society would purchase Miss Luella
Miners book on Martyrdom in China
Cor title like that) from the Pilgrim
Press, Boston, and then you could read
about many of our own Christians who
went down in the troubles of 1900 but
who kept their colors flying. The world
will know some time that the Chinese
under the influence of Christianity
have in them the stuff of which heroes
are made. We are recovering rapidly
from the great upheaval of 1900 and the
memory of our martyrs is a precious
legacy On my last trip into the coun-
try east Of Peking I learned more Of the
triumphant,death of one of our old Chris
tians than knew before. Tie was an
old man rs years of age and his son is
the deacon in the little church. The
deacon escaped easily from the Boxers
and came to Peking where we all were
a mission compound But he began
to think of his old father and decided
against our protest to go and see what
he could do for his father. We protest.
ed because we knew he could do moth
ing for his father and would endange1
his own life. The son reached the
father, however before the Boxers did
and urged the old man to flee with him
to the mountains as the road to Pekine
was now closed. To this proposition
the old man offered an emphatic mega
tive. He said, II am old and worth
little to anyone. Let the Boxers do with
me as they choose He refused to
move or leave the home. Neighbors
called and offered to help him escape.
The son plead and cried but was finally
obliged to make his way TO the moun
tains alone and finally came out alive
after many wonderful experiences. The
old man was taken by the Boxers, bound
and led over to their camp about seven
miles away They could not but see
that they had no ordinary victim here
and felt some little feeling of admira-
tion at his courage and calmness. They
offered to free him if he would bow
down and worship Boxer idol. This
the old man refused to do saying he
bowed the knee only to the God of
Heaven. Will you burn little incense
they asked, hoping to get him to do
something so they might release him.
But in this they failed also. Perhaps
he would spend little money and pur-
chase his life. But he had been pur-
chased by Jesus Christ and could spend
no money for that purpose. His heart
was fixed on Christ and they might do
as they pleased Nothing was left for
the Boxers to do, according to their
ideas, so they resolved. to kill him.
They were going to cut him to pieces
near his own village but his neighbors
begged so hard that the Boxers finally
took him to the river side They com.
manded him to kneel so that the blows
of the sword might be more effective
and less suffering be entailed. Again
the old man refused and told them his
heart was at rest and they need ask him
no more questions The old man was
taller than his prosecutors. He stood
in their midst like mighty oak These
men surrounded him and hacked him to
death with swords. His mutilated re-
mains were left for the dogs and the
crows. went down to the river side
with the sons and we gathered up the
remains, an old shoe and two fragments
of bones / felt that was treading on
holy ground. Ground which has been
saturated by the blood of martyrs will
always be sacred. The older son who
was not Christian was greatly embit-
tered at his fathers cruel death and has
begged me to take vengeance on the
murderers. But have ordered no
mans death in China and cannot begin
now. When proper evidence of indivi.