The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1906-06-03

room noisily recognize each other and
engage In animated conversation There
is much pipe7lightipg and not infre-
quently an opium smoker breaks out
Violently.
But the missionary does not get dis
couraged. he has become Injured to the
ingenious Chinese way After he has
persisted In SAYING what he started out
to say. he drinks tea with his auditors,
engages as many individuals as he can
IN conversation, and otherwise busies
himself selling copies of the Bible,
Thousands of Bibles are sold yearly.
Work That Requires Nerve.
Chapel preaching is picturesque work,
but not n whit more so than itineration,
which, TO quote q former missionary.
requires some nerve and great powers
Of adoption"
AS has been said. the missionaries
live in groups In what are known as
niesion stations. In order to carry on
the work beyond the immediate en-
virons of a. station, the missionaries
make frequent and often periodical
trips into the country. This js itlnera-
lion,
There are few railroads In the empire,
snd these In the coast provinces 80
Itineration Is nearly always by wheel
barrow, boat sedan chair and cart.
The missionaries penetrate hundreds or
miles into secluded mountain regions,
strike up strange rivers, brave encoUh-
ters with river pirates and bandits, suf-
fer nil the InconvenienCes of primitive
ness.
1t is the aim of an itinerant 10 make
a walled city on fair day I'm order TO
reach the greatest number of persons
IN the shortest time, He becomes one
Of the multitude OF street sellers and
shouts his Bible as Justify as his yellow
neighbors do their wares. When he
reaches a village he stations himself
at the we'll, In all llkelihood-as truly
q strategic position as it was In Pales-
tine in the time OF Christ. and still Is,
for that matter.
In many respects itlneration is closely
akin TO circuit riding, which stu holds
in certain sections OF this country. In
deed some of the boards have organ
lied this work Of late years into cir
cults. which are covered at regular IN
tervals.
A Presbyterian native helper spent
nearly all of last year itinerating,
travelling 200 miles and visiting 1oO
places Three hundred villages were
worked up in one summer by mis-
sionary. a woman missionary made
seven lengthy trips into the Interior
from Canton In a twelVe-month.
Itinerating frequently leads 10 the
conversion of a handful OF men and
women here and there. chapels are then
established and these become out-sta-
tions, In charge Of native helpers,
In times of quiet the itinelant ls
remarkably free from attack at the
hands of the people generally When
discomfort is rampant the danger he
runs Is truly great He Is FAR away
from the mission station and the pro-
lection OF the higher authorities. lie
can not be warned. He Is at the mercy
III IN ic l.
walton lies in the chance that the teVer
Of discomfort will not infect the peopl :
around about him.
By means of itineration the bigger
portion of China proper has been trod-
den by the American missionary,
Quite a number OF our missionaries
are always itineratlng. If trouble comes
before they can regain their stations
OF seek the protection Of some powerful
and lust official, there doubtless Will be
thrilling stories to tell of men and
women fleeing for their lives TO noun
tain Businesses and caves and surNlV-
ing there; of others treacherously cut
down In the market places; of still 9th
ers calmly facing their tortures and
meeting death in its most diabolical
forms with the inspired bravery OF the
martyrs.
Many Of the two hundred-odd mis-
s!onaries, Catholic and Protestant
killed by the Boxers were itineratlng
at the time. Previously missionaries
we're frequently stoned and otherwise
insulted Only few, however, were
killed, and they by pirates and ban
dts. Since the Boxer rising the old
feeling of security from violent death
has vanished, and the average mis-
s,onary In China has hanging over him
the thought that he may be called upor
at any time to give up life itself fol
Lis religions sake.
Copyright 1906 by Guy \. VlskniskkiD