The Greenville journal. [volume] (Greenville, Ohio) 1850-1918, 1907-11-07

room, or peeped in at the doorway,
and two of his pretty little slave girls
waited on the table. The family feel
ing, or rather clan feeling, is not
based primarily on affection, but
mutual self-interest. The quarrel
someness Of the Chinese family is
patent to the ears of every resident
II any one thinks that the ordinary
chinese woman, especially after she
becomes mother-in-law, is crushed
and down-trodden sister, he should
hear her in action for five minutes
NO man is better able to look out for
himself than this same small-footed
| creature.
The absence of anything approach
ing the home life known to America
or Great Britain is a conspicuous fact
about China. The cities are noisy
not with traffic, for they have none, of
our ear-splitting western sort, but
with the perpetual and everywhere
present sounds of squabbling and
strife. Here it is Every man for him.
self, and the devil take the hinder
most" Only yesterday as rode
along the street in rickshaw, saw
a grown man trying to steal a bundle
OF old straw fuel from group Of tots
whose ages must have ranged from
four to eight. And the furious fashion
In which they were assailing him
showed how early young China learns
to look out for itself China is a
synonym for selfishness.
In all these observations l have not
had out of mind the virtues of the
Chinese-their patience, their indus
try, their frugality, the obedience to
authority and their respect for the
established order. All these have
been magnitied in their place. The
present design is simply to point out
certain deficiencies which Christian
ity, ideally, at least, would remedy.
| Missionaries would not be wanted in
China, but they are needed.
Are the Christians Better?
A study of the facts compels the
statement that in the case of many ma
tive converts these Objectionable Chi
/ nese characteristics have been elm
| mated, showing that Christianity
really has the power to make over the
people. From one viewpoint this is
the crux of the missionary question
Are these converts genuine? Do they
display the virtues which are COM
monty supposed to accompany the
Christian religion?
While it is true, as the Oldest liv-
ing missionary to the Chinese said to
me recently, that There are more
heather in China to-day than there
were when Robert Morrison began
work 100 years ago." owing to the in
crease in population, yet there is also
body of native Christians whose
faith is ineradicable The Boxer
movement convinced China that
Christianity among her people is here
to stay, and cannot be stamped out
These native Christians are for the
most part sincere and steadfast. Sub.
tracing all those who may in any way
he called rice Christians" and who,
so far as | can ascertain, are a de-
cided minority, there remains a body
of men and women who have been
made over by Christianity. The light
| in their faces alone is enough to mark
them. Repeatedly, in various parts
uf the empire, l have seen hundreds
such; some l have come to know per-
sonally. The unpleasant traits Of
their fellow countrymen which have
| lust been enumerated have been cast
off by them; they bear the marks by
which sincere disciples of the Naza-
rene have been distinguished in all
ages.
Slow, hard and discouraging are
the labors of the missionary, but a
handful of such converts are his re-
ward. Despite the dead weight of
| inertia which continually confronts
him, and the more or less active op-
position and hostility of the people as
well, he is steadily winning his way,
underwriting the foundations of the
old creeds, disseminating a new spir-
it of understanding, tolerance and
sympathy among the people, and pre-
/ pairing for the advent of that day,
whose dawning he confidently ex-
poets, when the century of Gospel
seed-sowing in China will bear fruit
in a great harvest of conversions.
Copyright, by Joseph B. Bowles0