Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-17

! land on Christmas morning. The captain.
however, seeing the numbers of the ma
| tives. hesitated to modest them
Telling the story, Mr.. Patton said:
My first anxiety was the labor schooner,
but soon new peril threatened. Some Of
the heather had not met since war had
ragged between them. AT first they simply
glared at each other, and then old hatreds
| broke out and hot words were spoken
Again and again ] started some contest
| that would scatter the excited groups. but
| they soon came together again. Then
| went from group to group and tried to
spread a better feeling. Our Christmas
gathering was nearly turned into scene
| of bloodshed in our very garden. but for
| tunately all passed off most happily
| Among the Head Hunters of Formosa.
Through the center of the beautiful Island
| of Formosa there runs, like backbone,
great range OF forest-clad mountains The
original Inhabitants of Formosa. a wild
savage. ferocious race of men. live upon
these mountains Christmas was first car
| ried to these people by brave missionary
named George Leslie MacKay.
Mackay had spent several years on the
coast and in the interior, but he hesitated
long before he took his life in his hand by
seeking out the barbarians of the noun
tafns, to whom no white man had ever
yentured.
The favorite pastime Of these savages was
to cut Off the heads of their enemies and
been indulgtng in this sport when MacKay
drifted into one of their villages and spent
Christmas day with one of their chiefs.
THE chiefs home consisted of one large
room thirty feet long" said MacKay "a
fire blazed at either end. The men, dressed
in coarse linen sacks. with holes cut for
the arms. and a broad belt of braided rat
tan, in which was stuck a long. crooked
sharp-pointed knife, stood around one fire;
while the women, with much the same
dress, save that in addition they had many
rings OF brass around their arms and limbs
and innumerable ornaments on their bodies
squatted around the other fire.
so. on that Christmas night, I sat there
with these rude people, the room lighted by
the fires and by candles made from the
heart Of the fir tree. The men smoked their
bamboo pipes, while the women were busy
threadmaking on curious little machines of
their own; and all, men and women. were
laughing and talking merrily and making
great noise 1t was certainly merry
Christmas, and a strange one to me.
After time, with the help of the native
converts who had accompanied me on this
dangerous trip, / sang some Christmas
hymns to these savage mountaineers, who
had never seen a white man before; and
to them the old, old story that has been
told so often In so many lands since the
first Christmas morning"
The savages took great pleasure in the
singing OF the Christmas hymns, and Mac
Kay and his friends came to no harm by
their bold expedition. -
In the Hospital at Beirut.
One Of the most benefcent institutions
at Beirut. In northern Syria, where Amer
lean warships have had to do police duty
so frequently Of late. Is a great hospital
founded long ago by the knights of st.
John, and now supported by a German So
cety.
The American medical missionaries con-
nected with the Syrian Protestant College
at Beirut minister to the patients who
come to the hospital for treatment, and
every year they get up Christmas cele-
bration which is the first that many of
these patients have seen.
Among the guests Of many national
tiles" said American, describing a
Christmas party he witnessed at this hos
pital there sits an old man with long
white beard, a turban on his head. girdle
about his loins. and a loose, flowing robe
He is a Mohammedan. A month ago If an
American doctor had gone to his house
this man would have driven him away for
an infidel dog. Now as DR.. George Post
passes by this man seizes his hand and
kisses 1t. Why is this? The dog of doc
tor gave him the use of his eyes. He came
to the hospital blind this Christmas day his
sight is fully restored.
Next to him is a woman with long
white veil over her face. She has a little
babe in her arms. but the hands are gone.
She is Druse woman. In her home in
the mountains she was warming her hands